Michael O. Brown wrote in to give the actual name of the Gawomper and explain what I had called its "weird hose arrangement:"

This piece of equipment can remove and replace wood and concrete ties. The machine operates (after the spikes are pulled) by grabbing the rails and lifting them slightly.

The weird looking contraption on the side then grabs the end of the tie and rips it out by the roots. I have seen one of these machines remove over 2,500 ties in less than 7 hours. It simply blows other M/W [maintenance of way] manufacturers' equipment away.

The weird hose arrangement is nothing more than a convenient spare hose rack. The ends need to be plugged to keep dirt (which will damage the hydraulic system) out of them.