heat being applied to the pad 12 the pad 12 further includes a leading face 16 suitable for breaking up ballast and moving and compacting ballast to properly support a rail in order to withstand the harsh environment involved in tamping ballast the pad 12 is preferably hardened in the preferred embodiment the pad 12 comprises a four inch 4 u2033 by four and one half inch 4 u00bd u2033 by three fourths inch u00be u2033 4140 steel pad having a hardness rating of around fifty five 55 on a rockwell c scale as those skilled in the art will recognize other conformations of the pad 12 are possible and lie within the spirit and scope of the invention to further protect the surfaces 36 coming into contact with the ballast the pad 12 includes a wear resistant coating 18 in the preferred embodiment the wear resistant coating 18 covers the portions of the bordering faces 20 22 24 26 adjacent to the leading face 16 in this example embodiment the wear resistant coating 18 is a continuous coating made of tungsten carbide covering at least one inch 1 u2033 from the edge adjoining the leading face 16 on each of the bordering faces 20 22 24 26 in this example embodiment the coating 18 has an average thickness of at least one eighth of an inch u215b u2033 in an alternate embodiment the wear resistant coating 18 also covers the leading face 16 the tamping blade 10 further includes a.