Mud Mantis, Model GO4S-III-C Track Switch Undercutter Cleaner

The Track Switch Undercutter Cleaner, Model GO4S-III-C, (Mud Mantis) provides complete switch and spot undercutting with one operator and without auxiliary equipment. The 4/57 meter cutter bars are capable of completely undercutting the tangent portion of a switch and after positioning in the starting trench created by the digging wheel on the other side of the track, it is capable of undercutting the turnout portion of the switch. The cutter bar efficiently cuts its way underneath the track, where it removes fouled ballast and deposits the spoil into the digging wheel. The bottom of the cut made by the undercutter bar is in line with the cut made by the digging wheel. This patented “flat bottom” cut provides optimum drainage. The ballast that is removed by the undercutter bar and the digging wheel can be conveyed either to a vibratory shaker or directly to the spoil conveyor system of the machine. Material that is routed to the vibratory shaker is separated by size and the oversize and undersize material is removed and routed to the spoil conveyor system while the selected size material is returned to the track as cleaned ballast.

The spoil conveyor can be positioned to any point in a 90º arc from one side of the machine to cars directly in front of the machine. This allows the spoil material to be dealt with in a variety of ways.

Model GO4S-III-C,  is also capable of performing a shoulder ballast cleaning operation or ditching operation on either or both shoulders simultaneously. Each digging wheel can be independently deployed to remove the shoulder ballast from the track and place it onto the conveyor system of the machine for processing. The material can then be processed as described above with clean material being returned to the shoulder areas of the track only. If a ditching operation is employed, the digging wheel is capable of being placed at an angle to the rails and extended laterally beyond the ballast shoulder to enlarge or improve drainage ditches. The material that is removed in this operation can be totally spoiled.