The snow plow operator will be from the track forces on that specific territory, which he will know intimately from the track point of view. In particular, where there are obstructions between the rails such as at turnouts, motorcar set-offs, dragging equipment detectors, Jordan rails and crossings that will require the flanger blade to be raised. These will not necessarily be visible in deep snow! There will also be side obstructions that require the wings to be pulled in. While the engineeer or conductor will be aware of many of these things in general, their focus has to remain with operating the train. Trying to do two things at once can be a recipe for trouble.
gmpullmanWhile I don't have any documentation to back my hypothesis, I wonder if the reason the snow plow operator is not commanding the control of the locomotive because it isn't in his union contract to do so?
You also need a locomotive engineer license to operate a locomotive on the main. I know there's locomotives that have been modified to be MOW equipment movers (or some such term) to get around that, but it's a very gray issue that I think will eventually need to be addressed.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
While I don't have any documentation to back my hypothesis, I wonder if the reason the snow plow operator is not commanding the control of the locomotive because it isn't in his union contract to do so?
When a snow plow extra is called I'm sure there has to be a full 'operating' train crew on board and perhaps few, if any, of the regular enginemen are qualified to operate the plow and associated equipment. Would the plow and flanger operators be part of the maintenance of way craft?
Some of the former steam operated rotaries were converted to diesel electric and they were 'mated' to a diesel B unit for power but these B units were incapable of movement as far as I recall.
Good Luck, Ed
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
In the steam era, plows also had whistles and the plow operator and engine crew would communicate via the whistles, same as they would with helper locomotives.
The plow operator will have a brake valve available to him or her at the minimum.
The opeator in the plow is in contact with train crew in the lead locomotive by radio.
I have recently been watching videos of snow plows being used to remove snow from the right of ways. both rotary and wedge type plows In all of the videos, the plows are being pushed by two or three locomotives
My question is, are the locomotives being controlled by a person in the cab of the plow, or is the plow operator just in touch with the locomotive engineer, via radio or other type of communication