Thursday, December 19, 2019

Snow vs. Trains

From a friend........

New video. The other link went POOF!

 

17 comments:

  1. Snow in and of itself is rarely enough to stop a train. What is a problem is clogging switches and other infrastructure.

    The winter of 54-55 had a blizzard hit NW Colorado that filled all the roads bank to bank. Nothing moved for days. My father was a section foreman in Toponas.

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    1. Yeah, once all that weight is moving it can probably blast through some pretty heavy snow.

      Getting them going from a standstill can be a problem at times, though.

      I'm guessing they have "track sanders" like all the Conrail locos I worked on. I think I recall seeing the spouts on Big Boy, but I'd have to look at the video again.

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  2. Apparently there are nearly as many railroad engineers as there are engines, and each engineer has four different designs for how snow should be removed. Looks like they all work, though, so there's that.

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    1. Much bigger than my SnowJoe or your Ariens!

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    2. Yep. Small blade for normal snow.

      Plow vehicle with weights for heavy snow.

      Rotary thrower for really deep snow, like in the Rockies or after an avalanche or in the Rockies after an avalanche...

      Delete
  3. Well that was powerful. Unlike, say, the Speaker of the House.

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    1. And all of us deplorables in flyover country are getting upset with their antics.

      Maybe we should stop the trains carrying their food and fuel for a few weeks?

      We could blame it on all the snow caused by man made climate change.....

      Delete
  4. I don't think a wet newspaper will bring those snowthrowers to an instant halt.

    BTDT.


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    1. Got some real horsepower driving those blowers!

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  5. Wow, some cool snow removal equipment, and so varied.

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    1. I've never seen a train equipped with a snow blower/thrower other than in pictures. Most of the engines I've seen have the little plow blade in front, but nothing Mad Max like these things are.

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  6. And the link to "1Funny" my friend sent me is gone, too.

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  7. Link has been replaced with a similar one.....

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  8. The reporter at 4:31 was the highlight of the new video. :)

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  9. Interesting how many of those locomotives had NO forward vision as to what they were plowing...

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    1. Probably doesn't matter too much as you're gonna go where the tracks take you!

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Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

 At 1700 local it's as described in the headline; 30*F, 88% RH, completely overcast, snowing like crazy (small flakes, but lots of them)...