I know that trains plowing or blowing deep snow encounter snow covering or blowing in front of cab windows and visibility can be zero at times. Why not mount 1, 2 or 3 video cameras on a boom 10 to 20 feet ahead of the cab and have monitors inside of the cab for them?
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
Ever seen the front of a locomotive after blasting through snowstorms and drifts? There isn't 10 to 20 feet in front of a cab anyway without using outriggers which would snap at 10 miles per hour!
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SP had a pretty good idea. Several locomotives were in dedicated snowplow service over Donner Pass and were equipped with the rotating windshield wipers found on destroyers.
CSSHEGEWISCH Several locomotives were in dedicated snowplow service over Donner Pass and were equipped with the rotating windshield wipers found on destroyers.
My understanding is that the glass itself in the round windows rotated. This had the effect of slinging off water/snow from centrifugal force. Here is a couple of references ...
http://donnerrails.com/rotary-plow-rebuilding-update/
http://www.hazegray.org/rail/snow/spreader/
New York City Transit (NYCT) has a snow blower...
The jet engine comes from a 747. Well not the main engines, just that little one hidden in the tail for hotel power. Yes. it does blow snow. It also blows ballast into trains on adjoining tracks.
This newer unit has been know to blow out peoples windows that back up to the ROW, dumping a drift of snow on top of people while they sleep.
Urban snow removal can be interesting.
Rural snow removal can also be interesting. It is against the law to run into the back of a snow plow (5 points and $500 fine). Of course you cannot see the plow on the interstate, the snow cloud extends backward more than a quarter mile. People drive into the snow cloud at 65 to 75 mph (or whatever speed the snow./ice and weather will allow). But once in the cloud it is a guessing game. Is there a car in front of you? Did it slow down? How fast is the plow really going? And most importantly: Which Lane is it in? Guess wrong and you will get a ride in our ambulance. North Dakota does close interstates for weather conditions, but if they do this, they will also call all of the plows back home until it is safe for them to go out again. The road will remain closed until it is cleared of snow.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Yeah it was the glass itself that spun. Many ships have such windows. Common on Great Lakes vessels for instance. I think they're called clear view screens. Here's several on the tug Jane Ann IV that pushed the midbody and bow of the old steamer Adam E. Cornelius that was turned into an articulated barge called the Sarah Spencer.
Adam E. Cornelius
Many British warships of the WW-I era did not have enclosed wheelhouses. Officers and men got to stand on the bridge in the cold, and so did not need windscreens.
Weird? Yes, but more weird is what they thought of our enclosed wheelhouses.
narig01 Also the New York Central had a jet engined snow blower.
CN has one in southeastern Michigan they use to clear the yards.
Norm
When I first saw the rotating ice and snow slingers should have been on SD9's crowned with those retractable giant icicle breakers. All equipped with metal brake shoes, the SD9s were superseded by GP38-2s which got the icicle breakers and the seasonally installed visibility improvers and Blomberg trucks with metal brake shoes, periodically applied to keep ice from coating the engine's wheels
The devices implanted in the cab windows rotated so fast that snow couldn't stick. the devices were called, we thought, Japanese de-icers, defrosters the devices threw snow hours, weeks at an interval of blizzards. Vigor hoped for!
Snow service.....a month or two away......
With a wiper blade.
BroadwayLion Many British warships of the WW-I era did not have enclosed wheelhouses. Officers and men got to stand on the bridge in the cold, and so did not need windscreens. Weird? Yes, but more weird is what they thought of our enclosed wheelhouses.
The wheelhouse appears to be enclosed and had equipment that needed to be protected from the elements. It's the bridge above where the vessel is commanded from that was open. It was called a flying bridge.
Flying bridges were extremely common in those days although the Royal Navy stuck with them as their primary bridge on major warships far longer than everyone else. Hearing in poor conditions was important so you had to be in the open and exposed to the elements. And on a warship, there was concern over flying glass and maximum 360 degree visibility was crucial during combat.
It wasn't until the advent of radar aboard ship after WWII that enclosed bridges on ships started to become the norm and the captain or mate on watch was able to stay in shelter instead of being exposed to the elements on top of the wheelhouse using voice tubes to communicate helm orders to the enclosed wheelhouse below.
Here are some nice shots of the USS Slater, a WWII era destroyer escort that is now a museum ship to illustrate.
The flying bridge where the captain would command the vessel from with voice tubes and compass.
The enclosed wheelhouse where the ship was steered from and engine orders were sent using the ship's engine order telegraph.
Cool. I want to know more about ships, especially war ships. LION served on the USS Constellation and on the USS Coral Sea. Big square windows on the bridge sure make a difference in visibility as compared to those little round portholes.
Were not the WW-I US destroyers given to the British at the beginning of WW-II (The "four stackers) equipped with enclosed wheel houses, for it was of these ships that I read the Brits complaining about the enclosed wheels house.
LION has turned in to a history buff of late.
I mistakenly called that second shot the enclosed bridge. I meant to say the enclosed wheelhouse. The Slater was always commanded from above in the outside with the helm orders passed to the wheelsman in the enclosed wheelhouse below via the voice tubes. You don't need much visibility to steer since you're following orders. And the less window area you can get away with, the better for combat.
I believe the British actually re-equipped at least some of their four stackers they got via lend lease to have flying bridges. At the very least they equipped some lend lease vessels with them after the fact. And they routinely stripped luxuries out like the ice cream fountains on their American built escort carriers, bunks, laundry machines, and spent lots of time and money modifying ships to their standards and traditions.
Edit: Here's an example. Above is the USS Twiggs, a 4 stack Wickes class WWI era USN destroyer. Notice all the windows in her combined bridge & wheelhouse. The second picture is her after being transferred to the British and now named the HMS Leamington. Notice all the windows that have been blanked out and the men on the bridge roof that has been converted to a flying bridge with the equipment that was there in the earlier picture removed.
Leo_Ames I mistakenly called that second shot the enclosed bridge. I meant to say the enclosed wheelhouse. The Slater was always commanded from above in the outside with the helm orders passed to the wheelsman in the enclosed wheelhouse below via the voice tubes. You don't need much visibility to steer since you're following orders. And the less window area you can get away with, the better for combat. I believe the British actually re-equipped at least some of their four stackers they got via lend lease to have flying bridges. At the very least they equipped some lend lease vessels with them after the fact. And they routinely stripped luxuries out like the ice cream fountains on their American built escort carriers, bunks, laundry machines, and spent lots of time and money modifying ships to their standards and traditions. Edit: Here's an example. Above is the USS Twiggs, a 4 stack Wickes class WWI era USN destroyer. Notice all the windows in her combined bridge & wheelhouse. The second picture is her after being transferred to the British and now named the HMS Leamington. Notice all the windows that have been blanked out and the men on the bridge roof that has been converted to a flying bridge with the equipment that was there in the earlier picture removed.
Impressive,
Though it seems it would be difficult to remove much snow with that..
Maybe if you cut off the bow and weld it on to a flatcar...
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
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