Well it is getting to be that time of year again and with some snow slated to fall maybe tomorrow evening the division super, CEO and all around general boss, plus chief bottle washer, thought it was time to break the equipment out of storage and do whatever PM was needed. Back row has the wedge plow flanked on each side by a snow dozer and a Russell plow. A dozer mounted on a converted boxcar and a small Fordson with a front bucket and rear scraper blade is on the flat in the middle. Three steam rotaries round out the group. The dozer is for scaling down the drift heights in the cuts that are above the rotaries depth limit. The small Fordson tractor is for clearing out the area around the stations and other facilties. Two flat cars carrying ramps to off load the dozer and tractor are not shown. Also not shown is the consist that follows the plows in a separate train consisting of crew cars and a 120 ton crane for setting out the ramps and when something needs rerailing.
Hey, 4 spreaders, 3 working plows. Plus a stuffed and mounted plow, the Portola spreader and more flangers than you can shake a stick at. UP Roseville shops still has him beat for Donner alone. Awesome collection though.
John helped me prep when he sent me a plow along with the cars I bought from him, there's no shortage of power to push it around either. The Columbia Northern is slowly building up the MOW fleet X-1 and boom car haven't been marked by the shop yet but we're begining to prep equipment for the cold weather. THe shop has jury rigged a system in the plow that allows a heater car to heat the plow helping loosen some of the snow.
I have two Tichy rotaries, two Walthers Russell plows, two NSE snow melters, and plenty of Southern Comfort. I'm ready for Winter !!!
All I need to fight the snow is some Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps and/or Hot Buttered Rum and I am fine!
Very nice. Somewhere someone did a fairly passable and convincing version of a Milwaukee Road that I've been debating trying to duplicate myself. I just need to find a ready supply of spare parts for it.
It would be nice. We need the water. And, they spent a lot of money to rebuild that plow. It would be a shame if it continues to look pristine down here in the Valley instead of getting beat up on the mountain. Of course, I suspect UP disagrees and like it down here unused just fine.
Used to have a old converted B unit as a diesel electric plow That at some point I decided I needed the B unit shell more than I needed the diesel rotary. Still have the rotary head sitting in a parts box somewhere. Also have another wedge plow that I think was made by an outfit known as Pegasus that someday I am going to manage to mount on the pilot of one of my steamers. Right now in the 1 to 1 world the snow fighting equipment is very busy up around Buffalo NY. They have 5 and 6 foot totals with drifting as of yesterday and that is where the rotary's ability to throw the snow clear of the right of way rather than just shove it to the sides like a big Jordan spreader comes in. However I am not sure there are any big rotaries still in service in the east.
Contractors with bulldozers and other earthmoving equipment are starting to get some of the snow clearing work here in the Midwest, especially on CN, which is s bummer from a railfan perspective - I love shooting snow fighting operations. Wish I could get out to see them battling the lake effect snow in New York.
Western snow fighting was something in a league of its own. The Cascades and the Rockies presented some unique challenges. The use of snow cats and dozers to scale down the snow in cuts was almost a normal and before that teams of men with shovels scaled the snow down that the rotary could handle without tunneling into the snow. Probably about the only areas where sometimes running two rotaries was the norm. One always on the rear facing backwards so if the snow slid down again they could plow their way out in reverse. The book The White Cascades is a danged good read that is hard to put down when started. It covers the battle of the GN up in the Cascades at Wellington and the disaster when the avalanche occurred. At one point they were robbing the coal from marooned steamers to keep the rotaries running and shoveling coal into the tenders for water to keep making steam.
It wasn't just the quantities of snow, but also the type. Heavy, high moisture content stuff famously known as "Cascade Cement." And then there was some very poor engineering done in places. Such as GN's original route across the Bitterrroots via Haskell Pass. A visit to that site and you can quickly see why they simply had to shut down all operations, for long periods of time.
Snow wasn't as heavy in the gorge but there's some photos in "The Northwest's Own Railway" by Charles and Dorothy Wood where they were digging switch stands and stuff out. Also lots of Snow footage on the 8mm SP&S films on YT. I wonder if someone makes a model or a kit of Jordan Spreaders I'd like to make the two the SP&S had.
Overland did some versions in brass. But I never picked up one. Now if you can find any for sale, it'll probably be bog $$$!!!
I've never heard the term cascade cement before. Phrase I'm familiar with is sierra cement. Which sounds better to the ear.
If you guys are interested, I might suggest killing a few minutes looking at snow fighting operations on the prairies of Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas. This is a show I put together of my photos from 2008 to 2013 for BeecherFest last year (speaking of which, if you don't mind hooting/hollering at a slideshow and are in Milwaukee for TrainFest, check it out next year, it's always the Friday night of that weekend). Crank up the volume for full effect...
Such terminology was very common and well known by all three Cascade crossing northern transcontinentals: GN, MILW, and NP. Huge dumps of such high water content snow are quite normal up here. John is modeling up this way, so it fits and I am sure he knows what I referenced.