The last winter storm dumped a lot of snow in the U.S. Many railroads had to contend with ice and snow drifts on the track. The Cedar Branch & Western was no exception. The MOW crew had to drag the old plow out of storage and put her to work. In the picture below the plow extra pauses at the Crossroads grade crossing so the maintenance team can inspect the plow for damage.
The plow extra train features a Rivorossi snow plow on the point. It was undergoing a rebuild when duty called. I have installed a 9 volt battery under the weights, but have not replaced the headlight and added the off/on switch.
The second car is a steam engine tender which has been rebuilt into a water car. The full tender gives additional momentum for punching through the snow while keeping the engine further back in the event of a derailment. Old Joe says the real reason for the black tender is so that they can find the train when it gets lost in a snow bank.
The last car is a flat car with a bulldozer and ramps. Should the plow become stuck or the snow prove to be too much, the dozer can climb down and help out. Old Joe noted that someone forgot to pack bulldozer’s cab along . He loudly proclaimed that it’d be a cold day in Hades before he’s gonna push snow around while sitting in the cold open seat of that old Cat. Old Joe can say stuff like that…he’s got the seniority.
To really get a feel how much snow there was, below is a comparison photo taken during the summer. The arrow approximates where the second (without the rotary) set of snow photos were taken.
He sure is a cute little beeper. Ah, if this museum had money.
Anyway, the only plow I have is the one in my head. It’s going to be 4 Bunits, with 2 Athearn Rotary part blades, and an RDC for crew, should they become stuck and need someone to come get them. An entirely powered snow train. knuckles mounted to large metal spring pipes fitting into even larger eyeloops on the plow shroud allow work cars to be pulled from the basecamp to near the edge of the white stuff. Two strong guys push sprung levers back, and cach the coupler mounts onto jack stands. Then they lift it off and stash it in the RDC We’ll be using chains to make the strsses on the coupler lessen, too. During track speed running, the blades are disabled and all four Bs work as normal. Upon entering the snow, however, the Prime mover of the external Bs drives the baldes, while the internals slug power to the traction motors of he blade units. SInce speed is not an issue once in the snow, just power.
Question for yas, what is the point of a water car in winter?
This is just weighting to go!! 
