In Winnipeg several years ago, there was a MOW car
(dont know if it’s still there} This car had an enormous
hood at the end of a flexible duct, that skimmed along
just above the track in front of the car.
Question 1: What was it used for ?
Question 2: Does or did any other railroad use such eqpt?
Would it be some sort of equipment to clean debris from the roadbed? I saw one manufacturer in a recent issue of Railway Age marketing something that looked like a large vacuum cleaner that sat on a long trolley. It had a hose in front of it and was intended to be used to clean anything from leaves to pop cans to paper from the tracks in urban yards.
Sounds like this
www.plasseramerican.com/en/p_cleaning/vm170jumbo.htm
Might be in here somewhere,
www.railroaddata.com/rrlinks/Maintenance_of_Way
To NANAIMO73
Nope its not such an elaborate piece of eqpt
from what I read (dont have a picture of it),
It’s probably something made by the CN shops
To CBCNS Yes you are on the right track
it’s some sort of a vacuum to clean the road bed
but what was it made to pick up ?
HINT It’s situated in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
on the Canadian prairies.
Can’t be to collect trolls. There is too much snow in Winnipeg for trolls to survive the winter.
Consider a yard cleaner, snow blower, switch cleaner or a blower for ballast fouled by loess (blowdirt)…
Well, this year it would be all those pesky mosquitos. [:D]
I thought I gave the answer away with my hint of the Canadian Prairies.
From a great book I just finished ROLLING HOME by Tom Allen 2001
(A Cross-Canada Railroad Memoir - After describing Winnipeg’s
enormous rail yars Tom Allen writes
There was also a vacuum car. I don’t know if that’s what the Railroaders
call it, but that’s what it wwas - an enormous hood at the end of a flexible
duct that skims along just ab0ve the track in front of the car. It’s a vacuum
cleaner to pick up the stray bits of grain that fall out of the thousands of
cars Winnipeg sends on their way, all full of Canada’s major export
resource. You wouldn’t think a transport medium that flushes it’s toilets
onto the tracks would be worried about a few seeds, but it’s not a matter
of cleanliness. The vacuum car picks up what is a big draw for large
animals that don’t tend to fare well in their encounters with trains.
It’s not that the railroads are particulary animal friendly, but a deer and
a train can make an awful mess and delay shipmentsm too. It’s a
problem all over the prairies. Deer are the most common candidates.
They see tracks, small grain, and because, by definition, they’re not the
ones who were hit by the traain lasttime, it’s hardfir the lesson to be
passed on. They think they’ve found one very long food trough.
Have any of you folks heard of this eqpt before, does it operates on
other rr’s Any photos out there or further info ???