I guess the latest storm was enough to force UP to roll out the heavy metal to clear the tracks over Donner. I was lucky enough to catch a pair of rotarys facing opposite directions being powered by two SD90aces. I was expecting the “B” power units to sound louder against the SD90s, but the newer units drown them out. I hope some of the guys who were snapping pictures post some. I am trying to figure out how to post my camera phone pics. I guess you have to have something like photobucket to post pictures now.
They are SD70ACes. Nice to see the rotaries get out and get some work, even if it wasn’t something the UP wanted to see.
Teh B units were not really working hard because the blades were just turning slowly. Wait until they hit the deep snow and those B units will sound off big time. I heard them in Roseville when they fired them up and the sound was like old times.’
CZ
And it was cold up there with the snow coming down hard at Gold Run.
Man, I wish I had a car that could handle the trip up the mountain and the Time off to do it. All I could manage was verifying that the rotaries weren’t in Roseville anymore.
I bet the sharp pencil guys are fuming, all that money spent on rebuilt Jordan Spreaders and Mother Nature gave them the proverbial finger.
When was the last time the plows were run on Donner? Based on the various videos on Donner ops, the answer seems to be possibly the 80s.
CZ:
Was listening to a Weather Report for the coming week-end and the report was that the outlook in the California Mtns was for another 16-17 FEET of snow!
Based on the picture you took, I was looking around and found the following link to former SP Rotery Plows based at Roseville. Is your photo one of these?
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWsvb8UXU38&feature=related
If the predicted snow materializes then it should be a cold/Interesting week-end!
Keep Warm! Be Cool? [|(]
Last time they worked was reportedly 1998, they did a “make work” trip in 2008 to train new people on how to run the rotaries before all the veterans retired.
One of the rotaries has derailed up in snow country. Also one of the spreaders got hit by a avalanche & while the crew is OK the spreader is buried under tons of snow
Saw a e-mail from a aquaintance where UP is deadheading crews by Air!
My photos are the same units on the Hill yesterday. There were a lot of chasers yesterday but we cannot get on the mountain today. The rear rotary was on the ground the last time I got a report but that happens and I am sure they will get it back on the track soon. It has been reported the snow is over 20 feet deep in some areas and an additional slide came down on the rotaries also.
if you check the books on what happened in 1952, one rotary set and AC 12 were turned over by a slide that took them off of the tracks. It is not safe to go on the Hill when the snow is that deep. Interstate 80 was closed for over eighteen hours the past two days and they normally keep that one open 90% of the time in the snow.
I hope to get up there later tomorrow or Monday to see the rotary set blowing snow.
CZ
Here are a few pictures of the 300 hundred I took yesterday. It was busy/!
CZ
http://s806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/Trainsforyou/Winter%20on%20Donner/?albumview=slideshow
Is Up using the old WP line by Keddie or is that line impacted as well? The avalanches will certainly cause second thoughts of going over donner until the snow stablizes.
Wonder if AMTRAK wishes they could detour over LA&SL or Idaho - Portland?
2 Eastbound trains were just sent over the FR route. It got plowed/spread thursday I believe and had it’s own slide issues.
I don’t know if you noticed in the Newswire earlier this week, and last, but CP had record avalanche problems west of Calgary this year. I bet you there are guys in HQ asking the same type of questions. Was this winter an aberration, or do we have to go retro and start using more rail mounted snow removal equipment again?
CP made a decision a number of years ago to use more tracked and rubber tire mounted machinery to tackle snow removal at multiple locations at once. A not illogical idea, except that the equipment is transported by road, and the roads were closed by the same snowfall.
Working from each end of a snow pack, could they get the line cleaned any quicker than waiting for the highway department to clear the roads so they can move their new equipment in?
I am really curious to see if they change their policies on this.
Bruce
CZ,
Was Gold Run as high as you went yesterday? Is there only one pair of rotarys in Roseville. I thought that there was a second pair in Sparks.
Just goes to show you. Anyone who tries to outguess the weather is going to get buned sooner or later. Been watching weather for a long time but I still see things that I’ve never seen before. Could be that the rotaries will be needed for several winter seasons in a row. Appears that a lot have been used this winter.
Jordan spreaders still are used look at the pictures and note how well the snow has been groomed away from the tracks. Bet rebuilding allowed for quicker work where they were used… Will be looking for more reports from our posters!!
Up until yesterday, the 25th, the Union Pacifice was using the FRC for all westbounds except Amtrak #5 for the last week or so. The were using the Donner pass for eastbounds except Amtrak #5 until the slide on Thursday the 24th. They had a sink hole on track # 2 some place past milepost 168 and track # 2 was out of service for almost 10 days. This all came to a halt on the 24th when four eastbounds were holding on the Hill between Roseville and Emigrant Gap for hours on end after the slide came down on a flanger near Shed 10. The rotary set went up the Hill yesterday and worked in some 20 feet slides if we got the information correctly. It has been a big snow year on Donner and Interstate 80 was close for about 18 hours the last two days but is now open again to cars only using chains or four wheel drive but trucks were holding the last two days. We have trucks all over the place along the highway waiting for an open road.
CZ
Yes, I could not go any past Gold Run without chains or four wheel drive, which I do not have. There are three rotaries in Rosville at this time but only one is useable. The other two are on hold for parts. The two rotaries on the Hill are the most active and the single one in Truckee is owned by the museum and is not useable in any way. The MW209 was built in 1928 as a steam rotary is but was converted to diesel power in 1957 era. The steam condensation you see in the pictures is from the F7B steam generator and is used to clear the blades so they do not freeze over when used. It is a great sight to see and each rotary has two steam whistles which they use a lot.
There are at least 3 rotaries still in Roseville, but none of them have the power unit on them.
UP spent a lot of money on those Jordan Spreaders. They combed the system looking for suitable units. If I recall, one of the 2 was actually a museum piece. They were completely stripped down and rebuilt to match the specs of the SP Jordan Spreaders that were already on the mountain. Updated with Controls for the engines and other modern convinces. They were even given SP MOW numbers. The idea was that now they have 2 trains with a spreader on either end, so they can plow both lines at once without needing to use the balloon track to turn the equipment. The original SP spreaders were to get the updates as well.
There is one unit in Roseville now with a F7b power slug. Three F7b’s have been in Roseville for several years and I am told that unit is usable but not one of the two main ones. The other Rotary that does still run is at Portola. They do exercise it now and then and it is maintained to be used on the FRC if the Union Pacific ever needs it. I don’t think that will happen but that is the story at the muesum.
The two remaining units at Roseville are said to be there for parts as the MW209 was built in 1928 and except for the rebuilding of the diesel to power it, it really is an old machine. It was great to see it out and about.
There is a great video of the rebuilding of the spreaders available to view. It shows the work and how they did take them down to bare frame and start over including the new cabs and amost everything about them is new. The heavy snow has already damaged at least two of them and two flangers have been damaged this year in derailments. It has been a bad year for railroading on Donner. I just heard that the FRC is now closed by a large landslide, which happens a lot up the
Bill Lynch who was the SP’s big boss on Donner during the tough 1981/82 snow seasons, said that the preferred way to deal with the snow is flangers with spreaders as necessary, and using bulldozers to push the snow further down the hill. What happened this year is UP thinking the winter was over started cutting back on the bulldozers ($$$), combined with a strong series of late storms and it is too late. You wind up with a trench with the rotaries as your last resort. Once your trench forms your stuck using roataries until spring arrives.
BTW - Bill is featured in the National Geographic special “Love those Trains” Donner Pass segment. The NG film crew just happened to be present shooting some preliminary footage for their “Salad Bowl Express” video, when the storms hit.