How do you battle snow??

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

How do you battle snow? I use two Items: #1: Item #2: It’s not just a seasonal hobby ! Just get er done. Oh ya how about other mow cars .

2

Cool! Er,…uh…neat! I just vacuum mine. Seems to work okay. [:D]

3

Live where it only falls on the mountain peaks so it can be enjoyed yet avoided without any effort.

Mark

PS – cute pictures

4

SNOW ! - – - -SNOW ! ! C’mon eh ! there are Canadians who read this forum , no more profanity.

5

Don’t fight it. Operate only during snow-free months and put the snow-fighting equipment on display. It could come in handy for a “year without a summer” when global cooling returns.

Mark

6

Not much snow in my neck of the woods, shop forces have modified the Jordan spreader for ditch digging/cleanout and ballast spreading.

Dave

7

Living up here in the Northeast corner of Ohio where the so-called “lake-effect” snows dump on us until Lake Erie freezes, I would love to have a “snow melter” like yours for my 300 ft driveway!

Have you tried out your rotary on real snow yet? How is it powered?

8

Hey I got a few to show. The first is a powered athearn rotary snowplow with decoder and light and soon sound.

The next is a converted rivarossi rs-2 with a rivarossi gondola snowplow front end.

I also have a walthers jordan spreader that is not built yet. Bring on the snow baby I am ready!!

9

Here’s what we do when it snows:

10

Does the last one blast hot air? Or does it just blow it away?

11

I haven’t modelled it yet, but Half-Moon has what crews call the Snow Shredder. It’s four B units, with the outdside units fitted with roataries, and one-two RDCs sandwhiched in between.

)B-B-RDC-RDC-B-B( )=rotary blade

During travel, the rotary blades are disengaged from drive, and the Outside Bs provide power to get up to track speed. When it’s time to play int he snow, the engine is unhooked from the traction motors to spin the blade. The traction motor in the blade unit ( or unit) takes power off the Inside B slug-style to provide muscle for charging the drifts. This works since the name of the game in snow is power, not neccesarily speed. The RDCs provide crew quarters for anyone on shovel duty, or should the unit get stuck. They may not provide any extra oomf to the operation, but by using RDCs, there’s no deadweight on the train.

Looks like the ones used to melt snow off of the switches.

12

My one piece of snowfighting equipment.

13

Yes I’ve used it but not with all the paint on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O904oCLxYo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioJr8hG3URs The unit is track powered.

14

Well, the HO Santa Fe doesn’t worry, but the Garden and Santa Fe, my G gauge out back does, because eastern Kansas does get a lot. After several years of fighting snow outside I gave up and store the equipment during the winter. But for a time, I could stand in my bathroom window and run a train outside using radio control/battery power after clearing the tracks. That was the life.

Bob

15

The Penn Lake currently has one Russel Plow:

This one happens to be a single track version. I’m looking to pick up another one and bash it into a double track one.

Nick

16

There are currently two pieces of snow-fighting equipment on the property, and I plan to, eventually, build a steam-powered rotary and tender. [;)]

Russell plow:

Jordan spreader:

Wayne

17

… with coffee and paperwork… and a nice hot stove.

Lee

18

I ended my battle with full-scale snow by beating a strategic retreat to a place where it doesn’t happen.

Not much snow on the railroad, where it’s always September. I do occasionally use the wedge plow to push construction debris (mostly shredded foam) off the rails. Most of the time it just sits on a spur, waiting for an assignment.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

19

I want one of them

one of them

a rotary, one of those ones made from old gondola’s or steamer tenders, and one of those RS conversion ones. I haven’t seen any of them yet in N scale, except the gondola conversion one which was a kitbach of an old gon with a scratch build of the plow, and actually I think that was HO scale. Course now I just want to head home and crack open the Jan '08 MR with the Utah Belt article about snow plowin.

20

I’ve got 2 of the Athearn BB kit Rotary plows in CN colours, a Athearn RTR Rotary plow in CN colours and 2 Walthers Russell Plows in CP colours sitting on a MOW track waiting for the snow to fly.