SWEEPERS
In the old days, a major piece of equipment used on city trolley lines to fight snow was the sweeper. They were box motors with a round bristle brush 3 -4 feet in diameter the width of the car that was rotated by a motor. The brooms were located at each end of the car. My question is -- how did the rotating brush clear snow ?? Did they sweep snow aside like a plow or did they brush it under the car or brush it in front of the car ? If they worked like a plow, why rotate the broom ? But if they swept the snow it would seem that would not clear the snow from the tracks. Which way did the brush turn -- back toward the car or away from the car ? Do any transit lines use sweepers today ??
The point of the sweeper was that it worked effectively to clear snow from hard irregular surfaces, flangeways in girder rail, switch pointwork in the pavement, etc. before it could ice or pack. Plows would be noisier if they contacted the surface; ineffective for those purposes if they did not. Flangers of the usual type would not be easy to make effective, quiet, and durable all at the same time, and leaving them down prone to catastrophe. I would expect you'd operate sweepers early and often during a storm so the buildup between passes was not severe, or plow and then sweep in deep or wet accumulation.
Note that on most cars the broom is angled, so the net effect is as with an angle plow. To my knowledge the rotation was always 'away' from the car.
Here are views of sweepers when I visited the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in 2018 and 2019.
At about 0:39:17
At about 0:18:30
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
Overmod You'd operate sweepers early and often during a storm so the buildup between passes was not severe, or plow and then sweep in deep or wet accumulation. Note that on most cars the broom is angled, so the net effect is as with an angle plow. To my knowledge the rotation was always 'away' from the car.
I grew up Altoona, PA during the 40s and 50s. I recall seeing the sweeper for the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway work a few times. As you have noted, the rotation was away from the car; it blew the snow off to the right-hand side of the trolley tracks. Sometimes right into the pathway of traffic.
My recollection was they waited until it had stopped snowing, but it was a long time ago. I may not remember it accurately.
I rode the street car to junior high school and most of high school. It sure beat a school bus!
Toronto had the sweepers but they are long gone. I wonder, wouldn't the snow contain gravel, pieces of ice, horse manure and so forth? Wouldn't that cause damage to buildings and parked cars as well as bombarding pedestrians?
The spray did not travel very far, and solid objects fell off close to the tracks and were not projected.
Still, while Manhattan, The Bronx, and Westchester lines used mostly sweepers, Brooklyn relied mainly on plows.
54light15 Toronto had the sweepers but they are long gone. I wonder, wouldn't the snow contain gravel, pieces of ice, horse manure and so forth? Wouldn't that cause damage to buildings and parked cars as well as bombarding pedestrians?
Sweeping the 161st Street Crosstown near Yankee Stadium:
The location of the photos of the previous post has been corrected, and here is another Third Avenue Transit sweeper on Bronx Park West:
Note the canvass covers over the brroms, this was meant to prevent projectiles.
Brooklyn did have some sweepers in addition to plows
Thank You.
Post-12947 blizzard. Bronx Park West, shows sweeeper effectiveness
Butsometimes autos stuck in the snow and abandoned by drivers were found on the tracks.
A West Penn snow sweeper at Connosville Yard:
DENVER TRAMWAY Version:
1948
1913
Thanks. Terrific comparison. Hats odfdf to you. Any idea who the photographers were or the precise locations?
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