Hi guys,
Time to jump in the fray here and point out some long term plans that we have held- which is to someday replicate the original railroad's wedge plow and flanger. In this way we'll be moving snow as thy used to do here, by and large. Personally, I don't favor developing other methods which may be more appropriate to other locals (anything rotary or snowblowery) or other time periods.
The original flanger had spreader wings.
We aren't yet ready for winter operations- the recreation of those pieces of equipment will go a long way towards it, but more bits of innovation will be required. 52's existing plow was meant to, and is doing nicely to get us through in the mean time. It could use a rudimentary flanger would be very helpful- this is something that we've discissed and Wayne actually sketched out a few years ago.
A spreader is really only necessary when the snow banks reach the height of the 'chute' portion of the plow- on 52's plow that's about 3 feet over the rail or 42" on the ground. At that level we don't have the power to push it. Thus a natural limit on our willingness and ability to fight snow- it usually shuts us down in late January, when, at present, we have no further reason to operate anyway.
I look forward to the day when we have an honest winter operation- for purpose- that is hauling many happy faces to winter activities and enjoying an period steam train transportation experience on the way-- all following snow removal with various combinations of 9, 10, and 11 pulling a flanger and pushing a wedge plow...
Just my thoughts...
Jason
