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That is really dark ballast, I am used to the whiter kind as seen down by the tank car.
Slag ballast, extensively used in Ontario in the 80′s. I think it was a cheap alternative to crushed limestone. It didn’t live up to expectation, over time it contributed to poor drainage, it also affected the reliability of track circuits when wet.
Slag ballast was extremely abrasive and greatly accelerated the wear of Work Equipment machinery appliances that came in contact with it. Tamping tools, ballast regulator plows & wings, ballast broom hoses & cables, tie changer clamps, ballast scarifier tools, to name a few, had to be constantly built up with hard-facing welding rod. This heavy wear of machine attachments led to the development of carbide coated tamping tools, carbide cutting edges on ballast plows & wings, and the addition of carbide coatings on other machine attachments that contacted the ballast section.
I believe this was ballast from the Sudbury area; a by-product of the copper and nickel smelting process.
Thanks for all the information and comments guys.