I’m planning a flanger and was wondering if they 1. sometimes had a plow on the front and were pushed ahead of the loco and 2. if they doubled as cabeese in the summer? Railways on shortlines, it seemed, always find ways to save $$$ and a flanger sitting in the sun all summer seems a waste.
I didn’t know whether to post my question here or on the “Trains” forum but I’ll see if I get a response. (plans in 1:20.3 so will need to be enlarged 148% to get to 7/8n2 or 1:13.7 (Maine 2’))
I’ve not heard of a flanger being used as a caboose. Usually, there’s less space inside than it may seem from the outside, due to the mechanism used for adjusting the blades. Getting thrown around in a caboose was dangerous enough, without all that miscellaneous metal to be thrown against, too.
As for having a plow on the front of a flanger, generally such a arrangement was simply referred to as a snowplow when so equipped. If you look carefully at many snowplows, you’ll see that they also carried flanger blades underneath. Flangers were typically behind the loco in a consist, while plows were in front. So a snowplow without a blade in front was simply a flanger (a single purpose machine), while a snowplow could also carry flanger blades and was thus a multipurpose machine.
Thanks! So that means I’ll have to build a caboose as well[banghead]
A flanger was exclusively a maintenance of way piece of equipment. I don’t think any railroad would have risked the safety of their crewmembers by mounting a flanger onto a caboose, because flangers derailed often when they hit an obstacle or encountered more snow than they could manage.
Flangers were also used to dig drainage ditches and touch up the ballast profile, so they were not used only during winter months.
I have videos of flangers being pulled by D&RGW steam engines and pushed by SP diesel engines. The SP used them on Donnor Pass to push the snow to one side and prepare the line for the rotarys if the snow was not too deep for the flanger to manage.
Only a very few had any structures . They needed the blades raised and lowered at times and built "doghouses " for the crew . Here is one link http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails/Equipment/MR1773.html
Here also is a link of a caboose built and used with flanger blades under it … so YES there were cabooses with flangers under them !
You’re thinking of Jordan spreaders, a totally differnt machine. It can be used as a flanger some times I believe. The one as shown in the illustration has a caboose- like body with a flanger blade that drops hydaulically between the rails to - get this - clear the flanges. It serves no other purpose. Early ones and many narrow gauge flangers were open bodied.
Flangers never had a plow on front or back and were ONLY used to remove snow, usually only in freight or terminal yards, the inside was difficult to move around in as it was raised in the middle( a type of cupola arrangement) We had use of one in the summer to bunk in when specials arrived up the Soo Line to Moose Jaw when we worked on the ice gang icing passenger trains, hmmm----brings back a few memories.
Oops, sorry, folks – I was confusing a flanger with a spreader –
The video of the D&RGW I have from way back when they were running their Mudhens over the narrow gauge Gunnison Pass line shows a flanger being used to clear snow from between the rails.
The SP used spreaders to clear the snow on Donnor Pass and organize it so the rotary snow plows could get it all in one pass.