Just wanted to let you all know that I haven’t lost my touch - for screwing up that is!
I model Canadian Pacific in the late 50’s and I really like snow plows. I have kitbashed a Walthers kit to make it into a CP shorty single track plow and it came out OK.
So, I said to myself that a CP double track Russell plow would be really neat so, being cheap, I set out to kitbash one from another Walthers kit. A bit of brass sheet, some bending and soldering…
Here is my effort to date. Pardon the body filler:
Now to the crux of the story. Those of you who know CPR will have already figured this one out.
Most railroads run on the right side forward when using double track, so their double track plows would naturally throw snow to the right. In fact, every picture of a Russell double track plow that I had seen was designed to throw snow to the right.
Canadian Pacific however decided that they would run forward on the left side of a double track situation, therefore CPR double track plows should throw snow to the left. Initially I could not find a picture of the CPR prototype so I went with what I had seen in the pictures. Only today did I find a picture of the correct prototype, and what really makes me feel stupid is that I got the picture on the first try this time.
So any suggestions regarding what railroad I should assign (please note the first three letters in the last word) this creation to would be appreciated.
I am no expert on plows, but as I have stated in the past I like to do a lot of loitering along the CPR mainline between Vancouver and Calgary. Through the mountains there are places where it would be impossible to throw the snow left or right on every stretch of track. An example would be where the track goes along a cliff with the river below. As we know that is the situation through the Rockies, Selkirks and Fraser Canyon.
I may be totally out to lunch on this but maybe they had both lefties and righties and you are OK. I would look for more photographic evidence before throwing in the towel.
Great looking kitbash!! Very nicely detailed and weathered. You will have to forgive me for using some of your ideas. I really like the front coupler assembly.
Dave: Thanks for the comments! All the modifications on my plow were made with styrene, including the coupler mount. I had an article on my build in the December 1996 issue of “Model Railroading” magazine.
The trainlife.com website also has complete issues of many magazines, include the Model Railroading issue where Bob’s article appears. I hope mention of a rival website does not get this posting or thread locked or deleted or whatever.
Most of CPR’s double track plows threw snow to the right hand side, since in general on double track the trains kept to the right. The exception was between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, which had left hand running for something like 400 miles. When the second track was added, in some areas it separated from the original alignment to achieve better grades. The result was that the north track was a better choice for the heavy eastbound grain trains of the time and so the current of traffic on the two tracks was reverse of standard. Just west of Thunder Bay the two tracks switched sides using a diamond, and returned to normal just east of Winnipeg by a flyover.
