blue streak 1 Is this going to be a time when all the RR museum pices of snow plows will be called out ?
Is this going to be a time when all the RR museum pices of snow plows will be called out ?
I recently watched several YouTube videos of railroad snow plows in operation. One of them, which was shot in New Zealand, is spectactular. It shows two locomotives pushing a wall of snow at a good clip.
Is it possible for a plow to be derailed by the snow?
Chat on a regional forum indicates that trains are being held in the Buffalo area, but no specifics were given.
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Any one know if some trains except high priority from the west to the snow area are embargoed until NS & CSX can open the tracks ?
That might protect Chicago from melting down ?.
I know that NS has run at least one intermodal off of Pan Am Southern south from Binghamton, NY to Harrisburg, PA to go west on the Pennsy instead of west to Buffalo out of Binghamton.
Running errands yesterday I saw an eastbound intermodal that had arrived from Buffalo sitting in Binghamton for a recrew. I didn't see any snow on the lead unit, so I have to assume they got out of town before the heavy snow started.
Looking to see if any additional detours have taken place today.
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Employment opportunity - shovel the snow out of the stadium. Ten dollars an hour and a ticket to the game. They're working 24 hours a day trying to get the place ready for a game this weekend.
In reply to the question about RR Museum plows being recalled to service:
CSX and NS both have Jordan Spreader type plows that handle Eastern snow (which tends to be lighter and fluffier than what falls out West) well, even enormous banks of it..
CSX also inherited from Conrail a German built rotary plow,it is somewhat smaller and of a different design than the UP/BNSF Jordan rotaries but it seems to get the job done even in "snowmageddon" situations like the one right now:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=92757
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carnej1CSX also inherited from Conrail a German built rotary plow,it is somewhat smaller and of a different design than the UP/BNSF Jordan rotaries but it seems to get the job done even in "snowmageddon" situations like the one right now:
Word on local forums is that it's headed west from Selkirk. Probably already at work.
New customer service advisory from CSX. Check out the picture below. Almost up to signal heads.
http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/news/service-bulletins/customer-service-advisory-more-snow-hitting-buffalo-area/?keywords=customer service advisory
Although snows in the east are fluffieer than the west heard unconfirmed reports that this is a heavy now. Any one know ?
blue streak 1 New customer service advisory from CSX. Check out the picture below. Almost up to signal heads. http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/news/service-bulletins/customer-service-advisory-more-snow-hitting-buffalo-area/?keywords=customer service advisory Although snows in the east are fluffieer than the west heard unconfirmed reports that this is a heavy now. Any one know ?
Johnny
Character of the snow is dependent upon two things - the available moisture in forming the snow and the temperature at which it forms.
Lake Effect snow at this time of year with the Great Lakes not yet frozen and with the 'first snow' of the season - I suspect the snow, when it started was rather wet and heavy as the temperatures were just begining to move through the freezing point. As the temperature continued to fall the snow would have gotten lighter as the lower temperature has less available moisture in the air. Cold air cannot hold the moisture that Warm air can.
As a general rule, you can figure water content in snow at about one inch of water for every ten inches of snow. Really light, fluffy snow might come in at 1:12.
That means that five feet of snow will equate to 5-6" of water. Not an insignificant amount, and there may be more if the snow is packed.
Snowfall that continues over time is usually measured periodically - say, every 6 hours. That helps reduce the effect of compression in the total snowfall measurement. I have heard of measurements being disqualified for being take too often.
That settling is what is important here. Just as we pack snow to make snowballs, the weight of the snow will serve to compact that below it. Add to that the early factor - the ground is not yet frozen in most places, so the warmth of the earth will somewhat melt the snow on the bottom, making it even more dense.
Back on the weight - a cubic foot of water is about 7.5 gallons, which will weigh over 60 pounds. Thus a cubic foot of snow will come in at about 6 pounds. Stacking six feet of snow means there's about 36 pounds pushing down on that square foot of ground. That'll help pack the snow...
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