Thats right,The D8H and 9G have the C blades for transport reasons, and when you are pushing and pulling railroad cars around on the ground, they are much better than a heavy dirt blade. Its amazing what that 9G will lift with the cylinders if you get under the corner of a car and lift it and push. I have moved 150 ton loaded cars with that machine alone. It will winch and push like crazy. Winters also owns a couple old D9D's that are used only as anchor or winch tractors, although the blades are in the yard if needed.Winters uses 977k's for loader work.... but the zero swing excavators are realy the best for utility work for wheel sets, moving loose iron around,moving parts and digging out buried cars etc, etc...and now days they always hve some kind of enviromental work to do becuase of diesel spills, product spills, etc. Need a digging machine.

The reason most derailment outfits use the old 583H and K's or 594's,572's etc is because with that extreme weight the old mechanical drive clutch and brake hoists do a much better job.... They will lift until something moves or breaks. The newer machines are all hydraulic winches and high drive .... much harder to move on the roads.

I will make a seperate post on some wreck action when I get a chance.