Rotarys, Flangers, and Plows! (Oh My!)

[John McNamara]

Joe,  I am not sure a dual use plow is a good idea.  They were big and heavy.  A lot of car to tow around just to carry track tools in the summer.  Maybe a flanger wouldn't be so big but the inside maybe more busy.  Better to use a flat or boxcar in my opinion.

Tom C.

I think Joe suggests a dual-use flanger, not a dual-use plow. Pictures of the WW&F flangers (201-202) show them as 26 feet and 30 feet respectively, within the same length range as boxes and flats. The would be heavier, as you point out, due to the mechanisms inside.

-John

[Ira Schreiber]

Joe makes a good point.

This past winter, the BNSF managed to destroy two of their rotaries. The newly rebuilt Lincoln rotary (2010) managed to hit crossing planks through Iowa and bent the shroud as well as breaking a headlight and windows.
An ex-NP plow managed to shed ALL of its blades while attempting to plow in South Dakota.
Score: Snow 2 Plow-0.
Now a nice raisable wedge plow.....

Ira

[Mike Fox]

Yes, Joe does mean the Flanger. By dual use, he meant tool car in the summer, flanger in the winter.

Even with the wing attachment and controls that are on the B&SR flanger, there is a great amount of storage available inside for tools.

His thought is to be able to keep the same tools used in the summer stored in the car for the winter, and potential winter use.

[James Patten]

I wonder if someday we ever get a proper winter plow train together, if it would be worth our while to have an event for the railfans to come and photograph.  People would have to pay, of course.

[Mike Fox]

It may not be worth it, but it would be fun.

[Kevin Madore]

I wonder if someday we ever get a proper winter plow train together, if it would be worth our while to have an event for the railfans to come and photograph.  People would have to pay, of course.

Run a plow extra with steam in the morning (best light at the WW&F) and count me in!    Almost no steam operations in the country do it any more.   I think the D&S and the Strasburg are about the only ones, but neither does it as a photo event.   It's a necessary part of keeping the line open.

/Kevin

[Bill Fortier]

Here's a picture of a snow train of a neighboring line—the Knox RR (originally Georges Valley RR.) It's from The New England States Limited, Vol. II, No. 4 (Spring 1979) and shows their flanger, which resembles an outside-braced boxcar, behind 2-6-2T No. 6 in Union in the mid '30s.



Also, how about some wood siding and a second blade for 52 in the meantime?

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Nice photo Bill.  As you know there are members looking at what can be added to existing locomotives and cars.  The plans include putting a flanger blade on #52 and adding spreader wings, possibly on the south end of the engine.

The D&S just ran a winter special.  I have seen numerous photos (see Kevins link on the narrow gauge thread) and it looks like it was a good event that was well attended.   The D&S didn't have a wedge plow but the K-27 had the typical D&RG pilot plow that looked great.  The D&S probably made money on the event, either way there were lots of happy photographers.

If we build a flanger and wedge plow and run a plow extra for the public it could be followed by a freight.   The event would be at the mercy of the weather so if there's no snow that weekend a special mixed or freight would round out the visitors experience.  The event could be scheduled when #9 is in steam.

[Joe Fox]

My thoughts behind being able to run a real steam plow extra, with plow, one or two engines, and a flanger was plow out about a half mile before the actual photo attempts. Then go back, pick up a coach, or caboose, go up to where the cleared track ends, drop of the photographers. Then back the train up, drop off the caboose, like we did on Saturday, March 5th, and continue plowing. Now on the downside, the photographers would have to know that they would have to walk through the snow to get any photos they might want. And I would also have a revenue day scheduled for the afternoon, or the next day and run a steam in the snow excursion again.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

I remember seeing a homebuilt "snow blower" tried on the Mt. Washington Cog Rwy. back a dozen or so years ago when they experimented with being open in the winter for skiers. I don't know how well it worked, but video of it looked impressive. Seems to me it was mounted on some sort of flatcar.  Anyone know what became of it?  I've seen similar rigs close to home used for clearing sidewalks, etc., usually mounted on some sort of tracked vehicle.

Back in the 1960s or so, the Long Island Railroad had a rotary plow, but I don't know if they ever used it. I recall seeing photos of it, possibly at their shops, in the summer. There may have been other eastern roads with them, but that's the only one I can think of offhand.

Richard Symmes

[Wayne Laepple]

The Long Island did indeed have a steam rotary snowplow, and it was invoked as recently as the early 1960's. I've seen a few color photos of it under steam, though not plowing. It was later acquired by a railfan, and still later wound up at Steamtown. It is currently on display in Scranton. I believe it may have been built by the Pennsylvania Railroad; at any rate, it has a Belpaire boiler and the tender has PRR-style trucks. I don't know of any other eastern roads that rostered a rotary.

[Stephen Piwowarski]

The LIRR rotary #193 was built by Cooke in 1898.  As Wayne stated, the tender has PRR style trucks.  The tender is a replacement, which I believe may have been a regular PRR short haul tender, like some of the Atlantic's had.  I estimate that the boiler was probably replaced at some point too, but I am unsure if that is the case or not.   As a visitor may note, the geography of Long Island is particularly flat, and, in the late 1800's was mostly undeveloped as well.  The Long Island initially purchased this plow to deal with the extensive drifting found outside Queens and Brooklyn, where the railroad encountered vast open areas which are prone to drifting.
A great photo of the rotary in action, and other neat snowfighting equipment on LI can be found at this site:
http://arrts-arrchives.com/snow.html

[Wayne Laepple]

I am absolutely amazed to see that photo of a rotary snowplow fitted with third rail shoes!! Who could have imagined an electric rotary snowplow in 1:1 scale??

[Pete "Cosmo" Barrington]

Well, even though the construction is a long ways off, who says we can't start stockpiling the lumber and maybe gathering the necessary parts (trucks, couplers, metal for the plow blade(s) ) for the project?

[Mike Fox]

If something were to be stockpiled, I would hope it would be the steel parts. Won't rot near as quick if left in the only open storage we have.