video of trains plowing thru heavy snow

[Mike Soaper]

diversion of the day

Funniest Trains Moving Through Snow Compilation - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA06hL4VemA)

[Andrew Joiner]

Cool, thanks. I could feel the power in my gut as the trains approached. Amazing the spectators at the train station stood so close.

[Bruce Wrenn]

While you are at it, look at video on rotary in Donner Pass

[Ronald Blue]

Rotaries are more impressive. They clear the tracks when you are dealing with much deeper snow. Cuts that fill in, mountain areas that receive very heavy snow fall. Drifts are easy but when you have long stretches of snow that could easily be 15-20 feet deep you can't just plow through it. Not even with a train. They ride up and quickly aren't on the rail any longer. The equivalent of a vehicle getting high centered.

[Larry Frank]

I like the jet engine snow blowers for cleaning the tracks and switches.

[Ronald Blue]

I like the jet engine snow blowers for cleaning the tracks and switches.

They are neat but only effective and practical in yards. If the snow doesn't blow out you just melt it. They've evolved tremendously too. They used to all be rail mounted and then they came out with smaller "portable" self contained units that go on the forks of a backhoe or skid steer. Instead of having to go back and throw a switch and start om the next they just cross from one track/ switch to the next.

[Peter Kelly]

Near me Amtrak Rhinecliff NY at the 1:54 mark.

[Alex Zeller]

I always like watching this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Srye_UUXaM

[Bill Dufour]

Lots of folks think California does not get snow. So I offer this photo as proof we do get deep snow.
Bill D.

[David Bassett]

Lots of folks think California does not get snow. So I offer this photo as proof we do get deep snow.
Bill D.

Parts of the state get lots of snow. Other parts less.

Was that first photo on Hwy 88 just before Kirkwood? I was through there once when the snow had met at the top making a tunnel over sections.

More CA snow trivia: when I was growing up the "cool kids" would ski Mammoth in the morning and surf Malibu in the afternoon to celebrate July 4th. (I admit I was never that cool.)

To bring it back on topic, the first YouTube suggested video after the posted link was for Rotaries on Donner Summit. while spectacular those were for the less snowy parts of the route, they built snow sheds and tunnels for the parts where the snow drifted. The length of those sheds & tunnels was why Southern Pacific build the cab-forward steam engines, if the cab was in the rear the smoke and fumes tried to kill the crews.

[Ronald Blue]

Parts of the state get lots of snow. Other parts less.

Was that first photo on Hwy 88 just before Kirkwood? I was through there once when the snow had met at the top making a tunnel over sections.

More CA snow trivia: when I was growing up the "cool kids" would ski Mammoth in the morning and surf Malibu in the afternoon to celebrate July 4th. (I admit I was never that cool.)

To bring it back on topic, the first YouTube suggested video after the posted link was for Rotaries on Donner Summit. while spectacular those were for the less snowy parts of the route, they built snow sheds and tunnels for the parts where the snow drifted. The length of those sheds & tunnels was why Southern Pacific build the cab-forward steam engines, if the cab was in the rear the smoke and fumes tried to kill the crews.

Actually snow sheds are used in areas prone to avalanches frequently. We have a number of them going through Glacier National Park and then in some areas where a snow shed isn't practical we have slide fences that warn of avalanches before the trains come along and encounter them. They also use the fences in areas prone to rock slides. The sensors in them alert trains and dispatching of a potential track obstruction.
Tunnels of any length require ventilation to clear the fumes. When a tunnel is over 7 miles long it will get very smoky. The Cascade tunnel is the longest tunnel in the United States. When steam power ruled smoke would have been a huge issue. Not as much with diesel power but the Cascade used electric locomotives until ventilation fans were added to eliminate the smoke issues.

[Bill Dufour]

The photo was lifted from the net so I have no idea where it was taken other then California. A few years ago Kirkwood got over 40' of snow for the season. My grandfather's uncle was trapped for several days on Donner summit in a train in the 1950's? This was before big helicopters or snowmobiles.
Bil lD.

Edit: three days in 1952.

https://ctr.trains.com/railroad-reference/operations/2002/01/stranded-streamliner