@trestleking posted:Wow Kent, excellent photos ! What a drift ! Is that plow a homemade affair (wooden body) ? What's the take away - run engines thru there regularly before it gets impassable ?
Rich in SD
The plow is called a "snowdozer" and they date to the 1930s. You can see a little still chimney in the center because at one time they were heated with a small caboose coal stove. I think they were built in the Northtown facility in Minneapolis. You can probably find more about them online. I've been inside one and they reek of another age. In the majority of years they don't run plows because the engines can go through quite a lot. However, when we have blizzards with 50+ mph winds that last for days they can't run trains. Most highways are closed and they can't get crews out. The drifts are packed like concrete and build up fast. In these kinds of long lasting severe storms running trains becomes impossible, and that's not even considering the 20 to 40 below temps that follow them. As for this particular plow run, I saw no way this plow had any chance at all. I have caught them successfully plowing this line before but that storm didn't have the high winds like this one did.
Kent in SD
