Is This For Real??

No it's actually quite real. We have actually mentioned it a couple of times on CR4.

tiger-stone-paving-machine-makes-brick-roads-like-laying-carpet

tiger-stone

There actually isn't anything too fancy or magical about it once you read the article in the first link. The bricks need to be manually feed in in the correct orientation and pattern by hand so the image you posted is more for marketing purposes rather than how it actually works.

Tiger Stone requires 1-3 operators on its platform to provide the machine’s pusher slot with loose bricks from the hopper. One thing you have to be aware about is that the bricks need to be given to machine in the required pattern. The next step utilizes gravity to let these bricks slide together onto the sand in the form of a road-wide sheet of bricks.

Jacks right. It's shown without the non-optional team of labor placing the bricks

...and moves really slow....

http://cr4.globalspec.com/PostImages/201701/ELMER__800x494__9A42BF34-B1D1-EE96-61F7AEC20B3344CD.jpg

That's nothin'. Watch this:

Fastest patio brick layer Must Watch! - YouTube

OK, how can I hire this guy?

A few months ago, we had a machine go through near where I worked that replaced railroad ties. It was similar to this, and was pretty cool.

Interesting (work-train), but, intrinsically redundant?

Seems like all the replacement activities could be replaced by 2, or no more than 3, RR flat-car-sized machines that would be more complex, but much more effective, and affordable, to operate.

At the very least, the spike-grabber mechanism needs to be re-designed.

I actually did this kind work, by hand, once during a summer job (oh so many years ago...) on a little steam-powered railroad at a State Fair (while not financially rewarding, it was a character-developing experience, to be sure).

My office is also close to the UP tracks. They have gone to 480' rail lengths and the train that lays those is pretty impressive also.

That aint nuttin'...here's how the big boys do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MKcTbYDP7w

That first vehicle is like tracks on tracks. I haven't seen concrete railroad ties yet. They still use wood in the California Central Valley everywhere I've seen and my company is next to tracks that run along HWY 99.

Thanx for the link. I haven't seen one of these in action for years. I worked for a company (back in the 80's - Canron Railgroup - now Harsco) that built very similar machines and had a minor part in the design (Swiss and German engineering) of the machines shown and major parts in other equipment for railroad bed maintenance. They are marvels of engineering that came with a very healthy price tag back in the day.

The main unit in the link consists of three parts, the leading rides on existing rails, the middle hangs in the air and the last unit sits on the newly installed rail bed and a myriad of towed cars for the new ties and removing the old ties. Designed for CWR (continuous welded rail) we also made a unit for replacing the rail and reworking wooden ties - AKA the RCO - as follows- crib the bed(remove ballast), pull the old spikes and remove tie plates, plug the old spike holes, mill the top of the ties, spray creosote onto the milled areas, drop in new tie plates, install the rail and spike each tie plate with 4 new spikes and redistribute the ballast.

A trip down memory lane for me.

In this particular pic ...

... they're showing how entropy increases when you run the machine backwards.