"Ancient" snow plow

[caldreamer]

That comment about getting up to 35 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Donner Summit is not an exaggeration.   They have gotten up to 15 feet from one storn.  They do not call it "Old Man Winter: up there it is "THE STORM KING" and fror good reason.  I know that area well and have walked the tracks between Colfax and Nordon at the top to the mountain too many times to count.  The pass is over 7200 feet in elevation and when a storm (specially those that come in from the gulf of Alaska, with its colder air) move over the mountains, LOOK OUT.  That is why they have plows atationed at Roseville and Sparks.

 

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[JDLX]

Nothing like coming into the movie after everyone has left...pardon the late response (seven months isn't that bad...).

I operate the website linked to by Mark.  Getting the information I now have about this plow added to the site has not exactly been a high priority for me. 

The plow in question is indeed McCloud River #1701.  The McCloud River Railroad built it in the McCloud car shop in December 1911 at a cost of $1,000 ($520.64 labor, $479.36 materials).  The railroad donated the plow to a proposed railroad museum in 1964.  The museum idea failed, and the collection later went on to become part of the Railroad Park Resort.

 Jeff Moore

Elko, NV

[markpierce]

Here is a website picturing one of McCloud River RR's bucker plows.  It doesn't mention how they are acquired.

http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails/Miscellaneous/RotaryPlows.html

Mark

[Train 284]

It is an original Russel snowplow that served on the McCloud River Railroad as their number 1701 until the late 50's/early 60's. The McCloud River RR donated the plow in 1964 to the city of Dunsmuir in hopes of a future railroad meseum. The museum plans fell through and it currently resides at Railroad Park Resort in Dunsmuir, CA.

 

Good thing I only live an hour south of Dunsmuir huh? hehe..... 

 

Hope that helps.     

[West Coast S]

Kinda looks like the one assigned once upon time to the Modoc Line, seldom used, it was scrapped in 1959 when about a century old!  SP also also chose to scrap it's partner, an equally ancient (1898? or so) rotary plow a year later after decades of disuse..  

 

Dave

[PASMITH]

I figure this snow plow could be 150 years old.  It is at a railroad/caboose motel/park at Dunsmuir, CA.  Does anyone have information on it?

Mark

The CP/SP obtained a Grant built Leslie rotary ( No.2) in 1890! It was used to help do battle with the " fearsomely" described winter of 1889-90. For many years it worked the areas around Mt. Shasta in Northern CA in the same area that I model. I have obtained a Durago Press Rotary kit and plans and photos from RMC ( February 1975 issue) and hope with some kit modification, to have it built in the not too distant future.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[markpierce]

Annual snowfall at Donner Summit was typically 35 feet, compared to the 2 feet at Colfax lower down "The Hill": thus the snowsheds, thus cab-forward locomotives.

Mark

[Dean-58]

To me, it looks like a bucker plow much like the ones Central Pacific deveoped in the 1860s-80s to fight the snow drifts over Donner Pass. 

Ditto on that! Looks like a Bucker plow to me too.

Double Ditto!  I was all set to go to my George Abdill trilogy and look it up, but this saved me the trouble.  There was an article in Model Trains magazine (may have been in RMC, too), years ago, on how to carve one of these plows from a solid block of wood!  It dates from the earliest days of the Central Pacific, when the Big Four discovered they weren't going to be able to pillage make as much money as they'd thought, due to the horrendous winters in the Sierra Nevada.  Things haven't changed much since then, as the railroads and the highways have a battle on their hands for the lo-o-ong winters.  (Someone once uttered an apt description of regions like this: "There are just three seasons up there: July, August--and winter!"

Dean-58

[jeffrey-wimberly]

To me, it looks like a bucker plow much like the ones Central Pacific deveoped in the 1860s-80s to fight the snow drifts over Donner Pass. 

Ditto on that! Looks like a Bucker plow to me too.

[markpierce]

To me, it looks like a bucker plow much like the ones Central Pacific deveoped in the 1860s-80s to fight the snow drifts over Donner Pass.  CP would use six to twelve locomotives at a time to ram these plows through heavy snows, sometimes without success (men, grab your shovels!).

Mark

[lvanhen]

150 years ago, 1857, locos were not powerful enough to push something that size through much snow - even double or triple headed.  1890's on would be a better guess, and 1920's even better.  My

[G Paine]

From the front, it looks like a Russel plow to me. A side picture would be a help with identification along with any visible reporting marks. I doubt it is 150 years old, 50 to 75 years would be be max.

[richg1998]

I did a google search for snowplow Dunsmuir ca.

Give them a call. Railroad Park Resort.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/17174

http://www.rrpark.com/

Rich 

 

[exPalaceDog]

I figure this snow plow could be 150 years old.  It is at a railroad/caboose motel/park at Dunsmuir, CA.  Does anyone have information on it?

Mark

Don't MR publish plans for this critter years ago???

Have fun

Edit See Nov 1996 Model Railroading for articling on weathering the Walthers snowplow

Edit See MR Feb 1973 Short Line Plow

 

[markpierce]

I figure this snow plow could be 150 years old.  It is at a railroad/caboose motel/park at Dunsmuir, CA.  Does anyone have information on it?

Mark