Rotary snowplows on the Southern Pacific

[Markbnj]

My dad sent me a link to this great video about snow clearing operations on the Southern Pacific during a blizzard in March of 2011. Enjoy.

http://vids.kvie.org/video/2365218614/

 

[BoomerD]

Pretty impressive job...especially since they were using equipment that was more than 90 years old to get it done.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's pretty awesome. Looks like it was wet snow too, that stuff is the worse, even in small amounts.

 

[John Connor]

They must have some decent radio repeaters along that mountain track.

 

[tynopik]

dunno, wasn't terribly impressed

 

[Exterous]

I was trying to figure out how much snow they would get in a tropical place like the South Pacific

 

[LTC8K6]

Less talking, more trains please.

 

[schmuckley]

Wow..That was pretty neat ..steam powah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeDLX9hzPoA

 

[olds]

Worked plowing snow just down the hill from those tracks for years.

 

[ViRGE]

It seems to me the hero of the story is the snowcats, not the rotary snowplow. The plow was getting crushed.

 

[tynopik]

It seems to me the hero of the story is the snowcats, not the rotary snowplow. The plow was getting crushed.

exactly

the spreaders seem to be handling everything except the avalanche, so they break out the rotaries and . . . they can't handle the avalanche either

also they seemed to be pushing more snow than throwing it. I was hoping for something more visually impressive, just plowing through and blowing out massive amounts of snow. Instead it ended up pushing a huge block a snow while the rotary slowly nibbled away at the back of the block.

However, are these like some of the last 'working' (as in not touristy) steam engines in the country?

 

[skyking]

throwing wet snow is like throwing concrete. Look for pictures from Alaska to see the huge plumes of dry snow.

 

[Ruptga]

Less talking, more trains please.

Seriously, skip to about 20:00, you're not missing much.

 

[eldorado99]

exactly

the spreaders seem to be handling everything except the avalanche, so they break out the rotaries and . . . they can't handle the avalanche either

also they seemed to be pushing more snow than throwing it. I was hoping for something more visually impressive, just plowing through and blowing out massive amounts of snow. Instead it ended up pushing a huge block a snow while the rotary slowly nibbled away at the back of the block.

However, are these like some of the last 'working' (as in not touristy) steam engines in the country?

Diesel fueled, so not as romantic as coal, but still pretty cool nonetheless. Must cost a fortune to keep in working order even if it only gets used once every 10-20 years

 

[ViRGE]

Diesel fueled, so not as romantic as coal, but still pretty cool nonetheless. Must cost a fortune to keep in working order even if it only gets used once every 10-20 years

It's probably still cheaper than building new ones. Once they cease working I can't imagine Union Pacific is going to replace them. They're machines of another age, before flight and interstate trucking were viable alternatives.

 

[DrDoug]

It seems to me the hero of the story is the snowcats, not the rotary snowplow. The plow was getting crushed.

Here's a good clip of a rotary actually cutting through the snow and not pushing it. It's still slow going but it's tossing quite a bit of snow.

 

[ViRGE]

Here's a good clip of a rotary actually cutting through the snow and not pushing it. It's still slow going but it's tossing quite a bit of snow.

Oh nice. When you need to dig out several feet of powder, it's probably the best tool for the job.

 

[DrDoug]

Oh nice. When you need to dig out several feet of powder, it's probably the best tool for the job.

A BIL works for BNSF out of Spokane, WA and he sent me some clips the guys took of winter 'fun' in Montana and northern Idaho. I'll have to dig through my old emails to see if I can find them. Here's a cool clip of trains hauling ass and pushing snow out of the way.

 

[LTC8K6]

Oh nice. When you need to dig out several feet of powder, it's probably the best tool for the job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KCqEBdjaXpM#t=558

The original version lasts a bit longer and shows just how much snow that rotary was actually going through.

 

[JEDIYoda]

dunno, wasn't terribly impressed

must be high on drugs !!

 

[John Connor]

Some people, huh?

 

[KeithP]

Less talking, more trains please.

Here is a shorter video without all the reality show drama
http://youtu.be/SuX4G3znpDE

-KeithP

 

[LTC8K6]

Here is a shorter video without all the reality show drama
http://youtu.be/SuX4G3znpDE

-KeithP

Those older steam/diesel ones appear to be a size larger than the one seen in the Nebraska video.

 

[destrekor]

I was trying to figure out how much snow they would get in a tropical place like the South Pacific

Yeesh I was even more off: I was thinking it was on a frozen segment of the Southern Pacific. And I was trying to think: why the hell are they even plowing snow on a frozen body of water? :biggrin:

On topic: Awesome piece of machinery. I love seeing sturdy and still efficient ancient machinery.

I actually cannot believe they have not developed a more modern giant snow-thrower assembly than that model. I might think a giant corkscrew assembly, or just a series of those rotary assemblies staggered smaller in front of one another, might help them push through deeper snow faster with less waste of fuel trying to push through with more power.

 

[LTC8K6]

IIRC, no regular type of plow can deal with the packed snow of an avalanche or a very heavy snowfall that has had time to pack down. It's about like concrete.

You can see that the snow actually was hard enough to support the rail cars and lift them off the rails in the accident.

A smaller diameter blade sticking out a few feet in front of the main blade sounds like a good idea, though.