Washout at the top of the "Loop." - There is (was?) a concrete culvert at the top of the Loop that requires diligent attention in the spring. If the culvert is not kept open, snow melt will back up from the plugged culvert and start washing alongside the east side of the track down around the Loop. This is one of those occasions. In the past, it would take a lot of workers to crib up under the ties before being able to unload cars of ballast in the washed out area. In this instance however, an excavator was used to get ballast from an air dump and then walk to the end of the flatcar and fill in the washed out areas. This eliminated the need for cribbing and saved a lot of work and time compared to the old method.