Snow Fighting Equipment

[NWP SWP]

I'm sure it's been asked before, and this is really just an academic question out of curiosity...

What was the typical snow fighting equipment deployed by railroads in the west? They can be US or Canadian roads.

[Lone Wolf and Santa Fe]

    First are the flangers which are kind of like a caboose with a snowplow underneath. It removes the snow from between the tracks. They are pulled by a couple of locomotives. They come out at the first sign of snow. The locomotives are usually equipped with icicle breakers on the roofs and marine window wipers instead of standard windshield wipers.
    Next are the Jordan spreaders. Their expanding plow blades push the snow far away from the track. In areas with a double main they can remove the snow from both tracks at once. They are pushed ahead of a couple of locomotives.
    Lastly are the rotary snow plows. Modern ones are paired with an old F7 B unit which has had the tractions motors removed and mounted in the rotary to turn the plow blades. The railroads try not to use the rotary plows because they tend to cut a channel in the snow that freezes and cannot be pushed away or widened. Southern Pacific rotary plows have been modified to cut a wider path so it’s not such a bad problem.
    Flangers are ran in one direction only. Jordan spreaders are usually ran back to back with locomotives in the middle. Rotary plows are ran the same way. This is so they can plow either direction without having to be turned on a balloon track or a wye.

[NWP SWP]

Do they all operate together sometimes or individually?

[Lone Wolf and Santa Fe]

Here is a channel cut by a rotary plow. It's not good to use them because on curves the cars rub and it slows down the train.

[NWP SWP]

So you wouldn't see a spreader, flanger, rotary in a single snow train?

I can see why the spreaders and flangers wouldn't operate in deep snow... good old Sierra cement...

[Lone Wolf and Santa Fe]

Flangers are on their own, usually spaced between regular trains. They can go as fast as regular trains. Railroads use several flangers spaced out between trains.

Jordan spreaders go at a slower speed but remove far more snow. They go at their own pace. Sometimes when they use a rotary plow they will have a Jordan spreader feeding the rotary by pushing snow in front of it so the rotary can throw it down the hill instead of just pushing it aside because in deep snow you can’t always just push it away.

They try to move the snow out of the way using the Jordan spreaders before it can become deep.

When they use a Jordan spreader and a rotary plow together they are on seperate tracks on a double track mainline.

The Pentrex DVD, Battle for Donner Pass, covers it in great detail. It has outside and inside ride alongs of all three types of plows plus the specially modified locomotives.

[doctorwayne]

Don't forget about wedge plows, another useful snowfighting tool...

Wayne

[DSchmitt]

Union Pacific wedge plow

 

[gmpullman]

Another CN Wedge Plow:

This guy is a real shorty, probably designed to be turned along with a locomotive on a turntable.

Plough_CN-55499 by Edmund, on Flickr

 Often, there are flanger blades as part of the design of the wedge or rotary plow.

CN_Plough_55401 by Edmund, on Flickr

I just noticed the cone over the headlight glass to protect it when not in use.

 Below is a view of what's inside a steam-powered Rotary:

And here's a look at the truck with the flanger apparatus which had to be raised at switches, crossings and other obstructions:

Note the two "gouges" that scrape out the flange area of the rail. These would be damaged if they hiit switchpoints or frogs. They are on a mechanism to allow them to be raised quickly.

There would be a crew member assigned to flanger duty to watch for the "Flanger-up" signs posted along the right-of-way. This must have been a tough chore when the plow is casting snow all over and forward visibility was next-to-nothing.

Regards, Ed

[BATMAN]

Ed, that steam rotary is really cool, I want one. Another project for Dr. Wayne.