Say, I was thinking ‘outside the box’ as I looked at some vintage catalogs & magazines. I’m one that strives to combine modern technology to current endeavors in modeling. One constant I noticed is; (& I do not mean to be, in any way, to be offensive); snow & winter scenes look much like my other shop objects after I exercise my disc sander. Put clearly, everything is covered with a beautifully even amount of ‘snow’ flock. Although the effect is awesome & looks great, I want to take it to the next level, & show ‘snowy’ & (also the all important to the prototype) the ‘melty’ & the ‘icing’ areas produced by the running machine’s heat output.
So, my base question is; How does one figure out the heat (temperature affected) areas of a Steam &/or D.E. locomotive?
Well, I also have the answer!
Thermal Imaging.
Yes, Being in IT I was able to personally see the assessments of my facility during a pre-merger audit. One of the auditors was more than happy to demonstrate [brag & showoff] the capabilities of a Thermal Imaging System during the audit. It is/was the coolest thing I have ever personally seen, & yes it is pretty much as displayed on ‘reputable’ historic & discoverer [type] television channels. This experience happened in year 2000.
My questions to our subscribers are;
Does anyone have such images on hand & available?
Can we go get some?
Although I joke & say I’m early retired, I’m really mid-age unemployed. Unless my situation changes, I’d be very willing to leave the workbench to pursue these images at a moments notice. ( I am in NE IA, & would travel to MN, WI, IL, & all IA neighboring states to get information like this.)
I have not personally seen many pix of running machines that show definitive clear views [most importantly: temp duration time] of ‘Heat Influence’ on snow/icing on the unit’s superstructure bodywork.
(In
This may seem like a frivolous answer but rather than taking heat images (which will tell you where snow will melt, but not where it will accumulate), why not just look for images of engines during the winter? Or take pictures of engines during the winter? To actually do it right you would have to take pictures during the winter to determine if the temperature will be above freezing. If you are going to take pictures when its cold, just take pictures of the snow covered engines.
They will tell you exactly where snow accumulates (which is more a function of airflow than temperature).
It depends on what you run into along the way.
When you do a good job, you need to go out the back door. A real good job has you jumping out the cab window into the snowdrift that is right there. Part of the reason carbody type units are preferred in cold-snowy climates. The walkways are inside.
Most units have fuel preheaters, so the tank stays warmer and snow doesn’t build up on it.
I would say another factor would be weather your running Steam or Diesel locomotives. I think you would be hard pressed to see any snow accumulation.Maybe when first leaving the station but after a few minutes it would all but disappear form the train the ground is a completely different story
If you check out this picture you’ll see some snow on the roofs of the coaches and the cab of the locomotive. After inspecting the picture I believe it’s some sort of tourist or fan trip train.
I think if you check heaters were never offered as an option on a steam engine.
While the previous post was correct that snow often blows off shortly after the train gets moving, sometimes it’s just too heavy, and too much! Take a look at these shots of VIA trains in Quebec:
**(all images are from RailPictures.net with copyrights as marked below each image. They are not my work).
How’s that for accumulation? 
Thanks for the input & the insight, I apprecaiste all the feedback & comments. The Post with the VIA units is exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks again!