Hello, All. Can anyone nail down a date for when Southern Pacific began installation of the little rotating windowlets on their snow equipment? And, at the risk of NOT getting an answer to the first question, what other RRs have used them?
They're creative contrivances that likely have an interesting history all their own.
Obliged.
John in Portland
Are you are talking about Clear View screens? There are articles on-line tracing them back to the mid-1930s (and the Wiki entry mentions that period). Apparently the UP also used them on their rotaries according to this thread.
Thank You.
I just did a couple of Google searches, changing the wording around a little, and they are used on railroad and marine equipment around the world.
Mike.
My You Tube
Nesa windows (the name I first heard as a Cadet sixty years ago) were first used on North Sea pilot boats, to keep the pilots' vision clear when everything else aboard was icing up.
Spinning windows are ubiquitous on locomotives assigned to the severe winter parts of Japan - line-haul engines as well as snow-removal equipment. Happily, the area I model is not included.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I can't tell a definate date but perhaps a time span.
Gerald M. Best's book "Snowplow - Clearing Mountain Rails" contains photos of the first SP rotary rebuilt to diesel-electric in 1958 as well as freshly rebuilt #7250 without clear view screens.
The earliest photos with clear view screens I found are from 1970:http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/spmw/rotarys/0211_spmw-snowplow-bob_dengler.jpg From the following site:http://espee.railfan.net/sp_rotaries.html
I hope that helps a bitRegards, Volker (Germany)
Here is some good information about the Southern Pacific's snow fighting equipment. I hope this helps. If you are building models I would like to see pictures of them.
http://www.trainweb.org/rrsnowfighting/
Danke, Volker. I would imagine that when SP began installing them, they did so on most of their snow fighting equipment within a relatively short period. If that is so it is not likely that they were installed yet in 1952.
Still looking for a copy of Best's book that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Oops, belay that, mates. Just found a handful on Amazon in good condition or better for less than a dozen bucks, shipping included.
John
John, the rebuilding program from steam to diesel-electric started in 1958 and those early pictures don't show clear view screens. I'm quite sure there were no SP steam rotaries with clear view screens. It seems they were installed some time between 1958 and 1970.Regards, Volker (Germany)
I'm betting that their Jordan spreaders didn't get upgraded with them any earlier, either.
You'll likely win. The following website has photos of different SP spreaders:http://espee.railfan.net/spreaders.html
There is one spreader without clear view screens photographed in 1975 and another one photographed with screens in 1978.
The best bet seems they got their rotating windows in the 1970s.Regards, Volker (Germany)