The other night, after the big snowstorm here in NY, I shot an empty ethanol train smashing through a snowbank. Photos just don't do it justice, so enjoy this video at the expense of my cameras getting soaked...
https://youtu.be/4rM-khglCZg
Has anyone else ever seen situations like this? I have a feeling there could be some interesting stories about trains and snow that end with the photographer getting covered in snow...
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
1. Didn't hear a single flat wheel.
2. When putting 'Youtu.be' URL's in the Video argument, they do not fire off from the screen that the Video argument creates. the URL must be in 'Youtube' configureation to work properly.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Always stand on the side of the drift that train is appoaching from. Which is what I think you did. I suspect you knew that.
I found this video of an Amtrak in Rhinecliff (where I railfan sometimes). I hope no one got seriously hurt by this...
The snow bank doesn't look like a large drift, rather, it looks like the county truck plowing the road pushed the snow aside on to the tracks?
My side street didn't used to get plowed -- people drove on it and formed ice ruts. I told neighbors complaining about it, "Think of those fancy-schmantzy 'communities' where they have speed bumps to discourage through traffic", but they weren't having any of it.
Political strings were pulled, and now we get plowed (in) everytime it snows at least 2 inches. It's a real hassle, and the plow-in dumps densely packed snow that is back-breaking to shovel by hand, and it gums up the snow blower.
So what is the plow-in custom for road/rail crossings at grade? Especially if there is a lot of snow?
Is there some kind of "rights" of who gets to plow in whom? Or does the railroad bring out their Jordan Spreader and plow in the road, and then the county plow truck plows back in the tracks and then the rail crews come to plow back in the road?
Suppose the county plow truck causes enough of a snow bank that the plow-pilot on the locomotive can't bust through? Is the railroad on top of that, or have their been derailments?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
HarrisonI found this video of an Amtrak in Rhinecliff (where I railfan sometimes). I hope no one got seriously hurt by this...
Hi Harrison!
I don't think anyone got hurt, I've seen the video before, all they got was a splattering and a real-world education in physics!
Serves 'em right for not paying attention in physics class in high school!
One of the best "WHEEEEEE!!!" videos out there!
Paul MilenkovicSuppose the county plow truck causes enough of a snow bank that the plow-pilot on the locomotive can't bust through? Is the railroad on top of that, or have their been derailments?
I have been in the head end after a snowstorm, where the snowplows had snow piled up 3-4 feet high across the tracks. Locomotive went through like it was nothing, no sense of hitting anything at all. Only thing different was the snow coming up over the windshield (it was an F unit).
The bigger problem is when there are thaw/ freeze cycles that cause flangeways to freeze up.
I note that Paul Milenkovic has figured out exactly why this event occurred in the first place. Note that the only place the snow is 'piled up' is where it has just been snowblown off the platforms ... about 4 feet, onto the adjacent tracks.
I don't see even the slightest feather of drift plowing during the entire approach of the locomotive, then a relatively limited plow during the first few feet of 'platform' followed by an actual diminution for a few feet (probably due to something like a baggage elevator or stairway at that end, where there was less plowing) before the Main Event, which gave them only a second or two warning.
It would not be difficult to use snowblowing equipment that would carry the 'last pass' down the platform edge over the near track centerline: that would have resulted in all the 'excess' being blown the other way as seen by the wing-plow physics. Someone not too bright but highly methodical cleaned that platform right down to concrete... and forgot where all that snow went when he or she did.
For true excitement, you had to be at the restaurant on the curve in Cold Spring when it had just snowed a foot or so, and perhaps was still snowing hard to blanket sounds. Even on the best of summer days, passage of Turboliners past the outside dining was an adventure ... it is difficult to describe the passage in snow.
In the Video while there is some obvious piling of snow further down the platform, the depth may have been enhanced by natural drifting. The adjacent Hudson River is frozen, and a west wind would have picked up even an inch of snow across that open mile of ice, and piled it up under the roofed area on both sides of the track.
MidlandMikeThe adjacent Hudson River is frozen, and a west wind would have picked up even an inch of snow across that open mile of ice, and piled it up under the roofed area on both sides of the track.
Where did all that snow recently plowed off the platform, and with that nice clean edge to it too, go?
On the other hand, it's certainly 'microweather' of an ultimately very fateful kind...
Notice the nice clean cut at the edge of the platform. The snow on the platform had apparently been removed with a snowblower, and undoubtedly was blown onto the tracks.
I'll agree with the drifting concept.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Overmod MidlandMike The adjacent Hudson River is frozen, and a west wind would have picked up even an inch of snow across that open mile of ice, and piled it up under the roofed area on both sides of the track. (a) there is no visible high drifting anywhere to the north and west before the train physically enters where the station platform plowing would start, and (b) I don't think that's enough of a 'roof' structure on the far side, just part of a bridge on the far side, not something that would induce drifting higher than the line visible past the plowed part of the platform. And drifts do not feature lots of blocks on top, as I see in the moments before 'impact' and also in the driven snow. Furthermore I'd expect some pileup at, say, the line of reeds visible, and there is none. That stuff looks wet, not the sort of thing that drifts over a fetch... Where did all that snow recently plowed off the platform, and with that nice clean edge to it too, go? On the other hand, it's certainly 'microweather' of an ultimately very fateful kind...
MidlandMike The adjacent Hudson River is frozen, and a west wind would have picked up even an inch of snow across that open mile of ice, and piled it up under the roofed area on both sides of the track.
(a) there is no visible high drifting anywhere to the north and west before the train physically enters where the station platform plowing would start, and (b) I don't think that's enough of a 'roof' structure on the far side, just part of a bridge on the far side, not something that would induce drifting higher than the line visible past the plowed part of the platform. And drifts do not feature lots of blocks on top, as I see in the moments before 'impact' and also in the driven snow. Furthermore I'd expect some pileup at, say, the line of reeds visible, and there is none. That stuff looks wet, not the sort of thing that drifts over a fetch...
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