Rotary Snow Plow Returns to Donner Pass
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- Опубликовано: 27 фев 2017
- On February 25th, 2017, the rotary snow plows returned to Donner Pass to battle the heavy Sierra Snow along the UP Roseville Subdivision.
The rotaries are somewhat of a legend along the railroad. Only used every 10 years or so, the rotaries are rarely seen. Flangers and spreaders work tirelessly through the winter months to keep the tracks open. When they cannot keep up with Mother Nature, the railroad turns to the rotaries. "They were sometimes called War Wagons" said retired Southern Pacific superintendent Bill Lynch, "Going to war against Mother Nature."
It has been a difficult winter for the Union Pacific Roseville Division. Intense storms have dropped over 13 feet of snow in the mountains, making it difficult to move trains along the Donner Pass Route (Roseville to Sparks via Truckee). The Feather River Route, which can often alleviate rail traffic from Donner Pass, has been closed for weeks due to massive washouts near Portola.
Keeping the lifeblood of the American economy moving is the responsibility of the Truckee-based snow fighters. They are an elite group of railroad employees, often with decades of experience working on Donner Pass. A combination of their experience and the power of the rotary snow plow allow the railroad to contend with the worst of Mother Nature.
Here is an announcement from Union Pacific regarding the recent use of the rotaries:
"To Our Customers,
Union Pacific's most powerful snow-removal machine, the rotary snow plow, was in full operation this past weekend during the third snowiest winter in the Sierras in recorded history. The plow cut through snow that reached depths of 13 feet, across 14 miles near the Donner Pass. The railroad's first and second lines of defense against snowstorms - flangers and spreaders - were unable to keep the tracks clear due to the depth of snow walls, so the rotary was required to clear large amounts of snow in a timely manner.
We have three one-of-a-kind rotary snow plows to use as needed during winter months. Union Pacific's plows were originally built in the 1920s and operated by steam, then overhauled and converted to diesel electric in the 1950s. In 2012, we made the first major makeover in more than 60 years to one rotary plow enhancing its productivity, reliability and power. We plan to enhance another rotary plow in 2017.
Union Pacific is working diligently during the winter months to keep our lines cleared of snow and ready for your business."
In this video, you come along as the rotaries work through Troy and Norden, California.
SPMW 207 -- SPMW 8207 -- UP 8661 -- UP 8972 -- SPMW 8209 --- SPMW 209
WTKTKF 25
Jake Miille © 2018
jakemiillephotography.com 
Развлечения
thank you for not putting stupid music over the sounds of the loco's working hard
You mean like this "original thought"?
ruclips.net/video/hBP15lRprPs/видео.html
@@7GL6
C
Keep writing
And to top it off that so called "music" is better described as; "despicable electronic irritating noise".
This machine is a death trap for any human or animal...
Well said. It’s too bad we couldn’t feel the cold and smell the smells.
I could watch these all day.
“Thomas had never seen so much freaking snow”
I am a train and I approve this footage.
Timosha21 lol
No trains or rotary snow plows were harmed in the production of this video!
@@RaoulThomas007 However a large swath of the snow population was sent packing as they took the most direct flight out of the area.
I am a snowman ⛄ and I can't look!
hai train haha your funny
Beautiful, Thanks for posting!
I played in the snow sheds at Norden as a child in the early 50s.
Thanks for a great video.
It's so impressive how much snow they can move
The amount of snow being moved and distance it is thrown is amazing
The greatest railroad video of all-time.
I remember so many times skiing at Sugerbowl and the tram would take you right over these tracks. So cool! You knew you were in for some incredibly good skiing!
Fantastic. Award winning. Amazing video.
I remember first seeing one of these in the old 1980s National Geographic tv special "The Love of Trains."
You never really forget this kind of machine.
Same ones. Built in 1937 and still used when needed.
"Love Those Trains" 1984.
I have lived in the area for over 30 years and have still never seen the plow train in person. Awesome video, thanks so much for sharing!
In Feb., 1993, while SP Western Region rules instructor in Roseville, I got to spend three days with the rotaries in the Sierras and, given my heritage was as a train order train dispatcher on the San Antonio Division, it was an exhilarating experience. One year earlier, I was able to spend two days on a flanger working between The Gap and Truckee.
Truly love the Donner Pass area and this video was really great.. Brought back many memories. All the best.
Along with so many others I want to say how much I enjoyed your rotary video.
I'm from that area.
Thanks also for the written explanation. Nicely done.
Now I think you have several polite, intelligent questions to go in and answer.
I lived on the summit for many years in soda springs. I'm still only an hour away. I've seen all of those trains many times including the rotary blower and am still in awe every time I see it. Great video and there's nothing like standing close........... enough to those unbelievably powerful machines..... Awsome
I LOVE the sounds of the trains....my uncle was a conductor on the CN railway....always love the sights and sounds of a passing train!!!!
Pretty amazing to see those old F series B units still being used. Let alone them and the rotaries still having the SPMW lettering some 20+ years after the merger.
tarmac2001 iii
Probably only used with the rotarys so no one cares
They electrically power the rotary's drive motors. No other way to operate them.
@@the_retag Espee fans care...
@@eastbaykidd8574 i know but in the company i meant due to there rare use bo one can be bothered to repaint them
Fantastic. Glad to see that at least one wasn't rebuilt. So cool that a piece of equipment working for a class 1 railroad still uses an A200 horn in 2017! Great catch!
I love how the thumbnail looks like the plow is coming out of a painting framed by the signal bridge. Beautiful.
This is so wild and so cool at the same time. I had never seen anything like this before. Great footage. Thanx!
Besides enjoying the video--thanks Jake-- I like to read what many viewers have to say about what's going on. I'm new at railroading and like to learn. Some of you folks are very knowledgeable and add to my enjoyment. A big thanks to you as well!
That's pretty smart using a B unit as power for the snow blower. I'm glad they found a reason to keep those old workhorses around! 👍
Enjoyed this video start to finish. Thank you for letting the engines do the talking. Happy Trails
Great video. I’ve always liked mountains, especially snowy mountains, and trains. So, thank you!
What an amazing job by Rotarians. Much appreciated for all their efforts, time and money in sharing this wonderful video. May God bless all the persons / engineers involved in this project with all happiness, prosperity, good health and longevity!! Best regards, Nassa
That was most impressive thank you for sharing that!!!
Norden. Some days the snow is up to the transformers on the poles. You don’t normally plow the snowfalls that happen there. Thanks for posting. Brings back memories.
Great footage and nice catch on the California Zephyr. Thank you for braving the snow depth and elements getting to your camera locations, Nice job!! :)
What a brilliant piece of kit!
Thanks so much for the interesting video. It's the first time I have seen these in operation.
Thank you for not calling it a snowblower!
Thank you so much this is a great video! My dad 91 year old dad and I enjoyed it very much!
Nancy Offenhiser Waittt do you have two dads?
That's some major power behind those snow movers! I'd love to give that a try.
Holy crap, I honestly did not know this was a thing until this video! Awesome!
What really trips me out is--in that first shot? In the upper left-hand corner of the frame? There's a cellphone tower.
In Donner Pass.
In the old days people starved to death or ate each other when the pass got snowed in. Now you could just order a pizza!
Call up the loud man and have them drop off a bag 😂😂😂😂
Why order a pizza when fresh lunch could be sitting right by you. Lol
@@markmwilson22 hahaha brutal
Welcome to the 21st Century.
Very observant of you.
Not everyone can be an engineer, others are made to watch these kinds of videos and enjoy the nature and artwork of engineering...
I am glad to know I’m not the only gear head who loves this stuff.
Wow! So beautiful. Fantastic camera angles and sound. Cool
Awesome video. We have video of what appears to be these plows stored during the summer, sitting in a yard approaching Sacramento, CA.
It's nice to see them in motion - as we prepare for our next California Zephyr trip when daily service resumes on 5/24/22! :) *Cheers!*
I lived in the US for 3 years, Foresthill, CA used to travel I-80 / Donner Pass frequently
Used to go for brunch to a place in Truckee on the Main St... Many great memories of the Sierra's & "Sierra Cement"
I saw lots and lots of snow, but never managed to see one of these.
Stunning!!!! Excellent video.
One of the greatest video works I have seen. Thanks!
Amazing video, thanks!!!
Ronald Halma jjjgjgbcxtubuiioojjhhbbaaaaahhah
January 2020,they had one of these on display at the California state railroad museum in Sacramento.
This is why I love YT so much...I'm in Australia and will never get to see anything like this! So technically exciting and thoroughly enjoyable to watch 0- thank you for sharing Jake!
Is it true all the women are hot there
This is just great! Really well done.
This is a fantastic series of shots!
Every time I see videos of these monsters, I think I'd like to have one for my driveway & sidewalk. Beautiful country and excellent video !!!
THIS IS JUST AMAZING THANKS FOR SHARING
Pray for more snow and great video like this!!!!
You can really hear that EMD 567 roar! Amazing!
Magnificent video! Sounded like the rotary had a part out of whack. Hope the big plow is OK.
This is some great footage :-) I have recorded that Rotary Snow Plow while it was in the Roseville railyard :-) An Extra "BIG" thumbs up and right into my LOCOMOTIVES playlist :-) ROCK ON!!!!!!!
Wonderful to locos doing their job...thank you!
Fantastic, keep up the good work guys
That's snow plowing fan was developed and invented by some engineer from Canada back in the 1880s still using the same principle today and it's driven by some big cart that is behind the locomotive it's such a massive machine
Excellent!
amazing video capture - thanks for it!
Wow. You made my day thank you!
January 4 2017 we were stuck on the east bound train at emigrant gap for 4 hours waiting for a snow plow from Reno to free us. The joke going around the passages was “is this Donner Party 2”
ahh! thanks for this most excellent footage ! More images from the spectacular place that is California!
That rotary snow plow would have come in handy for The Donner Party of 1846.
A rotary snow plough/plow on a train always reminds me of Ian Fleming’s ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. Bond races and beats the train, his pursuer meets a sticky end courtesy of the rotary snow plough/plow.
Fantastic video. Thank you.
Cool video, thanks, from New Hampshire.
Great video- thanks for sharing!!
very nice video , i love watching these monsters in action ,I've seen them up close just once in 2009 near Auora nebraska after a blizzard ,,
Funny how UP was gonna get rid of the Espee rotaries in favor of their plows until they tried using their's on that Sierra Cement. Great video. Thanks for sharing
Mark French and they have people like the Roseville Service Unit and Ed Dickens at steam shop to maintain them the rotary is the one vehicle in UP'S bag of tricks that is needed if you have 16 feet of snow up on Donner Pass or on the Eastern end of the railroad
Aaron Peavler/Geomodelrailroader Railroad Photography what does Ed Dickens have to do with the SP rotaries? The boiler is a modern package unit and only produces steam for thawing ice and the whistle.
Sierra Cement lol never heard that one before but I get it im from Alabama digging a trench is damn near impossible cause the clay is like digging thru concrete
I agree nice you haven’t put dumb music on it’s so nice hearing the train with plow working. Awesome
Great catch, a plow at each end!
That was a great , informative, and beautiful video. Thanks
this is my favorite video on all of you tube ! that baby is an animal . ill bet the donners would of like to have that back in the day !
I remember donner pass mentioned in the VHS documentary "Thunder on the Rails" by skyfire productions
thanks for te video..what an awesome machine.
Wow!! Great video, well done!
I was wondering if Amtrak was going along this route. The plow shoulda kept going while the Zephyr was passing by! Ha, ha!
Thanks, Jake!
Nice Work and interesting with a double Rotary from Newman
These guys were once shoved by 2-8-0s and cab forwards, now they're pushed by GEVOs and ACes.
Despite being used by an ever-changing modern railroad, they are still powered by old F7B units, and bear the paint and markings of a long dead railroad.
I'm glad at least some of the SP legacy lives on in the sierras, hopefully they never paint over the black and the SPMW markings.
Agree - It's wonderful that UP has allowed the old rotaries to still bear their original Southern Pacific livery! I hiked through three of the tunnels and snow sheds on the old alignment at Mount Judah last weekend (July 16, 2017), and this video lets me compare how the area looks in winter when the snow sheds really are needed.
I have no clue what you just said. ...lmao
What language is this?
Train nerd!
Yep the old 2-8-0 had the dingle arm sintered to the rotary girder, that kept the blinker fluid from leaking out of the muffler bearing.
It’s kind of awesome to know that Modern railroads still use old B units ^w^
DarkArts Productions They’re only used to power the snowplow, but yes, it is kind of cool.
Really cool video! Thanks!
Ah so the one I seen a month ago on RUclips is here after 5 years. Nice!
The Zephyr! Yay. I miss taking trains😫
Superb shots ! 👍
AWESOME!!!! Love trains and live these snow removal videos!!!!!
Simple yet framed still shots of the opening to this video belong in art galleries all over the world. Just one alongside photos of a strip mine, oil field, or battlefield would define the word 'ineffable' and give pause to all but the most callous. Gracias por tu video. R.T. West, Puebla, México
amazing and beautiful...well done
They use those on the roads too. That area has so much snow I'm from Maine but we don't even know! I spent a winter or two out there I would wake up with five feet that had fallen in one night!
Amazing!Thanks for Sharing!
I just followed a BNSF Rotary Plow through Central Nebraska, super cool!
There's a rotary plow on display at the Museum of Transport in St. Louis County.
awesome video!
Neat to still see SP marks on this equipment!
A train is the best place to be when traversing the Donner Pass in the winter. The 80 is just a mess with trucks slipping and sliding all over the place even with chains on. Of course it's been a decade since I last went over it in any vehicle.
You can buy these rotary snow plows at your local Lowe's or Home Depot. Hurry, They're on sale this week, Regular price $1400, on sale for JUST $1399.99 while supplies last.
Needed that on my driveway last year
Awesome Video Jake. Thank You for sharing your Great work!
Great video, nice upload!!!!!!!!
Fantastic, gorgeous...love it..