CSX FAN posted:Fairmont actually made a flame machine that burned all the brush. Ran on Gasoline, back when gas was 35 cents a gallon.
Weed burners like that were commonly used, until the 1960's. The weed burner was labor-intensive, requiring two groups of men -- one on the track car and trailers with the weed burner, and another on a following track car pulling trailers with fire control spratyequipment and shovels. Thus, the switch to chemical weed control was a business decision.
A santa Fe passenger train hit a weed burner at high speed, in western Kansas, around 1953. In those days, positive protection was not required for track maintenance equipment. The weed burner crew was aware of the passenger train's timetable schedule, waited until the last minute to head for a siding, and didn't make it. The train suffered little damage and did not derail. Men riding on the maintenance equipment were killed.
