Snow shed

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

i have decided to build a snowshed as my first scratchbuilding project

i was wondering what other names they were called as i did a search in the forums and came up with two hits that were not really helpful.

I was wondering how big they could be, what type of wood was used, design, you know the basics.

2

The links below may help you some. Snowsheds were made of timber, steel, concrete, rock, usually anything the railroad could get hold of. Some snowsheds were over eight miles long. Some had flat roofs, others had roofs canted up to 50 degrees. Almost all had semi-solid walls to let smoke/exhaust out and light in.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/documents/big_bend/rr_const.htm

http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Sierra_Grade_8-2003/Donner_Pass-Summit_Tunnel/pictures/st11.html

http://cprr.org/Museum/AA_Hart-Mead_Kibbey_CSLF/Alfred_Hart.html

http://cprr.org/Museum/Sierra_Grade_8-2003/Tunnels_at_Cisco/pictures/cs09.html

http://cprr.org/Museum/Lightfoot_Collection/lightfoot-31.html

http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Tunnels.html

http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/index2.htm?GNESnowshedsMontana.htm

3

Jeffrey, Thanks for the links you provided. I, for one, really enjoy looking back in history and seeing what was accomplished with what little technology they had then. Thanks, ken

4

Thank you for the time that it took to put these links together, they are outstanding

To be alittle more greedy if you happen to come across any more pictures of these wooden sheds please remember me,[angel]

i think i have an idea how im going to build them now.

I don’t think it is going to be eight miles though… this time[:D]

5

Roger’s Pass has snow sheds, so maybe “photo,Roger’s Pass,snowshed” would work? In the meantime, I’ll see what I can find.

6

Rail pictures…Montana…Marias Pass

There are a few shots in the group. Good luck.

Guy

7

Rick–

If you can get hold of a copy of John Signor’s DONNER PASS, there are very detailed photos of the SP snowsheds in the book. I believe it was the most extensive use of snowsheds in America, totalling almost forty miles in the Sierra Nevada. They were built of both wood and concrete, and built in several formations, including roll-back sheds that opened the track up during the summer months.

Charles Wood’s book THE GREAT NORTHERN also has photos and diagrams of the road’s extensive snowshed system in the Washington Cascades before the construction of the final Cascade Tunnel.

Hope this might help.

Tom