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New York Central Jet Snow Blower
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I will have to get one of these when they come out. [:)]
Very Interesting but there are a few flaws in the design; # 1-the jet engine exhaust is too close to the knuckle coupler & the brake wheel, the knuckle coupler could have been left off. # 2-The jet engine don’t look realistic at all, looks more like a piece of pipe with pivot points!
In reality a jet engine would melt the snow but would cost a lot of money to operate!
Lee F.
I’m getting one.
Interestingly, the father of a friend of mine worked for the company that made these back in the 50s-60s? They were first made for the runways of airlines then were produced for the railroads. Before that I was told that the railroads would use kerosene and douse the switches with it then set it on fire to thaw them out.
laz57
Here’s one of todays !!
Nice shot JOHN,
Thanks
laz57
Thanks Laz !! I lost the picture of the one we have at work. Remember we used to put it on the Coffee Pot, to blow the snow back down to the Chief !! Here’s another one like that one used to clean switches in the yards . This is more like the one we have. There are a lot of these up here in the Nawth !! [(-D]
Thanks, John
Hey…how about mis using one as a jet powered rail dragster???
I’m up for the ride!!! [:P]
underworld[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
I like these too and thought about getting one, EXCEPT— wouldn’t blasting oily smoke fluid directly at the track lead to all kinds of operational problems? I thought track got slimy enough just from the regular smoke precipitation…something to consider
M.O.W equipment real or fantasy…You got to love it!!![tup]
It is interesting to remember that we still have UP 844 thanks to an experiment in snow removal. She was equipped with piping and nozzles to blow steam on the tracks to melt snow and ice. The experiments were not successful, though, because of the need to stop often to rebuild boiler pressure and the fact that steam deposited more water–and therefore ice when the temperature returned to ambient.
George, they had such a thing at Ladd AFB at Fairbanks where I lived in the late fifties. It thought it was homemade, however–a vertical engine cantilevered off the back of a pickup truck. I don’t recall any other snow- or ice-removal equipment’s being used on the runway; but it doesn’t snow much up there.
BOB sounds like where my friends DAD was located at, said he had to do it daily?
laz57
This snow melter is a nifty idea. I knew I’d have to have one as soon as I saw it. Kudos to Lionel for coming up with a new motorized unit!
Looks like it belongs on the Buck Rogers Railroad.
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The engines are the smaller units usually found on corporate jets. The units have exceeded their safe life as jet engines on a plane and are no longer safety rated. They still “work” as a heat source/thrust diverter and are pretty good at clearing snow ice off of switch points in yards. NYC was one of the pioneers. Follow the link to a photo of one of the early units.
Wow, I didn’t know that these things existed. These are pretty cool.
That’s kind of interesting too. (although I do admit I had to stare at the pic for a minute to realize what was going on - too early in the morning yet, i guess 
)
Would this device suffer from the same problem mentioned above of where to put all the water once you melt the snow? I know it’s a lot less volume when melted, but it still needs to be deposited somewhere eventually so as to not freeze back on the rails. (think of the weatherman inches of rain to feet of snow conversion, (I think 1" rain = 1 foot snow?))
That would be another interesting thing for Lionel to produce. Maybe if the jet model is well received, we will see this in a future catalog too.
Thanks for the link.
Lee : click on Chuck’s link from up above !! There’s a picture of the real one or prototype !! I think Lionel did pretty good !! Let us know what you think after you see that picture !!
Thanks, John