Being a lover of all things iron ore trains, ore docks, ore boats and Lake Superior, I was re-reading a book on the DM&IR today and noticed what I thought was a peculiar (although really not important in the scheme of life) issue about the DM&IR locomotives. Even thought they operated in the snowy North of the US of A, they did not as rule, appear to have pilot plows on their diesel locos. At least on the SDs, GPs, etc. A few had the little v-shaped weedcutter plow, but overall, I can’t find pics of the maroon and gold diesels with plows. The LS&I is like that also. And after living in the Upper Peninsula for a while a few years ago, I know they do get the white stuff in large amounts!
This is as opposed to my personal favorite road, the GN, where almost all the road locos had plows. And the Milwaukee, the SP, UP, BN. I’m not saying it’s wrong, just interesting…
With the Lakes frozen, is there a lot of rail activity during the winter months? I know that the Yellowstones sometimes worked on the Rio Grande during the winter.
I think it’s because the DMIR and LSI don’t operate much in the winter months. Any one know for sure why the DMIR didn’t have plows? I know the LSI use to shut down in the winter months and lease some of there power to the WC. I’m not sure if the LSI does this any more.
I know the LS&I would slow down in the winter, but, they still operated in some months that had some serious snowfall. I only lived in the UP (Upper Peninsula, not Union Pacific!) for four years, but in that short time, I saw snowfall in every month at one time or another except for July and August, with significant amounts and accumulation in October thru March/April.
And the Lake shipping season wouldn’t usually close till mid-Dec or so and be back open late March maybe? Not 100% sure on the shipping time frame, but its not too far off.
And the DM&IR is a year round railroad, as far as I know. Of course, its not the CN. And even after the lake freezes over, the road still has/had a couple of all rail ore hauls that eventually ended up in Chicago and Gary, IN, and also had a twice a week freight.
I’m thinking they wouldn’t put the plows on and off, seems like a lot of labor. Must just be one of those things, I guess, that make RRs so individual in nature.
One thing about the DM&IR is that it’s on the west shore of Lake Superior. A lot of the snow across the lake on the UP itself is lake effect snow. I’ve only been to Duluth in the summer time, so can’t say for sure that’s the issue, but it makes some sense to me. Anyone local who can say if my theory is correct?
You have to look at the ‘era’. Back in the 50’s when those SD9’s were purchased, very few diesel engines had pilot plows. A work extra was called and pushed a flanger or plow over the line. In the DM&IR’s case, virtually everything was shut down on the range. There were no taconite plants that work year around back then. Only the local way freights would be operating.
In the early 60’s, due passage of the ‘Taconite Amendment’ in Minnesota - serveral large taconite plants were built and year around ‘tac trains’ started operating. A large stockpile with a bucket reclaimer was built in Duluth and the mound of pellets would grow over the winter. The mound would shrink as the pellets were loaded and shipped in the ore boats. The new SD38’s sported a large pilot plow.
There is a lot of snow in Northern Minnesota, but the ‘cold’ temps are even worse. Over in Upper Michigan(the UP, not the railroad), they get a lot more snow due to ‘lake effect’.
Interestingly, the 300 class ‘SD-M’(rebuilt SD9’s) did not get the plow, and the 400 class SD40-3 engines do not have plows as well.
The GN/MILW engines were not delivered with plows as well in the 50’s. They seem to be a late 60’s thing(like the amber roof beacons). SP was an early user of pilot plows, and BN ordered engines with plows(of course there was no BN until 1970, and plows were now ‘in vogue’).
Actually, most of the DMIR SD38s had smaller plows, or never had any plows at all. It seems as though the plows had gotten taken off on some of the locomotives, but never have I seen a large plow on a DMIR SD38.
I need my coffee in the morning! The SD38AC & SD38-2 engines arrived without any snow plows. #204 does now have a large plow. Others have a smaller plow as in your picture or a ‘rock plow’; sort of an angles bar across the bottom of the pilot. I am not sure if that was a later add-on, or new with the engines.
I thought I had read somewhere that the DMIR ran a front-end loader out first, and cleared the tracks before the trains ran. This would negate the need for the plow.
WSOR: If that is what the Missabe did (run a loader/plow ahead of the trains) I guess that would explain why no pilot plows. Interesting way to run a railroad!
WSOR; do you ever run down south past Madison? I used to live in Milton. WSOR services a grain elevator and a Banta Chemicals plant down there, and the yard in Janesville is three miles from where I lived…
BTW, what do you have to do in order to get a position as an engineer on the Wisconsin Southern?
I’m sure on the early SD’s (BTW I don’t recall any DMIR GP’s?) it’s related to the shutdown in winter. All-rail trains were pretty rare to nonexistant in the natural ore days of the fifties, it didn’t become common until the taconite era. The DMIR ran freight in the winter but to a large extent shut down when Duluth and Two Harbors froze over.
It does snow here in MN pretty well but not the regular 150-200" they get in the Upper Peninsula of MI. 40" would be more normal, but keep in mind in northern MN it can snow anytime from mid-September to mid-May.
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