CShaveRRI guess if you've got that whole inch of snow and call off school, the kids had better have sleds, right? I know I wouldn't have the time or desire to go sledding on a school night (we had a 300-foot driveway with a decent hill near the house, on which we could take a few runs, but the real sledding hill required a walk of several blocks).
Growing up in South Carolina, I knew of sledding, but never had the snow for such. When I went off to college in Bristol, Tennessee, things changed. The main entrance to the campus was up a long hill with a good grade (it provided a challenge to a single-speed bicycle rider)--and was wonderful for coasting down. If there were no traffic on the street when you reached the bottom of the hill, you could go on across the street to a field--with a two or three foot drop on the other side of the street (very exciting to the bottom rider in a stack of three). While the snow lasted, we would be out there almost every night. I do not know why, but after my first year, there was very little sledding done, even after a good snowfall.
Johnny
tree68 [snip] Ironically, that's about how much I blew out of my driveway this morning, and life around here has hardly slowed down (a few people didn't at all, but they've been towed out of the ditches now). Sometimes (actually most of the time) I'm glad I live in a place where the local township probably has more snowplows than all of Dallas...
Sometimes (actually most of the time) I'm glad I live in a place where the local township probably has more snowplows than all of Dallas...
to both paragraphs !
And those are serious snowplows, too ! I've long admired the NYSDOT plow truck set-ups - they look like they took a few pages from the railroad's Jordan spreader concepts with a heavy-duty structural box frame around the cab and big wing plows, etc. As just one example, from - http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/ryan_pedone_snow_plows01.htm -
By the way, Larry - thanks much for your help with figuring out how to post photos here. As you can see from this and may have noticed on other threads elsewhere, I've now done that successfully a few times, though so far mostly with 'Other People's Photos' from on-line sources. But I'll be posting some more of mine soon, too. Thanks again !
- Paul North.
CShaveRRFive above, as we get ready for work. We may have gotten a dusting of snow so far, but this is broom stuff. However, I was pointing out to Pat that I have yet to see the moon during this cycle, and it's just about full already.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
BC - 22 here and full sun - but no wind! Can spring be far behind?
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Mookie Can spring be far behind?
Can spring be far behind?
You must remember that I live not far from the birthplace of the steel highway snow plow:
Since the 1920’s the company had manufactured the Frink snowplow. Acting on a dare from a friend, bus line owner Fred Daily, Carl Frink, a tire shop owner, invented and constructed the first steel snowplow in order to clear the bus route from Clayton to Watertown, New York. This plow was created to fasten to the undercarriage of a car or truck. It was a hit. By the 1930’s the Frink snowplow was being manufactured for local orders and orders around the state, the country, and the world. As time went on the company remained the “premier manufacturer of heavy duty highway, airport, and commercial snowplows.”
Frink closed in 2000, but I'd bet you can still find a bunch of them out there.
Running a wing takes some skill and practice - there are three controls and a definite order to putting a wing on the ground. If you do it wrong the nose will dig in and slap the plow up against the side of the truck. The state now runs most of their plows with just a driver, but most of the towns, etc, use a driver and a wing operator. In the case of a plow such as you have pictured, the driver runs the main plow, the left side wing, and still has to drive...
We don't see many V plows here. If we do, it's because we're digging out from a really big storm. Most highway departments have a couple available, though. Double wings aren't real common, but there are a fair number in regular use.
As for the pictures - always glad to help out!
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...
Paul, thanks for the photo! It has been a long while since I've see a plow like that. I lived in Orchard Park, New York, outside of Buffalo back in the mid-seventies. I can remember those wing plow equipped trucks. They are so cool!
Well, there is 2" of snow on the ground and it is still coming! This is a "major" storm to the folks here. With the 18 degree temperature (bitter cold by local standards), this is believed to be the worst storm of the season (for us). I will be back at work tomorrow at eleven a.m. I wonder how the county and city will have handled the roads by then. As of an hour ago, there was no signs of plows anywhere.
James
Mookie BC - 22 here and full sun - but no wind! Can spring be far behind?
Yep.
Larry, just saw your post. I think I remember the plows having a straight blade that could be angled left or right. They did have a left and right wing plow, however, they only used one wing or the other. I do not remember the trucks ever using both at the same time, most likely because of what you stated.
The most common configuration here is a single main plow with a wing on the right side:
Note that the left end of the plow (right as you look at the picture) is short and that the plow gets bigger toward the discharge end.
The plows on the Interstates often have a front plow that can be turned (like a pickup truck plow, only bigger) and wings on both sides. That way they can work either lane, plowing either to the median or the shoulder. The state now runs them in echelon on the Interstates - too close together to pass. That results in some huge backups behind them.
Airports will often use rollover plows, which can be flipped over so they throw the snow in either direction. Note that there are two cutting edges on the plows:
....Original home area being in southwestern Pennsylvania we did get to see snow plows in Winter....several different kinds. And often.
Even back in the 30's and 40's, we'd see big 4X4 State trucks equipped with hefty angle plows and even some with angled blades on the right side. Some of the earliest 4X4s I saw were Federal brand trucks. They must have been a monster to drive....{steer}, without power steering}.
When main and or county roads would be closed with monstrous drifts it would bring out big trucks with massive size "V" plows.
Beyond that, if it required more....the "blower" type trucks came to do the job....With a separate engine to drive the "blower" mechanism. They could bite into massive drifts similar as the pic's we've observed with RR rotaries.
They had {have}, a series of horziontal augers rotating across the front and a spinning wheel behind them with proper blades to blast the snow up and out to either side they needed to throw the snow.
It was slow going for them in massive drifts, but it was just a matter of time they would grind their way thru and open the closure.
Quentin
Plows were needed here today. I woke up to seven inches of light, powdery snow. The thirteen year old Beagle would not go out until I shoveled the patio. I can't blame her, the snow was up past her belly. I was surprised when I left for work, the county and then the city had done a very good job of plowing the streets.
Unfortunately, it is a thirty minute drive (in good weather) to the nearest active rail line. That is the UP line through Bismark, Mo. The Texas Eagle uses that line twice daily. I have noticed that it is still jointed rail through there. Does anyone know what the highest class rating that track can get without CWR? I have also noticed that Bismark has a MOW office. Well, that what it looks like with all the MOW trucks parked there.
Hey Gang,
I finally got all of my shots from my January Chicago trip up. There's not a whole lot rail related, but I did shoot this series in Union Station, so I thought I'd share:
C&C always welcome.
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Niiiiice. I've been through Union Station a couple of times, but I don't remember the huge central room and the grand staircase- is it possible to access the trains on the south side without going through those?
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Genuine railroad ambience at it's best....Beautiful. And the B/W photos are so sharp.....If the technology would happen to be 3-D, I believe one could walk right into the scene, and on the marble floor then hear the echo's from the footsteps....Just great Chris.
CShaveRRBrian, that's one of two such staircases there. If you entered the building anywhere east of Canal Street and went through the rat's maze right to the tracks, you could easily avoid these places. Go into the building from the west side of Canal Street.
Which is precisely what we did, went straight out to the closest exit/entrance to the Sears Tower (yeah, I know it's got a new name, but I forget what it is).
blhanel Niiiiice. I've been through Union Station a couple of times, but I don't remember the huge central room and the grand staircase- is it possible to access the trains on the south side without going through those?
I did not get to Chicago until 1968, about the time that the air rights over the concourses were sold, or let, and it was not long before the first reconstruction of that side began, so I really have no knowledge of the original concourses. I do remember that it is not easy to go down one of the staircases from the street at the time when people are coming in to work.
I forwarded your note to my wife; she has not yet had time to comment on it, but I am sure that she will appreciate (as I have), seeing these views.
And that just seemed really, really wrong to me. I think I'm still going to call it the Sears Tower.
Thanks, everyone, for the kind comments. I really need to go back sometime and shoot the station with a tripod (if they allow that). All these shots are handheld at ISO 3200...it'd be nice to shoot at a lower ISO (and with a wider lens...next time I'm there, I hope to have something a bit wider than the 18mm I had on this occasion).
To quote Ricki, concerning the wonderful views of Chicago Union--
....I have been in Chicago Union.....but oh so long ago. My only memory of the inside....that it was dark and dungy. Time frame was: About February 1953....On my way west {way west}, for Uncle Sam. We met a troop train there and perhaps we didn't even get into some of the massive spaces Chris has recorded in his great B/W photos. So we would have disembarked off a train from the east and boarded the troop train headed to Seattle.
My memory of it and the beautiful elegance in Chris's photos is so different....surely it was Union we changed trains in.....
....That's an interesting article....and perhaps the "new" funding for at least a move to get HSR off dead center.
The pic's. from Chris seems to show the station sure still has the potential spaces to be a show place. And exciting entry / exit, to the big city.
Our snow overnight....almost didn't happen. I'll call it a very light skiff, but it hardly qualifies for such. In fact, it has already disappeared. Temps headed up again today....Above freezing now. And partly sunny.
Somehow, here in the rail corridors of the mid west, and even other traffic qualified sections around the country, to my thinking would be well served with 110 mph service....Cost to speed ratio might produce a more efficient way to spend transportation {rail}, dollars. Bang for the buck....compared to money required to get to 200 plus mph speeds. Perhaps some areas would be "right" for a creation of a corridor of the high speed service.
CShaveRRThat woodchuck (yes, I know how to spell Punxsutawney) saw his shadow this morning. Now, if we could only hold him to his prediction that spring will begin on March 16. We should be so lucky!
Yep - If he sees his shadow, we're in for six more weeks of winter.
If he doesn't, spring will be here in about a month and a half...
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