This may be old hat to some - but I've never seen it - so here goes. A friend passed this link to me today. A Train Laying Its Own Track I found it a fascinating 5 minute video. The notes under this video image indicate that this is a process from Belgium. Is this done in the USA? If so where? - I'd travel just to see it in operation. One interesting aside. About 2/3 of the way thru, the securing of the rails to the ties is done thru some sort of pinning. With all of the automation involved it still takes the human hand to finish the job. We aren't obsolete - yet!
Don, that video was made in Belgium. It originally was posted in the International Forum a few weeks ago, http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=123150. Alan Curtis is familiar with the system and provided some information. BTW, I believe rail clips are used in the Northeast Corridor, among other locations.