In this article on News Wire (Storm closes UP’s Donner Pass and Feather River routes) it mentions the first two movements westbound out of Sparks, NV, here are two links to photos of the light engine move and No. 6 by Lawton, NV at MP 235.5.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=89590
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=89591
SP9033
And there’s another storm on the way…
thanks for the Pictures. I guess they didn’t need the rotaries yet though. Are the rotaries even still active up there? And yes we are about to get whacked in the Bay Area and then the Sierras soon. It is clear right now, but that won’t last long.
Brad
Brad wrote:
“I guess they didn’t need the rotaries yet though. Are the rotaries even still active up there? And yes we are about to get whacked in the Bay Area and then the Sierras soon. It is clear right now, but that won’t last long.”
As I understand it there are 5 rotary plows at Roseville, 4 former SP plows and one UP plow. 3 of the former SP plows are operational, the other is stored. UP’s homebuilt silver plow is I guess operational, but its stored next to the unused SP plow.
Two of the rotary plows have been fired up and tested and readied if needed. Mike Pechner, meteorologist for the UP’s Donner snow removal operation, stated that the rotaries are held until the snow reaches 180 inches.
There is a wonderful video tape titled “The Battle for Donner Pass” by Video Rails, don’t know if Pentrex offers it now or not. It documents and explains the snow removal operation on Donner.
Here are a couple of links to photos of a flanger at work Jan. 3 at Tunnel 35.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=89880
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=89894
Because of the weather I spent most of the weekend at home listening to the scanner. Very interesting exchanges, DS 74 who controls that portion of line was very busy. No. 6 was setup to go dead at just west of Verdi, NV short of Reno/Sparks but after a few minutes were authorized to violate the hours of service regulations by management in Oakland.
At Bridge St in Verdi, NV they encountered a stuck car on the tracts. I called 911 and reported the stuck car on Bridge Street, as well as helped tow the car to safety, the information getting to DS74 just in time to warn No. 5. They apporached the road crossing slowly, after about a five minute wait they were back on their way east to a crew change.
There were also two eastbound freights go dead on this side of the “Hill,” one at Mogul in front of Amtrak, the other just b
I remember reading in an article in TRAINS some years back that SP would avoid calling out the rotaries as much as possible since they are more expensive to operate and they make too narrow a cut in the snow to reduce drifting problems; e.g., when the wind is blowing, the cut fills quickly and the rotaries have to get called out more often.
There are many more that are much more knowledgeable than I on this subject. I’m only a casual observer, but as I understand it for more than 40 years, its been flangers first, Jordan spreaders next, then the cats are added to the picture and finally the rotary set is sent in, which is used in conjunction with a spreader set.
SP9033
thanks for the info, and I do own “the Battle for Donner Pass”, it is really an amazing video, and shows how much snow they really do get up there. I just didn’t know if they still did us the rotaries, so that is cool that they do. The way the weather is going this year, they are probably going to have to pull them out! Thanks,
Brad
I was up in Truckee during the storm. UP keeps 2 of the old SP rotaries parked in the Truckee yard. They were gone on Sunday.
I saw 2 old SP locos with ice breakers on top (didn’t get close enought to ID them, but they were small units). Also, saw the “light locos” with 2 “crew cars” parked in the Truckee yard.
Wonder were the rotaries went?
Were they in action?
One more note: UP does not keep any “Snails” in Truckee. If the rotaries are running, what are they using for electrical power?
Got our first dump of snow here in the lowermainland today, about 5-7cm worth…
Doesn’t look like the RRs have been affected at all yet, but the driving conditions sure were scary!
Lots of water and slush on the roads today, it’s gonna be an icy mess tomorrow. [:O]
A few years ago, I got a guided tour of one of UP’s homebuilt rotaries by the operating engineer. They basically started with a F7 or F9 and kept the motor/generator. This powers a traction motor that turns the blade shaft. The cab had one set of controls for the snowplow operator and another set of controls that are MU’ed to the pushing diesels that are providing forward thrust. Thus there are two engineers in the snowplow cab. They used battleship style rotory windows to allow a clear view to the front. At the time I toured the snowplow, they were getting ready for the spring clearing of the Yellowstone Branch. The operator told me that with 4 to 6 feet of snow on the ground, the rotary would keep about 20 tons of snow airborne in the arc between the end of the chute and where the snow hit the ground. It’s an awesome sight.
dd
Here is a link to a good web site on rotaries.
http://www.n6ecv.net/Rotarys.html
The converted B units (without drive motors) are called snails.
The plows on the web page are the same ones that were parked in Truckee for years. However, there are no snails in Truckee. The question now is where did they go and if they are running, where did the snails come form?
Maybe the rotaries were taken down to Reno or Roseville to be preped for the new storm?
Craig,
Those two rotaries were vacated from the roster and moved to Truckee California during the summer of 1997, probably for the first Truckee Railroad days. There numbers were, SPMW 205 and 208. During 2004 one was given to the Portola railroad museum, the other was given to the California State Railroad Museum which already owns a former SP rotary plow.
SP9033
Craig - the UP homebuilt rotary that I toured did not use snails as it had the original EMD engine/generator set. I believe it also had a steam generator - which leads me to suspect the that base was an E unit rather than an F as I previously mentioned. The traction motor drive to the blade was similar to the SP configuration. Unfortunately I did not have a camera with me - but the memories are priceless.
dd
So the ones that are in the Roseville yard that are connected to what look to be “B” units are still active and awaiting the go ahead to clear the hill. I am surprised that they are not in a place a little futher east yet (Colfax). I passed them on my way home from work still in the Roseville yard. I have noticed that traffic in Roseville seems to be backed up. There are at least two trains waiting to leave towards Sparks and about two trains coming in from the Sacramento side that have been setting there for at least 2 days now.
SP9033 are things stacking up in Sparks?
Dave
Here are some links to SP’s snowfighting equipment
http://espee.railfan.net/flangers.html
http://espee.railfan.net/sp_rotaries.html
http://espee.railfan.net/sp_snails.html
http://espee.railfan.net/spreaders.html
heres another. .
Just saw an item on CNN saying that another 6 feet of snow may fall in the Sierra’s. Wouldn’t plan on using No. 5 or 6 to get home on time. So a question. Are the rotaries going to have to come out?
Jay
At about 1940 hours last night Amtrak’s No. 6 pulled into a Reno stop and a crew change. In consist was the private car Metis with Canadian National livery and lettering.
About an two hours earlier at 1738 Amtrak’s No. 5 pulled out of Reno, NV on its westbound trip with UP 4365 on the point. Just after No. 5 passed an eastbound BNSF trackage rights train that had been recrewed at Lawton, NV (MP 235.5) passed the detector at MP 237.8, the detector malfunctioned. The conductor ended up having to walk both sides of the train. The replacement crew, which was also close on hours of service, almost died on hours and made it into Sparks with only minutes to spare.
A UP manifest with UP 4428 died on hours at West Verdi (MP 229.6), and I
think the Reno fun train died on hours at Boca, not sure about that, but
there was talk about re-crewing it - They didn’t arrive at Reno until about
23:15 or so, they had AMTK 184 on the point I think.
The fresh crew of UP 4428 removed the snow covering the windshield, took
about 10 minutes and was done with a broom. Motive power was all UP; 4428, 7186, 9603 and 5806. They proceed eastbound without bells or whistles. By the time they got down to Reno, all was working.
Pictures of No. 6 at Reno and the UP 4428 cane be seen at the following URL:
http://ll-photo3.home.att.net/01-07-05.htm
Just heard this morning that UP’s railroad repeater on Peavine Mountain is without power and is operating on battery power. There is a crew on its way to this repeater and it has lost battery power or is about too. The crew is in a snow cat, they have encountered 100 MPH winds and heavy snow drifts.
SP9033 - Trackside at MP236
SP9033
Nice coverage keep us posted.
Amtrak 204 looks remarkably devoid of snow and ice on the underside. Is there a place where it stops to stomp its feet? LOL
Jay