Hey there! I'm modeling the foothills of the Donner grade between Colfax and Rocklin, and I'm attempting to construct one of espee's snowfighting consists w/the GP38-2s, and a flanger. I've often seen quite a hodge-podge of equipment, oddly constructed tankcars and stuff(probably from a fire train) coupled with the flangers and geeps up in Colfax. What did a common light-snowfighting train consist of, and where can I find some good pictures of this equipment. I've already found a really good site w/info to model the geeps, but the rest of the train is a mystery. Can anybody help? This site rocks! Derek
Welcome to Trainboard Derek, it's always nice to have another SP fan on board. As for your snowfighting question, I looked through some of my books, and one of them, "Diesels Over Donner: Mountain Soul of the Southern Pacific" by Richard Steinheimer and Dick Dorn, has a chapter devoted to snowfighting, with excellent shots. A typical flanger was usually powered by a single "winterized" GP38-2. Spreaders and Rotaries usually got 2-4 six axle units (usually SD9s or SD40/45's in either regular or T-2 variety), with a spreader or rotary set on each end. The reason for having a spreader or rotary on each end was in case the set got bogged down and couldn't proceed forward; the spreader or rotary on the other end would allow them to be able to fight their way back out. About the only site I know of that has any SP snowfighting equipment is the site I regularly contribute to, the Espee Modeler's Page at http://espee.railfan.net/ He has a section devoted to the SP rotaries and their "snails." I've thought about modeling an SP snowfighting train myself, using the Walthers HO spreaders as a starting point, but like so many of my projects, they got put on the back burner. Paul #3 [ 14 February 2001: Message edited by: Mankind ]
Talk about timing...he just did the weekly site update, and has added some flanger and spreader shots. Check out "what's new" at http://espee.railfan.net/ Paul #3
I have a videotape by Video Rails, on Donner Pass. I believe from memory, it was filmed in the late eighties. It had a section on snow clearing on the pass, which is very interesting. I think I will have to pour myself a beer and sit down and have another viewing [ 14 February 2001: Message edited by: Alan ]
Thanks for the info!! I've been to that goldmine of a site before, and I love it. I just went and looked at the new pictures. I notice SP seems to have been very persistent with putting very odd devices on the roof of the cabooses and flangers. What are the semaphore(have no clue if I spelled that right)-like things on the top of the flangers? The cabooses all have various space age looking devices, too; I'm guessing they're antennas. Does anybody make a model of anything close to those flangers? This months MR magazine has a great issue w/drawings on one of Milwaukee Rds flangers, but it doesn't look similar to espee's. Who made the flangers? Are drawings available, maybe in a past MR? And--(sorry)I've never seen those "slugs" before, are they still used? So many questions!!!! Thanks for your time, I'll see if I can find that book, too. You people are so knowledgable. Derek
I've been looking around. I just found another cool, but skimpy site. www.donnerrails.com has some fairly current clips of snow trains at work, from a railroader's perspective. The geeps in some of the pictures have a cage-like structure over their front middle windows, probably for protection against falling ice. The air conditioner on the roof also looks like it has some kind of vinly-canvas cream-colored tarp covering over it. I'm guessing these are all very modern modifications. I'll keep surfin'. Derek
Aaaack!!! The farther I go and the more pictures I see, I notice that flangers only seem to have one common between them, the color orange. No two flangers look alike! I guess if you put some sort of scratchbuilt box on wheels with some common details, like those semaphore things and a plow, it would probably look good. Anything goes, maybe. Derek
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Derek: Aaaack!!! I guess if you put some sort of scratchbuilt box on wheels with some common details, like those semaphore things and a plow, it would probably look good. Anything goes, maybe. Derek <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Those things on the roof are signals to tell if the flange is up or down. If you go over a grade crossing or switch with the blade down, the flanger heads for the ditch or worse.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Derek: And--(sorry)I've never seen those "slugs" before, are they still used? So many questions!!!! Thanks for your time, I'll see if I can find that book, too. You people are so knowledgable. Derek <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No problem, Derek, that's what we're here for...to share info! As for your question about "slugs" (I think you were referring to what I called "snails" in my original post), the SP F7B power units are, AFAIK, still stationed along with their matching rotaries, awaiting a call to action. Here's a page with pics and info on them: http://espee.railfan.net/sp_snails.html The "snails" are F7B units without traction motors that are mated to a rotary to provide power to it. They also retain their steam generators, to provide steam to help keep the rotary blade and chute clear of ice and snow. SP's usual practice was to fight snow and ice with flangers and spreaders, and to save the rotaries until absolutely neccessary; I'm not familiar with UP's policies towards rotary use. Paul #3
Besides the flangers, there are Jordan spreaders also. We have one in Sparks that is the classic SP orange. I understand they were going to scrape it but one of the carman took it upon himself to work on it. They are going to keep it now, last I heard anyway. Another thing about those flangers is, they are narrow. You will find that they are about as wide as the trucks they ride on. Greg Elems
Living in Auburn, I railfan the lower parts of Donner. The flanger sets used to be kept at Colfax most of the time but have recently been pulled back down to Roseville. They typically consist of 1 snowfighter GP38-2, one standard GP38-2 and two flangers in that order. I've superdetailed a snowfighter GP38-2 in N scale but havn't got around to tryin a flanger yet.
I guess I should also mention that my site features several pics of the GP38-2s and the Snails. Check it out at Nor-Cal SP Connection
Hey!! I'm in Auburn too. I just went and looked at your site--you've got some pretty good shots of the front end of the Geeps. Do you have any pictures of your gp38? I'm in the process of modelling two HO ones. Do you have a layout here in Auburn? I guess the best thing to do about that flanger is to go out and measure it myself. Looks pretty easy to model, as I've said before. Too bad they moved the set down to Roseville, it was easy to go look at 'em up in Colfax. Derek Long Live SP!!! (espee sounds better than "you-pee" anyhow) [ 16 February 2001: Message edited by: Derek ]
No, I havn't taken any pics of my models yet. I'd be glad to show ya sometime though It's very cool to find someone on here from the same town Email me and we can arrange something. johnbarnhill@hotmail.com
