Friend’s traveling through Uzbekistan and took a photo of this, what on earth is it?

Track snow clearer?

Soviet era rolling stock 😉

Ballast machine thing? (I’m sure there’s a proper name for it)

Yep, it’s definitely not a spoon

Tamper

it Boris Prime, transformer cousin from Russia

Rogue SS-24 Scalpel 😈

it’s where they kill the kittens and turn them into Big Mac’s/Whoppers after the wheel size threads

I would reckon a tamper too. Also available here.

It seems more complicated than a tamper. Adjustable gauge for European/Russian/chinese track?

They jack up the long distance passenger train and swap the bogies where it changes. Takes about 6 hours.

I thought tamper and the linkages were part of the alignment mechanism, but what’re the sideways bucket type things for?

Is it 650b ?

The inboard linkages on those sideways bucket things make them look like feet on stabilising legs that spread out to give a wide base. Does a tamper deploy legs?

Ask on a trainspotting forum. Bet you’ll get build date and serial numbers. 🙂

not this in disguise is it?

I don’t know what a tamper is but that looks like a track laying machine.

What’s a tamper? Is it to level new track?

Genuine question. The only tamper I know is a coffee tamper a la Chris King…..

What’s a tamper? Is it to level new track?

Genuine question. The only tamper I know is a coffee tamper a la Chris King…..

Industrial-strength version, does exactly the same thing, tamping-down to make sure rails and ballast are firmly settled, so there’s no movement when rolling stock goes over the track.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballast_tamper

Tamper or stoneblower