Whilst watching the Deshler rail cam just now, we saw MOW working on the diamond with a big torch and shovels. One fellow even pulled out a putty knife.
They were apparently scraping gunk off the rails.
As background, the diamond in Deshler is now a flange-bearing, both directions. That means that while passing over the diamond the wheels are riding on their flanges, not on the treads. This eliminates the usual banging that occurs on diamonds, a real maintenance headache.
It would appear that since the wheel treads are not touching the rails, a lot of junk builds up on top of the rails at that point. This appears to get packed pretty solid - the crew was using the torch to heat the mess, then using the shovels to scrape it off - not to mention that putty knife.
This raises the question - is this a problem for such frogs? Perhaps an unanticipated side effect? What would be the issue if left untouched?