Anyone have a photo of the strap iron Icycle breakers mounted on dome cars? Where were they installed?
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Huh? I'm not really sure what you have in mind.
I never say any "icicle breakers" mounted on dome passenger cars. That seems to me to be counter-productive, as how would they know which dome car would be ahead of any other dome cars? I have always seen the "icicle breakers" mounted on those diesel units that were assigned to passenger service in such icicle prone territory, such as on the Southern Pacific RR operating over Donner Pass (due to all the snow-sheds & tunnels).
The idea was to have the diesel units brake any hanging ice, and NOT the more "delicate" passenger cars.
Okey dokey. I found reference to them in an article. If I find it again I'll post it. Putting them on the head end seems to make more sense. Thanx for replying.
The B&O had something that might be taken for an icicle breaker, but I think it was more of a handrail used when servicing the floodlights used to illuminate the passing scenery at night:
Rusty
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I found the reference to "dome car icebreakers" in oscalekings.org . Also chessieman refers to them in a previous forum post. It appears more likely these bars were to service the searchlights, as suggested.
Tommy posted:I found the reference to "dome car icebreakers" in oscalekings.org . Also chessieman refers to them in a previous forum post. It appears more likely these bars were to service the searchlights, as suggested.
Correct, as those simple "hand railings" would NOT stand up to breaking ANYTHING hanging down in a tunnel or snow shed.
Southern Pacific and Canadian Pacific were the only two railroads I recall that used locomotive-mounted icicle breakers.
I think The Milwaukee Road used them too??
Go in to the 3:35 and to me that looks like a breaker mounted on the back of a SD40-2??
The Western Maryland Rwy. converted 2 40ft. boxcars into two icicle breaker cars in 1962-63, just as tri-level autoracks and other high cars started appearing. The WM had many tunnels and these ran behind the engines.
Reinforced cars like these make me wonder how anyone can take a handrail on a dome car to be an ice-breaker, but such is the power of the Internet to perpetuate false info, especially to the uninformed.
These pics are from publications of the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society, of which I am a 30 year member.
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