1965 snow paper

RAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 415

RAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING

By G. RICHARD P A R K E S

Paper $vesenled before the Institution in London on 22nd November 1965 and the United Kingdom Centres as under: - Midlands Centre, Derby, 23rd November 1965 (pnge 459) Manchesler Centre, Manchester, 24th November 1965 (page 471) Scottish Centre, Glasgow, 1st December 1965 (page 474)

PAPER No. 674

Introduction Snow, frost and ice, individually and collectively, are apt to causc

chaos resulting in excessive costs to the railways, industry, and the community as a whole. In Britain, until recently, coniparatively little has been done to deal with these problcms, mainly because no part of the country, with the possible exception of North East Scotland, can cxpect a regular annual fall of snow. Conscquently it has not been considered necessary to provide adequate equipment or to consider efficient mcthods of dealing with snow when i t dcw fall. Rather it has been thc practice to overcome thc difficulties as they arise and then to forget the matter until next time. Most countries, but not all, who expect severe winters, prepare for dealing with them with mechanical equipment, and planning their snowfighting campaigns in advance.

416 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

Normally these factors prevent them from getting into serious trouble. I t is a widely-held misconception that Britain does not have much

snow. As compared with some countries, this may be true, but it is worth noting that, over the past 30 years, no fewer than 15 winters

Fig. 1 .--“Decidedly Snowy.” Barras Station, former L . N . E . Railway, February 1947.

have been classed as “decidedly snowy” (Fig. l) , ten have been “normal”, and only five might be classed as “snowless.” These figures exclude North East Scotland. Furthermore, recent reports have suggested that winters during the next half century will be more severe than over the last 50 years. I t may be surmised, therefore, that sufficient snow is going to fall to warrant the provision of adequate equipment to deal with it.

Some Properties of Snow Before describing the effects of snow and frost, and the methods

for mitigating or preventing the problems that arise, i t is worthwhile mentioning the peculiar properties of snow which make it difficult to deal with. For exaimple, its specific gravity can vary between 0.05 and 0.85. Normally the specific gravity lies between 0.1 and 0.6- ratio of 1 to 6. In effect, a snow-clearing machine with a theoretical output of one ton per minute must be able to move 13 cu. yds. of snow with a specific gravity of 0.1 or !&& cu. yds. with a specific gravity of 0.5. When it first falls, its density is at a minimum, so snow removal should be undertaken at the earliest moment before the snow has had time to become compressed. One cubic foot of snow can weigh between seven and 60 lb., and 1,OOO lb. can take up a volume of 20 to 140 cubic feet. Such facts as these indicate the


difficulties of designing equipment suitable to deal with snow, but as snow will melt, the application of heat in the right place at the right time can prevent trouble.

Examples of Disruptions Details of the serious disruptions due to snow and ice which have

occurred on the railways in Britain over the past twenty-five years would fill a book. Consr-.quently all that can be mentioned here, is the kind of events which have taken place. Main lines blocked for days or even a week-marshalling yards closedrollieries cut off and thousands of wagons, full and empty, immobilized-water troughs pushed off their supports-expresses running twelve to fifteen hours behind schedule-hundreds of telegraph poles brought down-electric trains hours late d?ie to ice on the conductor rails-shortage of locomotive power due to freezing of fuel and parts of diesels-train heating systems frozen solid-coal frozen solid in wagons. Finally, to bring this up to date-1965-a blizzard on March 4th brought chaos to all divisions on the Southern Region-drifting snow blocked carriage depot exits and unheated points. Chaos was caused at the southern end of the Western Lines of the London Midland Region largely because the exit from Rugby depot was blocked by drifts and diesel locomotives taking over from electric could not r e x h their trains- some trains were as much as seven hours late arriving at Euston.

The foregoing shows the kind of happcnings which may be expected at any time in Britain’s winters and it is therefore incumbent on the railways to provide equipment and methods for dealing with such conditions; they are described below.

Push Ploughs, etc. Push ploughs, as the name suggests, are designed to push the

snow out of the way. The shapes and sizes are legion btcause most railways make them to their own designs, and it is usual for each railway to have several types. In size they range irom a pair of shares placed just in front of the leading wheels of a locomotive or railcar, through larger wedge-type shields placed in front of locomotives or trucks, to very big wedge-shaped ploughs built on to their own frames complete with wings, flangers, bodies and cabs, all move- able parts being operated and controlled hydraulically and by air. Such types may weigh 40 tons or more.

The types used by British Railways arc varied but, in the main, they are “singlc-track” design : that is to say, the centre of the vertical wedge is over the middle of the four-foot, so snow is pushed to each side of the track in equal quantities. The London Midland Hegion, however, have some double-track ploughs in which the vertical centre of the wedge is set to within a foot of the right-hand rail (Fig. 2). This is of great advantage when ploughing a double-track road because most of the snow will be thrown to the left and very little into the six-foot way. Usually there is a plough at exch end of the lmomotive- one plough being fitted to the tender of the engine and the other on a tender coupled at the front end. Until reccntly, the Scottish Region have been using three types of plough which could be fitted on the front of the locomotive but, owing to the introduction of diesel traction


Fig. 2.-Doztble-track snowplough waiting on Hadfield U p Loop, Manchester-Shtfield Line.

in the place of steam, it has been impractical to continue the use of these types of ploughs because they cannot be fitted to the front of diesel locomotives. Consequently it was decided to build independent snowploughs which could be propelled by diesel locomotives and the thrust taken directly at the buffing gear (Fig. 3). During the severe snow conditions experienced in 1962163, trials were carried out in the Inverness area with a prototype independent plough propelled by two

Fig. .3.-New type Plough for British Railways, Scottish. Region.


Type “2” diesel-electric locomotives and snowdrifts 12 feet deep were effectively cleared. As a result of these successful trials, Scottish Region now has ten of these machines and others, of the same type, are being used by other Regi0ns-e.g. the London Midland has eight available and 12 on order. These ploughs are mounted on underframes of obsolete 4,200 gallon tenders and the automatic vacuum and hand brakes are retained. They have retractable side-flaps which are normally locked in the closed position but, when ploughing, they can be opened out, giving a full ten-foot clearance. The flaps are so arranged that if the plough is brought to a stand inside a deep drift, they can be raised to within the loading gauge, allowing the plough to be withdrawn from the cut. Adjustable cast-iron skids are fitted in front of the leading pair of wheels and carried at six inches above rail level during normal running, and lowered to within 3 inch above rail level when ploughing. There is an adjustable plate at the front of the plough which is ncrmally carried at 44 inches above the rail. This can be lowered if necessary to provide a clearance of 14 inches above rail level to deal with subsequent falls of snow freezing on the already ploughed surfaces. A living-quarter compartment at the rear of the plough can accommodate six men and a large amount of equipment. The overall weight of the plough is 314 tons.

In the snow-belt of North America where they can expect heavy snowstorms every year, and where they have a larger loading gauge, the ploughs are larger and more substantial. A typical heavy-duty model which is used by several railways in the United States, is the

Fig. 4.-Russell plough, typical heavy-dwty fish plough used in :lmerica.

Russell (Fig. 4). This is an all-steel single-track plough with wing elevators. Mounted on two steel trucks, it is pushed by a locomotive through a power bar. This bar, attached to the rear coupler, is of heavy steel construction and runs through the centre of the plough. It is pivoted at the front end and permits lateral movement on curves so


as to prevent derailments. The usual width is 98 feet without wings and increases three feet on each side with the wings open. The plough has a flanger which is air operated and cuts to a depth of 28 inches below the top of the tail and 14 inches outside it. A lookout cab on top of the plough houses the controls and two operators. Cammunica- tions between the plough and the pushing locomotive is usually by telephone. The front of the plough is so designed that the load of snow creates a downward pressure and rninimises the side thrust, and it is claimed that these features make the Russell plough quite safe to operate. An additional safety feature is the ice cutters which clear the flangeways of ice to prevent derailments.

A push plough is basically a simple instrument and works well enough in normal circumstances, but when the conditions are severe, it can cause trouble. Ploughing should start when the snow begins to fall and be carried out continuously for the duration of the storm. Unfortunately this is rarely practicable as there are never enough ploughs. So the snow piles up and compacts, drifts form, and operations become more difficult. Such conditions can lead to derailments of both plough and locomotive and to ploughs becoming stuck in drifts, thus involving further delays and heavy expenditure on labour. I n long deep drifts, and especially in cuttings, the brute force of the plough packs the snow so tightly that further progress is impossible. Then the pick and shovel brigade come into their own!

The plough is operated at speeds up to 50 m.p.h.

Fig. S.-Type of flanger in use all year round,.Southern Pacific Railroad.

The flanger, which derives its name from the service it performs, is used to scrape snow and, in some models, ice from between the rails so that the flanges of the train wheels will not be obstructed. They are used extensively in North America and in Europe. On the Southern Pacific, each flanger consists of two flare-shaped metal mouldboards fitted with cutting blades at the base (Fig. 5). Blades of flangers used in yard service extend the full width of the track between rails, but in main-line territory where automatic train control is used, the flanger

RAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 42 1

blades are installed in pairs, separated so a s to clear the track magnet boxes located at intervals in the centre of the track. This arrangement makes it unnecessary to raise the blades except when passing over points, level-crossings, bridge rails, etc. Flanger blades are raised and lowered by air from a control valve operated either by the driver of the locomotive pulling thc flanger or by one of the crew on the flanger itself. Each pair of blades is operated independently of the other pair, thus permitting operation of one or both mouldboards to throw the snow and ice to the side of the track. The flangers of the Southern Pacific are hauled at a speed of 30 to 40 m.p.h. and they are

Fig. 6.-Jordan spreader in use thvozlghout the year. Canadkit Pacific Railway.

operated continually during a storm until the snowbanks they have built alongside the track are so high that the mouldboard flares will no longer throw the material clear of the rails. At that point, the rotary ploughs are brought into service.

In the last decade, the Swedish State Railways have acquired spreader ploughs for levelling out filling and ballast when laying double track. These spreaders have been used to good effect for clearing snow and, as they have a spread of 6.3 metres, they will place the snow well beyond the adjacent track. So far as the Author knows, the spreader is not used by any other railway in Europe for clearing snow, but in North America they are used extensively for this purpose and most railways there use one type known as the Jordan.

The primary use of the Jordan spreader (Fig. 6) is for grading and ditching, but in winter it is used to plough snow and flange the track. I t is particularly valuable for clearing yard areas of snow as,

422 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGIXEERS

Fig;. 7.-The top photograph slaows a “cut-widener” with wings e.utended. The bottom picture, snow left by a cut-w’dener being

removed by an electric rotury plough. Swedish State Railways.

with a wing spread up to 25 fect on either sidc, it will clear the adjacent tracks. The clearing operations are accornplishcd in a way which pushcs the snow into a high ridge covcring onc of the tracks and this snow is then loaded out and disposed of later. Thr front of the machinc is equippcd with a pushcr plough, and flanger blades and ice


cutters are disposed underneath. Blades and wings are operated by air pressure obtained from the pushing locomotive. Occasionally these machines are used on the open road for ploughing snow up to four feet deep, but this is a hazardous operation with this type of machine as the side thrust may turn over the rail; even so, the spreader is useful for clearing passing tracks and wayside yards by pushing the snow beyond the last track.

A machine known as a “cut-widener’’ (Fig. 7) is used in Sweden, Switzerland, and by one or two railways in the United States. Norm- ally, cut widening is done by push ploughs fitted with wings or by wide-wing rotaries which gather the snow from the sides of the previous cut into the rotating blades. Cut wideners are placed at the rear of a locomotive or train and pull the snow from the sides of the cut into the middle of the track. This snow is then picked up by a following rotary, or on the return of the rotary which made the original cut, and thrown clear of the cut altogether.

Fig. 8.-The most modern of the Leslie-type rotary ploughs. Great Norlherlt Railway, United States of America.

Rotary Ploughs The first successful rotary snow plough was designed by an

American called Leslie over 60 y e m ago. This type of plough is still in operation in North America and Europe, though various modifications have been made from time to time to increase its efficiency. Basically it is a large hooded wheel consisting of knives and scoops which revolve at speed, cutting into the snow and forcing it back into cones which direct the snow through an opening in the top of the hood whence it is thrown away from the track. The machine is pushed by a locomotive and the operator of the plough keeps in touch


with the locomotive driver by telephone, signal cord, or visual means. The latest and largest of the Leslie type are now operating on the

Great Northern Railway in the United States (Fig. 8). There are four of them. Two, Nos. X-1509 and X-1510, were converted from steam in 1959 and 1960, and the other two, Nos. X-1508 and X-1507, in 1961 and 1663 respectively. All four have essentially the same electrical and mechanical drive arrangements but Nos. x-1507 and X-1508 are mounted on Commonwealth water bottom style tender frames with six-wheel Timken roller bearing-equipped trucks instead of the original steam rotary frame and four-wheel trucks as on the other two. The 11 ft. 6 in. rotor, fitted with 10 double-edged blades studded with ice picks, is driven by four electric motors and stabilised by two buck- boost exciters. Electrical power circuits and control equipment are provided so that rotor motors can be operated on power from the generator of a diesel-electric locomotive by means of cables connected between the snowplough unit and the diesel unit, coupled directly behind the plough unit. These two units are coupled to a diesel-electric pusher locomotive and the complete ensemble is controlled from the cab of the plough. The maximum speed of the rotor is 150 r.p.in. and snow can be thrown a distance of over 2601 feet.

A European development of the Leslie type is the twin rotary plough. Instead of m e large rotor, there arc two, smaller in diameter and set side by side in the hood. Some of these ploughs have a built-in

Fig. 9.-The Beilhack modern t& rotary Plozcgh.

hydraulically-operated turntable which enables the whole machine to be turned through 180'.

The rotary ploughs described above, sometimes knowr; as frontal turbines, have certain disadvantcges. A considerable cutting resistance has to be overcome due to the rigid corners of the rectangular casing or hood; and the narrowing of the transverse section from the rectangu-


lar profile of the casing to the circular profile of the ejecting wheel or wheels, tends to compress the snow and is apt to cause blockages. If the snow is light and dry, the system works satisfactorily, but when the snow is wet and heavy, difficulties arise.

A modem design of a twin frontal turbine which seems to have overcome some of these disadvantages, is the Beilhack (Fig. 9) in which the rotors are desigmd according to a favourable flow pattern and operate on the hollow centrifuge priwiples where the major

Fig. 10.-1 he Bros Sno-Flyr in action.

characteristic is the loss-free acceleration oi the snow toward the ejecting chutes, and the large absorption capacity. Alsc the points of the rotors protrude from the rotor housing and thus act in the double capacity as cutting and centrifuging elements. These features reduce the way of travel of the snow inside the clearing mechanism to a minimum.

There are other makes of rotary ploughs which employ principles somewhat different from those of the frontal turbines; such as the Bros Sno-Flyr (American), the Sicard Blowcr (Canadian), the Iiolba Rotary Plough (Swiss), the Schmidt-Wyhlen Plough (German) and the Kisha Seizo Kaisha plough (Japanese).

The Uros Sno-Flyr (Fig. 10) is of similar design to their highway rotary plough but of much heavier construction. In generd it consists of a mouldboard or plough structure the centre “V” oi which fits between the rail heads and removes snow and ice to an adjustable maximum of three inches below the top of the rails. I t has two rotors located one in each of the double “V” sections of the mouldboard to gather and discharge the snow. The rotors revolve at right angles to the track and are formed of scoops or paddles. Safety protection is provided for each rotor wheel and drive mechanism by means of sheer- bolts which are easily accessible for replacement. A heavy-duty feeder rake, which covers the complete frontal area of thei plough, may be raised and lowered hydraulically, by means of controls in the cab,

426 JOURNAL OF THE INSTlTUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

through an arc starting within three inches of the top of the raih to a height of eight feet, and can be operated at any intermediate point within that range. There are two revolving casting chutes which enable the operator to throw the snow to one or both sides of the track. Gathering wings are provided to allow a coverage of 14 feet when in the extended position, to 11 feet when adjusted inwards. The rotors and rake are driven by diesel engines the horsepower of which is dependent on the size of the plough, and they run from 200 to

Fig. 11.-The Sicard Snow Blower as used by Qzcebec North Shove 6 Labrador Railroad.

1,500 h.p. It may be of interest to note that the Northern Pacific Railway has operated one of these ploughs successfully in drifts up to 18 feet deep at speeds v q i n g from four to ten miles per hour, and that the plough was pushed by a single-unit diesel-electric locomotive.

The first Sicard Blower for railway use was simply a conversion from the standard road vehicle. Flanged wheels were added at the front and rear to guide the truck on the track but the tires were left on the other wheels so that, when the flanged wheels were raised hydraulically, the blower could continue its way on the highway. This was not satisfactory as there was insufficient traction available on the rails when heavy snow was encountered. The Sicard railway blower today (Fig. 11) is virtually their standard highwa plough mounted

service. The plough, or blower, unit consists ot two horizontal augers, one above the other, 20 inches in diameter and, behind them, a 42 inch diameter impeller with six replaceable concave blades. The augers and the impeller are driven by a single shaft from the power unit that comes into a reduction gear and angle drive behind the blower front. Two separate shafts operating at different speeds lead from the angle

on a flatcar, and this arrangement has proved hig L ly satisfactory in


drive, one to the chain sprockets for the augers and the other to the impeller. A rake unit, powered from the sprocket of the upper auger, can be attached to the front if unusually deep drifts are likely to be encountered, and this will enable the blower to deal with snow up to 18 feet deep. The whole of the blower front, that is the frame for carrying the augers and impeller, rides on flanged wheels and can be raised hydraulically at any time. Provision is made to iock the blower

Fig. 12.-The Rolba S400/500 heavy-dwty rotary plough.

front in the up position for travelling any great distance. The width of the blower unit is 11 ft. 6 ins. Using a 350 h.p. diesel engine, this blower will displace approximately 22 to 26 tons of snow per minute and throw it up to 200 feet away. The efficiency of this machine is due, first of all, to the augers which are capable of chewing up any kind of snow and, secondly, to the impeller which. revolving at a faster rate than the augers, gets the snow away without it being blocked by becoming compressed.

Rolba rotary ploughs, or blowers, are used on the railways and highways and, it might be said, byeways, in many countries. They are characterised by horizontally arranged rotating cutting knives with a separate ejecting turbine. Their latest model railway plough (Fig. 12j consists of a self-propelled vehicle with rotatable superstructure which includes the diesel engine, generator, reduction gears and drive shaft to the plough unit, hydraulic equipment, driver’s cab with all controls, and the plough unit itself. As the superstructure can be turned hydraulically, through 180°, the plough can operate in either direction. The 2-axle chassis is driven by a 75 kW d.c. motor, can travel up to a speed of 38 m.p.h. and can plough at any s p e d between f and 19 m.p.h. The 12-cylinder diesel engine of 370 h.p. (continuous rating) is directly coupled to a 90 kW d.c. generator which provides the power for traction. The diesel engine also provides the power, transmitted through a clutch to a reduction gear and then by universal


Fig. 13.-The Rolba Snow-Boy, here being used t o load n wagon. Swiss Federal Railways.

shaft, for the centrifugal ejector wheel and the rotary cutters. The ploughing mechanism consists of a pair of rotary cutters

5 ft. 4 in. diameter with geared drive; the cutting frame with scraper bar, skids and side cutters; the centrifuge housing with the ejector wheel 6 ft. 7 in. diameter, hydraulic equipment for lilting and lower- ing the plough and turning of the ejector nozzle, and hydraulically- operated side wings for increasing the clearing width. All operations are controlled from the driver’s seat. The cutting blades are protected from damage by shearing bolts. Each cutting blade can be replaced separately. Snow may be blown to either side of the track by adjusting the angle of the ejector nozzle. The principle on which this machine works has proved efficient in practice and it will clear all types of snow whether hard or soft, heavy or light, dry or wet.

Another of Rolba’s latest products is a rotary plough for mountain railways. With a width of two metres and powered by two Volkswagon


Fig. 14.-The Schmidt-Wyhlen rotary plough which can be used as a shunting locomotive out of season.

industrial engines, it is designed to be pushed by a locomotive. A one-metre version is also available and in this the plough itself can be slid from one side of the track to the other as required.

The Schmidt-Wyhlen rotary plough (Fig. 14) is a self-propelled dual-purpose machine-in winter it can be used as a plough and at other seasons as a shunting locomotive. The body, with the plough attached, can be turned on the chassis through 180", so ploughing may be done in either direction. When used as a shunting engine, the plough is removed and replaced with drawing and buffing gear. The machine is driven by two air-cooled diesel engines of 250 h.p. each coupled together, but either engine by itself is sufficient for shunting or travelling so, should one of the engines fail, the machine can proceed. When ploughing, the engines drive the plough mechanism while the machine is moved by hydraulic gears coupled to the engines : thus the speed is infinitely variable and can be adjusted to the conditions. The speed for snow clearing is about 20 k.p.h. and for free running about 50 k.p.h.

The snow clearing apparatus consists of twin Schmidt snow mills of a type which has been used for many years on highway vehicles. The mills are equipped with cutting knives and they can deal with any kind of snow, even if it is hard-packed and iced. The snow is ejected through two disposal pipes which can be adjusted independently of each other to throw it in any direction.

The Japanese National Railways have put into service this year a 2,200 h.p. B-2-I3 diesel-hydraulic locomotive with a twin-axle bogie plough unit coupled to the front of it. This has been designed and built in the Osaka Works of Kisha Seizo Kaisha Limited and is designated DD53. The plough unit is attached to the locomotive by


links and weights and the main traction forces are taken by the centre coupler. Power for the drive and auxiliaries on the plough head is by a shaft, the flange of which extends slightly forward of the locomotivl: at one end. As the plough unit is semi-permanently coupled to the locomotive, the plough can be removed thns enabling the locomotive to be used for line service outside of the winter season. The plough head incorporates a driver’s cab at the front which seats four persons and has all the controls for operating the plough and traction power, including multiple operation when a booster locomotive is provided. A second control cabin is incorporated at the back of the main driving cab in which the speed of the plough rotor is controlled by a second operator. The driving shafts and hydraulic machinery for the plough are located in this compartment.

Snow, on entering the throat of the plough, is gathered backwards and fed into the longitudinal rotor by a 2.4 metre diameter bladed rotor. This rotates about a lateral axis and is provided particularly to deal uith very wet snow. Behind the gathering wheel is a longitudinal rotor which ejects the snow through shutes on both sides of the plough. The rotor is 2 metres diameter and 1.7 metres long. The peripheral speed is 21 metres per second and the unit can move up to 10,000 tons of snow per hour. Further details of this remarkable machine may be obtained from the 18th June 1965 issue of The Railway Gazette.

Jet-Engined Blowers

some time.

The action of the plough itself is as follows.

The use of jet engines for snow blowers has been considered for In 1947 the G.W.R. conducted a number of experiments

Fig. 15.-Ty@ of jet-engined snowblower fozlnd satisfactory by Rew York Central and Quebec, North Shore and Labrador Railway

systems.

in conjunction with the National Gas Turbine Establishment of the Ministry of Supply in which jet engines were mounted on wagons in such a way that the jets were brought to play on the snow obstructing


track. The results were unsuccessful. On the L.N.E.K. results were conclusive in showing that jet engines for this purpose were useless. A film of the operations showed that the snow was blown about with excessive violence, often in the wrong direction, and in some case5 the track was damaged. This was in accordance with the findings of the G.W.K. Since then, the New York Central has found that if ;I hrge jet engine is equipped with a supplementary nozzle to quadruple the air mass flaw and lower temperature, excellent results can be obtained in snow fighting activities (Fig. 15). By the use of augmenter tubes they have been able to reach as high as one pound per square inch on the roadway surface. This “bubble” permeates the snow and causes “small explosions” in deep banks. As a result, the jet blast can then move this material readily. They have had excellent results on main-line drifts over 14 feet deep. In addition, the swivelling

Fig. 16.-A Barber-Greene Snow Meller used in terminal yards in Montreal. Canadian Pacific Railway.

nozzles have been able to blow snow from under cars which have been trapped in yards and sidings. The five units on the N.Y.C. have become the standard pieces of heavy equipment for use in snowfighting. Two further units have been built for the Quebec, North Shore and Labrador Railway where the winter conditions are severe. The N.Y.C. is now producing a unit which is self-contained, self-propelled and operated by one man.

Snow Melters These machines are limited in capacity but very useful around

yards and stations where space is restricted and snow must be hauled away. One type, the Barber-Greenc (Fig. 16) is built on to two flat cars coupled together. On the front car is the snow collecting gear consisting of two transverse worms which lift the snow from the track

432 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGIKEERS

on to two conveyor belts, and these transport the snow to the melting tank on the second car. The 16,000 gallon melting tank is fed with live steam formerly from the pushing locoinotive but now from a steam generator car inserted between the diesel locomotive and the tank. The snow which can be melted at one collecting is equivalent to the amount camcd on 32 fully-loaded flatcars When full, the tank can be emptied in a few minutes into any suitable sewer or ditch by means of two 14-inch valves.

Point Protection Devices Point protection devices are designed to prevent points becoming

inoperative due to obstruction by snow or ice. Probably this typo oi equipment is more valuable than any 3ther in fighting the hazards of snuw and ice because the traffic is kept moving with the minimum amount of labour and, when the equipment is entirely automatic in operation, no extra labour is required. If points are not equipped with protection devices, they are liable to freeze or become blocked with snow-and it takes a great deal of time and labour to unblock them to enable the traffic to move again.

Several devices are used, all except one depending on the application of heat. The odd one employs compressed air for blowing the snow away from between the point blade and stock rail.

The oldest t,ype of point heater, probably evolved about ninety years ago in North America, and still used to some extent today, is the pot type oil burner. This is a self-contained paraffin-burning unit which is placed between the sleepers, under the rail. I t is a steel box about 7 in. high, 21 in. long and 7 in. wide, with a capacity of approximately two gallons of fuel for 30 to SO hours of continuous burning, permitting refilling during daylight hours. A large burner stack around the wick and flame prevents flame blow-out and also prevents the sleepers from burning. Holes a t the base supply air for efficient combustion and also permit water drainage. The flame is extinguished by putting the cover on the burner stack. The fili opening is covered with a snug-fitting cap which cannot be accidentally removed so that dirt and water is not al!owed to enter the fuel compartment. The heater can be refilled while it is burning. Both the filler cap and stack cover are attached to the heater to prevent loss.

This type of heater is effective provided that there is not a high wind to extinguish it or a heavv snowfall to cut off the supply of air. Cost of labour for maintenance is fairly heavy due to cleaning, adjusting and filling each individual heater. As they bum with a yellow flame one to four feet high, there is a possibility that they may interfere with the sighting of ground signals at night.

In 1924, the White Manufacturing Company in the U.S.A. brought out a pressunsed oil burning point heater and some are still in active service. They are installed principally where there is a large storage of diesel oil and where compressed air is available. They consist of a central burner with heat distributors extending to each side and can be supplied up to 30 feet long with one burner. They are arranged so that heat is directed just under the head of the rail and downwards over the web and flange. Rail attachment brackets hold them rigidly in position. For places where rail brackets cannot be used, sleeper


attachment brackets are used instead. Oil and conipressed air are piped to the burner from a central source, or from an oil storage tank and air compressor beside the track. Today, gas heaters have largely supplanted oil burners as they are simpler to install and operate although, in many respects, they have the samc characteristics.

Gas heatcrs, like the oil burners, consist of a long heater element or distributor attached to the outside of the stock rail for the full length of the point blade. A single pipe connects to the fuel supply line, except where double intake heaters are supplied for extra long points. They will burn any kind of infl2mmable gas such as Coa l , water or natural: propane, butane or pintsch. With gas over 1,000 B.T.U. per cubic foot, inspirators are furnished to induce about 80 per cent free air. Gas with less than 500 B.T.U. content, such as prducer gas, is unsatisfactoly because of its low heating value. It should be noted however, that the Western Region of BritiLh Railways use town gas with some success in certain locations, e.g. Paddington, Old Oak Common and Slough. The inspirator is adjustable and provides a proper mixture for a clean, economical blue flame. They can be lit by placing a torch at any place along the heater and the entire heater lights instantly, or electric igniters can be incorporated. An important feature of the gas heater is that it can he controlled from a distant point. By throwing a lever or pushing a button in 3 signal box, any number of point heaters can be put into operation and at any distance from the control point. The gas valve from the supply IS opened, the heaters are lighted, ignition is cut off and an indicator lamp at the control point is lighted to show that the heaters are burning. If the heaters are momentarily extinguished, e.g. by a gust of wind or the blast of air from a high-speed train, the heaters are automatically

Fig. 17.-A propane gas switch heater operated by remote-control. Southern Pacific Railroad.


relighted without any action by the controller, and no men need be called out.

The Northern Pacific Railway say that switch heaters of the gas- fired type have proven quite successful where snowfall is in the order of 12 to 16 inches. This type of heater is capable of applying a relatively large amount of heat to the switch points. Their application is limited to the extent that it is possible to maintain them in the ignited condition. Kuling factors are the depth of snow and the velocity of wind. As the depth of the snowfall increases it becomes virtually impossible to maintain a sufficient supply of oxygen necessary for the combustion of the gas. Also, as wind velocities increase, the flame is more likely to be extinguished. Another factor adversely affecting the operation of this type of heater is the temperature. As

Fig. 18.-One of the 339 Mills ARMA infra-red gas foint heaters installed at York . British R a i l w y s .

the temperature falls, the gas pressure may be reduced resulting in ari insufficient supply to the burner. This is particularly true of the propane gas heaters supplied from local tanks at the switch. Where commercial gas lines are conveniently locate6 to the right of way, this problem is minimised.

In the Cascade mountains in southern Oregon, the Southern Pacific has installations of propane gas burning heaters (Fig. 17) at 50 switches in Centralized Traffic Control territory. Remote-control equipment is in the dispatcher’s office at Dunsmuir, California, 200 miles away. The dispatcher is kept advised of snow conditions at the heater installations by train and wayside radio and by telephone.

RAILWAY SNOWFIGHTLNC 435

A modern and most efficient design of heater is the Mills ARMA Infra-Red Switch Heater which operates on propane gas (Fig. 18). Heat is applied by radiation to each of the stock rails by a series of infra-red burners mounted on a pair of burner pipes and, by induction, is conveyed to the slide chairs. Ignition is simple, either by hand torch or by remote control from the signal box, and effective heat is attained in 101 15 minutes. Since combustion takes place within the ARMA patent ceramic block inside the burner housings, there is no open flame, the burners cannot be blown out, and operation is reliable and safe. No maintenance or adjustment is necessary to ensure continuous and correct operation, except to replace the gas bottles as they become empty. Where sufficient number of heaters are installed. e.g. at large stations or marshalling yards, a storage tank is used instead of bottles for the propane gas. This not only saves labour in replacing bottles, but reduces the cost of gas considerably. Gas consumption is about 1 lb. per switch per hour. The whole equipment is light in weight, each complete burner pipe with five bumerg weighing about 20 lb. I t is very easily removed and replaced when maintenance work is required on the track, and il! is common practice to remove these pipes from the rail altogether during the sunmer months.

The ARMA patent burner consists of a heavily enamelled iron casing containing a specially designed ceramic block protected by wire gauze. For ignition purposes, five holes are provided underneath the casing forward of the burner blocks. The frcnt of the burner housing should be within 2 in. of the web of the rail, and some adjustment of the screw connection may be required to compensate for curvature in the rail. In service, the outside of the burner housing reaches a temperature of about 400°C, the ceramic block inside it about 95O"C, and the maximum temperature rise in the rail is about 45°C (81°F).

The ARMA switch heater has a rather interesting history. The

Fig. 19.-A tubular electric point heater.


idea of using infra-red propane gas heating occurred to a Dutch rail- wayman during the war. About eight years ago, thc Netherland:; Railways started to develop the idea in collaboration with the Dutch firm of ARMA and, working with ancther Dutch firm, COMPKINO, they dcveloped the special tank wagon for filling the skidtanks placed in the vicinity of the switches. These tank wagons of which there are three (two carrying 18 tons and one carrying 12 tons of propane), are in effect mobile filling stations, probably unique in the railway world. With a crew of three or four men, they go from yard to yard filling the skidtanks which hold sufficient propane to heat the points for seven full days. During a long winter, a different yard can be serviced

Fig, 20.-Photograph showing effectiveness of tubular point heaters after J9-inch snowfall.

every day still leaving one or two days reserve for emergencies. The Ketherlands Railways now have 4,500 installations of AKMA infra-rcd propane gas heaters and of these 74 are ignited electrically by remote control.

Electrical point heaters, thnugh satisfactory in many ways, require a considerable amount of power so they can be used only where there is an ample supply of current. This means, in effect, that for points remote from powcr lines, the cost of supplying power initially would be too great for seasonable use of this type of heater. The main types arc tubular, either straight or “hairpin”, plate or oil-circulation.

Tubular clectric point heaters (Fig. 19) may be installed on the inside or outside of the stock rail and they usually run the full lcngth of the point blade (Fig. 20). The “hairpin” loop type may be installed directly on the point blades, or on the stock rail. Sometimcs they are used in conjunction with tubular heaters, i.e. the “hairpin” type on


JUNCTION M)X See Detail "A"

(JUNCTION BOX ASSEMBLY DETAILS)*

TURN nmtns ON KJR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES BEFORE APPLVINQ QASK€f AND COVER.

NEOPRENE OROMMETS WlrW INIUUT

Detail "A" 3€ Ne. 10 1wlBlE 11/16" Iu 3/W' O.D.

WHHD WIRE KN SERIES CIRCUIT

MINT 01 SWITCH

I The circuit as shown, is optional. The boetlsg can ba placed at the tenter of the switch point to serve units toward the switch point end toward the heel.

Fig. 21 . S c h e m a t i c and wiring details of installation of Elec-Time filate heaters.

the blade and th'e tubular on the stock rail. The plate type heaters, known as the Elec-Time switch heaters, made by the Rails Company, are but -& in. thick and can generally be installed on the inside of the stock rail (Fig. 21). Each plate is 15 in. long and 3 in. wide. The current consumption varies from 500 watts to 125, watts and a fairly usual arrangement for a point which uses 16 plate heaters is for six of the plates at the toe end of the blade to use 500 watts and the others 125 watts-in other words, putting the maximum heat where it is wanted most. There is also a ballast type heater which is used as a supplementary heater where heavy snowfalls and extremely low temperatures are normal conditions. The ballast heaters are placed beneath the point rods to keep them free from snow and ice and they appear to be the most economical means of obtaining such supplementary heat.


The London Midland Region of British Railways have installed electric point heaters of a new pattcrn in 101 scts of points betwecn hlanchester and Crewe and bctween Weaver Junction and Nuneaton. Basically these are tubular heaters but they are arranged in a way which is different from other installations elsewhere. Each heater consists of a 110-volt 150-watt heating element enclosed in a metallic sheath which is fitted to each point slide chair. The heater element encircles the slide chair and is retained in position by a rail clip which grips the stock rail. The number sf heater units per set of p i n t s vanes from 10 heatcrs for “B” switches to 34 heaters for “G” switchcs. The heaters are switched on by the signalman who is provided with a luminous indicator to show that the heaters are in operation. (Fig. 22)

Fig. 22.-One of the 101 electric point heaters being used by the L.M. Region, British Railways.

The h’ew York Central now have in service a number of silicone rubber encapsulated heaters. These heaters are bonded directly to the web of the rail. By bonding the heater to the rail, they maximise the thermal conductivity and can operate the heaters at a substantially reduced current and still maintain a rail temperaturc high enough to melt snow and ice.

Approximately 730 hot oil circulation heaters are used by London Transport on the open sections of their lines. They consider that this system is less liable to breakdown and more economical to operate and maintain than other systems and, at the Same time. it enables heat to be distributed evenly over the entire p i n t layout, including its electro- pneumatic or other form of operating mechanism, and to maintain every part of it free from frozen deposits (Fig. 23).

A reservoir of transformer oil is provided close to the line and connected to pipes forming a closed circulating system passing through


Fig. 23.-Hot-oil circulation point heaters. London Transport Board.

longitudinal holes in the bases of the slide chairs and connected by welding to the foundation plate of the point operating mechanism. In the reservoir is an electric immersion heater controlled by two thermostats, one of which is acted on by the temperature of the surrounding air. When this falls to 35°F the heater becomes connected to the traction current supply and a pump sets the oil in circulation, so that sufficient heat becomes communicated to the chairs. etc., and frozen material cannot form thereon. (The wattage of the heater element is 6,000 but it is under-run at about 4,000). To economise power the second thermostat disconnects the element when the oil reaches a temperature of 180°F and brings it into operation again when it drops to 160°F. In this way power is used for only about half the time the apparatus is required to function. Hose connections are used between the chairs, to afford some degree of flexibility there, and also where necessary to avoid short circuiting of the track circuit. Originally there was no piping in the chair bases but the latter were found at times to be porous and therefore not oil proof; it was therefore decided to put steel piping through the chairs, the hoses joining the nipples thereon. The oil is circulated by a pump.

As the powei required for the heating is derived from the traction supply, it is on occasion necessary to leave the conductor rails on certain lines alive after traffic working hours, when weather conditions necessitate, but at some locations it is possible to take power from siding rails that are normally continuously alive. Power for the pump motor and the contactor is taken from the a.c. signalling supply.

440 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE E N G I N E E R S

Fig. ,?4.--"Sentinel" hfra-red heatev operating at the top of a pass hetween Colorado and N e w !Mexico. Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe

Railway.

I t may be worth noting that although London Transport have found this type of heater highly satisfactory, the North Eastern Region of British Railways, who have six sets at York, have found them to be unduly expensive and unsatisfactory in main line operatjon. Low reliability of under 50 per cent as compared with the Mills ARMA gas heaters and the cost of installation proving about ten times higher.

A new system for heating points which may have a worthwhile future, especially in locations where conditions are severe, is the overhead infra-red heater (Fig. 24). Such a system has been in experi- mental use on the Atcheson Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in Arizone for some four years. Supplied by the Blanco Manufacturing Company and using Perfection-Schwank burners, the units, known as The Sentinel, consist of either six or eight burners in a group set at a height of 23 feet above the track, and warm the whole of the point area. There is no interference with the track and damage to equipment from train vibration is eliminated. The heaters, using propane gas from a

RAII.WAY SNOWFIGHTING 44 1

1,000 gallon tank, consume 3.3 and 4.4 gallons per hour giving 300,0/400,000 B.T.U. at a cost of forty cents per h o x of the Sentinel 6 and fifty-three cents for the Sentinel 8. The heaters are controlled by a completely automatic system which is electronic. I t has a moisture temperature sensing circuit, the elements of which are located alongside the point area, at ground level near the outer perimeter. One flake of snow or a drop of rain striking either of the moisture sensing units will fire the infra-red heaters prooided that the temperature is 38°F or lower. Incorporated is an extended time relay which allows the burners to operate for a selected time after the moisture sensitizing units have dried out, thus getting rid of any remaining moisture after the storm. Fifteen of these Sentinel-8 units have given very good performance for the past three winters in areas where temperatures of 30 to 40 degrees below zero and heavy snowfalls are quite common.

Some railways, especially in America, still use steam coils beneath the points to keep them free of snow and ice but only at places where steam is readily available such as at large stations and locomotive sheds. I t is likely, however, that the use of steam for this purpose will not be used much longer at locomotive depots due to dieselization. At some large stations, the installations may have a longer life because steam has still to be available for warming passenger stock up to the time that the train engine or steam generating car is attached.

A comparatively recent development is the use of compressed air to blow the snow from between the point blades and the stock rail. The compressor and control instruments are housed in a shed at the track near the points. The advantage of this system arises from the fact that no wafer is produced which can later freeze in the vicinity of the point blades so that they become obstructed. The blower consists of an air pipe fastened to the rails through which a jet of air is blown at regular intervals. This system will operate satisfactorily for snow removal in extreme cold climates where light, dry snows prevail; but the blowers are not effective where heavy wet snow accumulates In such circumstance the blowers tend to open a small channel along the base of the rail but fail to remove the snow above that point. Therefore, when the points are operated, the remaining water laden snow is compressed between the stock rail and point blades which prevents the points from closing properly.

Miscellaneous Equipment Snow Fences and Snow Sheds.-Wind-blown snow is deposited

because some configuration of the ground causes an abrupt change in the velocity of the wind. Such an obstruction as a railway cutting or a tree may cause immense drifts of snow. Sometimes these obstructions may be removed, or cuttings may be widened to provide sufficient room for the deposited snow. Where the cause cannot be removed, snow fences may be erected to control the snow deposit and they should be placed not less than 60 feet from the track on the windward side. In very exposed locations. as many as three lines of fences may be required to hold the snow. The Canadian Pacific Rail- way construct their permanent fences of one inch unedged lumber or slabs eight feet long. The palings are erected vertically with two inch


spaces between. In Britain, a type which has shown good results is four foot six inches high, made of light chestnut staves. The exact positioning of a snow fence to be effective requires considerable experi- ment and calculation and several seasons may go by before the ideal position is discovered.

In mountainous terrain, snow slides are likely to occur frequently in the same place. When the topography permits, permanent snow sheds are erected to carry the slides over the track. These tunnel-like structures are built of timber or reinforced concrete, and may be several hundred feet long. They are expensive to build and maintain. At one time the Southern Pacific had nearly forty miles of them covering their tracks, but only a few remain. On the other hand, the Swiss continue to build them. Three modern ones were built with reinforced concrete roofs and outside pillars, and stone for the back walls, near Grum on the Rhatischen Bahn where the line rises in a reverse spiral. The two lower galleries, 346.5 and 148.5 metres long were built in 1949 and the top gallery, 264.0 metres long, in 1952.

Bulldozers.-An important piece of snow fighting equipment today. It can be used effectively in clearing very deep snow slides, either by itself or in conjunction with a rotary plough. Where the depth of the slide is greater than the height ofl the rotary’s hood, a bulldozer can be employed to push snow off the top of the slide into the rotary’s wheel. The bulldozer can also be used to widen cuts through drifts and slides to provide room for push ploughs to work subsequent snow falls effectively. Wherever excessive rubble has been embedded in a snow slide, bulldozers prove to be the most efficient means of clearing it. This machine works rather slowly in long cuts since it must travel long distances to dispose of each bladeful of snow. But it is undoubtedly a very versatile piece of equipment as it can go almost anywhere.

Ftame Guns.-These develop a high grade of heat and are used in Germany and the U.S.A. and occasionally in B.ritain for clearing accumulations of snow around switch blades. They are rather slow in operation and expensive in labour. Also, under certain circumstances, ice can form when the flame thrower has gone elsewhere.

Steam Lances.-Used for clearing point blades and crossings, steam is supplied through hoses from a locomotive. They are useful in locations where ground signalling apparatus is absent as the latter may become damaged by steam and hot water and by subsequent freezing. Their use requires possession of the track and they are expensive in labour and time.

Air Lances.-In a number of places, e.g. Britain, Sweden and Germany, compressed air fed through a manually-operated tube of special design is employed. The end of the tube is pointed so that it can be used as a pick. The compressed air is supplied from stationary road compressors, track-born compressors and from the air supply which operates the electro-pneumatic points. Again, this type of equipment is rather expensive in time and labour, but it is more effective than using brooms.

General.-Many types of motonsed and mechanised equipment have cut down manpower needs in winter. Most of them have been acquired for purposes other than that of snow clearing but they have


been found so useful for this purpose that the equipment is in use the year round. For cleaning snow from driveways and platforms practically every conunonly used type of crawler and wheel-mounted grading or material handling equipment comes into use. including bulldozers, front-end loaders, motor graders, scrapers, dump trucks and even power shovels and cranes equipped with snow buckets. Wheel-type tractors fitted with rotary brooms are used for cleaning platforms and pavements, as are two-wheeled rubber-tyred units with blades or rotary brushes. By using a tractor-mounted rotary brooni with wire bristles for scraping ice and hard-packed snow from wind- swept platforms, one railway in the States “saves a small fortune” according to its division engineer. Pedestrian-operated “blowers” such as the Rolba “Snow Boy” (Fig. 13) and the Beilhack “Snow Dwarf” are proving their worth every winter season.

Other Problems and their Solutions Ice on Conductor Rails.-London Transport have several methods

of keeping the conductor rails ice-free. They employ sleet locomotives with additional bogies carrying ice-cutters, wire brushes and anti-freeze sprays. Also they have de-icing baths built into the conductor rails (Fig. 25) whereby anti-freeze fluid is automatically spread along the conductor rails by the collector shws of passing trains. They did introduce sleet tenders in 1957 to be attached to the front of the train. The advantages over the sleet locomotives were lower initial and maintenznce costs and no special crew being required. However, these tenders interfered with the track circuits so they were discontinued. All

Fig. 25.--Conductor rail de-icing baths. London Transport.


sleet !ocomotives and some rolling stock now have air-blast jets to blow snow off the current rails. The Southern Region prevent serious ice formation on the conductor rzils by maintaining train service:; throughout the 24 hours and by regular application of de-icing fluid. London Transport has conducted siicccssful experiments of heating the current rails by shortcircuiting the current during the periods when trains are not running and they have added further additional sections of track for this method totalling over 17 miles. The Swedish Railways have used this method for a considerable time.

It may be of interest to note, in passing, that overhead conductors are comparatively immune from the icing troubles experienced by lices with conductor rails. There was some trouble from ice and snow build-up on the more exposed sections of the line between Liverpool Street and Chelmsford in 1963, but the line between Manchester, Sheffield and Wath had no trouble from this came.

Snow Pewetrating Electric Motors.-In the Eastern Region on the Liverpool Street-Shenfield services in 1968, powdered snow was drawn into the rectifiers, the compartments fillcd with water, and the stocK had to be withdrawn due to the danger of fire. Eventually metal-type oil-wetted grills were used and this cured the trouble. On thc Pennsylvania, in blizzards in February 1958, with fine powdered snow and very low temperatures, the fine snow crystals pcnctrated the air intake screens of electric locomotives, melted and shorted them. On the third day, 134 out of 139 GG-1 type were wholly or partially disabled and diesel-electric locomotives had to be borrowed from the Company’s western lines and from other railways. Since then a significant reduction in motor problcms resulting from snow has resulted from the widespread introduction of inertial types of air- cleaning equipment (introduced by General Electric Company in 1961 in its U25B) which separates most of the snow and dirt from the ventilating air supply to the motors.

Diesel Engine Failures.-Considerable trouble was caused in the winter of 1962/63 by the freezing of fuel oil and filters and the failure of train heating boilers. To avoid these troubles there will have to be some sort of routine similar to that used by American and Canadian railways, such as: blocking up some of the air-filtering openings to reduce the flow of cold air to the engine. Installation of fuel-oil heaters and the protection of steam generator water pipes by wrapping steam pipes around them. Special winter lubricants instead of the summer oils. “Watchmen” heaters for diese! units which remain in the open all night-such hezters give a warning in the running shed or dormitory in the event of failure which enables crews to start the engines to keep them warm.

Carriage Heating Failures.-This is a compIaint which is prevalent in almost any winter in Britain (Fig. %). The answer is to design proper steam heating systems or to heat carriages electrically. This is another case where a great deal can be learnt from the practices on the Continent or North America where the failure of a heating system in subzero weather would be disastrous.

Frost H e m e on Track.-This can be cured by a sound foundation and proper drainage to the track.


Fig. 26.-Icicks on coach standing in King’s Cross Station, London, January 1962.

Telephone Wires and Poles.-Heavy snow and high winds can break wires and blow poles over the track completely disrupting service. One answer to this is to lay the wires underground and eliminate poles. Another answer is the use of a micro-wave telephone system as used by the N.E. Region of British Railways and by the Canadian Railways.

Signalling.-Wires running over small pulleys can be jammed by snow and ice and the signalling becomes unworkable. Coloured light signals do not suffer from these disadvantages. In the case of electro- pneumatic signalling systems it has been found beneficial to add anti- freeze solutions to prevent freezing of the condensate in the pneumatic tubes. London Transport have compressors which deliver air at 125 p.s.i. which, after cooling, is expanded down to 65 to 70 p.s.i. to ensure moisture-free air in the signal mains.

Frozen Coal.-This can be a serious problem in a severe winter because the wagons can be neither emptied nor returned to the colliery. For example, at one period in the winter of 196’2/63 there were over 100 wagons loaded with coal at Agecroft Pcwer Station which had to be set aside to wait for the thaw. At Lots Road and Neasden Power Stations of London Transport the daily intake was reduced to 20 per cent of the normal day’s supply because the coal was frozen solid in the wagons. In the U.S.A. and Canada, this kind of trouble occurs every year and steps have been taken to overcome it. The most satisfactory method evolved so far is a car-thawing shed (Fig. n) immediately ahead of the car dumping house holding maybe two to five cars at a time. Heating elements using oil, gas or electricity are

446 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE EXGINEERS

Fig. 27.-Car-thawing shed equipped m'th gas-heaters. Western Maryland Railway.

arranged to hcat the sides and bottoms of the cars. According to one report, the most satisfactory and economical system used electric infra- red heating and the cost, including current. fixed charges and maintenance, of putting through 2,278 cars worked out at six cents per ton of coal. One of the latest installations is at Port Covington, Maryland, where 15 to 20 loaded cars can be thawed in an hour. Propane gas provides the heat through under-car convection heaters betwecn the rails below track level and infra-red radiation type side heaters in each wall of the shed. Electrical energy could not 'be justified economically, mainly for two reasons: the initial cost of providing a supply line for twice the power formerly used, and the demand charges for the electric power would be excessive for the short thawing scason. However, experiments are now being conducted on an entirely different method which may prevent the coal or ore freezing while in transit to the consumer. Cars are being sprayed with polyurcthane foam which has twice the insulating properties of fibreglass and which has self-adhesive qualities. In a recent test, two 90-ton hopper cars, one insulated and the other not, were loaded with steam coal and exposed to a tempera. ture of zero Fahrenheit for 100 hours. At the end of this period, the two cars were moved quickly to the steam plant. The uniiisulated car was frozen and resisted all efforts to empty it. The insulated car discharged all the coal with the aid of a car shaker.

IUILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 447

Present Position and Future Outlook Until recently, British Kailways have not treated snow and frost

with the respect they deserve. The general picture in any severe winter has been of lines blocked by snow and frozen points, armies of men with picks, shovels, brooms and buckets of salt trying to keep the traffic moving. Ploughs getting stuck and having to be dug out, cuttings dug out by hand to enable the ploughs to get to work. Frozen and blocked points cleaned by hand and having to be re-done nlinost immediately. Meantime passenger, freight and mineral trains are held up and the wheels of Commerce and Industry may come to a stop through lack of fuel and materials. The cost to the railways and the country can be enormous. In fact, the attitude has been to deal with conditions as they arise without having any plan or suitable equipment to deal with them. This attitude is changing at last and the powers- that-be have awakened to the fact that they must keep the railways operating, though they still have strong reservations about how much money should be spent on equipment.

Actually the prime cost is comparatively unimportant-money must be spent to reduce cost. This is s h o w up very well by figures supplied by the North Eastern Region for the winter of 1962/63. The point heaters (Fig. 28) installed (339) at York alone in that period burned for 1,325 hours which represented a cost of approximately .E14,OO, inchding charges, as against an estimated traditional expenditure of $280,000. The Southern Region quote a saving in labour per pair of points at $1 17s. 6d. per 24 hours of continuous snow conditions which repre- sents a 37 per cent return on capital outlay. Even so, these figures

A very handsome saving over one winter.

F i g . 28.-Effect of Mills A R M A infrared gas point heaters at Ywk, British Railways, January 1963.


represent direct costs only and do not show the very considerable reductions in the intangible costs of keeping the traffic on the move which enables passengers to arrive at their destinations, and goods to be delivered to the industries, on schedule. The Southern Region have 943 pairs of point heaters installed with an additional 68 on order-a total of 1,011. The North Eastern Region have 1.557 plus over 200 on order. The largest Region, the London Midland, has had the fewest heaters, comparatively, but they now have 232 gas heaters at Crewe North and South Junctions and 101 electric point heaters between Manchester and Crewe and between Weaver Junction and Nuneaton. By the end of 1965 there will be well over 5,000 point heaters installed on British Railways. This is only a start of course-but as this equipment has proved its worth, considerable extensions may be looked for in the future. This is a big change in outlook from 1959 when therc were only four sets of point heaters on the whole of British Railways.

The next equipment which should be obtained by British Railways is rotary ploughs or snow blowers. In the British Railways Board News Release dated 2 October 1963, there occurred these words, “It is frequently suggested that British Railways should have rotary ploughs and blowers ot the kind used in Canada and Scandinavia. It is not generally appreciated that these ploughs are effective only in clearing fine powdered snow which rarely falls in Britain. The Board’s experts say that they would have been of little use last winter.” This statement is unfortunate a s it is inaccurate. The modern design of rotary plough can deal with any type of snow, as has been shown in this Paper. ?he savings in labour and cost are enormous by the use of such machines. A good example can be taken on the Manchester-Sheffield line via Penistone, particularly between Hadfield and Woodhead. The traffic on this line is over 100 trains a day in each direction. Between Hadfield and Woodhead there are Up and Down loops, not continuous, on which freight trains can be stabled (permissive block) to enable the fasts, passenger or freight, to go through. In 1962/63 winter some of these loops were blocked by snow which prevented their use for freights with consequent delays on the main lines. To clear the loops, trains of empty wagons with several brake vans of labourers were sent up. The cost and waste of labour were excessive yet the job could have been done easily with a snow blower and a small staff in a fraction of the time. A blower throws the snow away from the tracks, and that is the end of it. Of course, that cannot be done in a built-up area in Britain any more than it can in North America or Europe-but the blower can be used to load wagons with snow in such conditions at a rate of about three minutes per wagon. And that canxiot be done with hand labour equipped with shovels. Apart from these considerations there is the fact that rotary ploughs can clear the tracks when it is a physical impossibility for push ploughs to do so.

There has always been a tendency in Britain to use labour instead of mechanical power, but this cannot be afforded today. It must be appreciated that it is cheaper to possess proper equipment and not to use it often, than to need it in a hurry and not to have it I

This occurred on several days.

Labour is scarce and expensive-and slow.

IZAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 449

DISCUSSION Mr. T. Matthewson-Dick (Vice-President) agreed with much of

the criticism the Author had levelled at British Kailwaymen for not making a more convincing start to provide more snowfighting equipment, but the Author had also provided many of the reasons.

The first thing, therefore, was to congratulate him in producing one of those useful papers for which the Institution was famous and which provided a library of information upon which all railwaymen could call. He also congratulated him on his personal public relations for having arranged the Paper to be read on this particular date; there had already been a snowstorm or two and during the previous week the electricity and gas supply industries were called to account in the Press for their inefficiency. It was to be kept in mind that most of the ground equipment suggested by the Author worked either by gas or electricity! The British Railways had just recently gone into the public Press to reassure the public how well they had provided for this winter; a significant sentence read: “The approaching winter will find British Railways better equipped than ever to deal with the bad weather” and the text went on to describe what had been done in the way of point heaters and so on. I t was a touching faith in the British Railways engineers, and he prayed that this faith would be justified.

Mr. Matthewson-Dick said that the Author had set out most of the alternatives that were available now-his own remarks were based on railway snowfighting experience over 30 years, mostly in the north- east of England and the south of Scotland.

The constant repetition of comment on the 1962-63 winter in the Paper showed the author might have had difficulty in finding many similar examples over the last 30 years-he suggested he could count on the thumbs of “four hands” the winters which had really caused much trouble.

Hitherto, “manual” snowfighting in this country had been simple to arrange; the men whose work stopped because of the snow were available to do the work. But circumstances were changing; the main feature which led to the change of thinking was the enormous reduction in the civil engineering staff, the backbone of the snowfighting regiments. They were mechanising their own work so rapidly and were reducing their staff so much that in the Region with which he was concerned, the civil engineering staff had gone down by over 50 per cent in seven years.

Men were also ceasing to be available for the other trouble in winter, i.e. fog. The man to stand at the foot of the semaphore signal was now disappearing-it was necessary his disappearance should go in hand with the introduction of multi-aspect signalling. I t was sound economics to take the pick and shovel men out of track maintenance on British Railways as fast as possible.

The re-shaping of the railways was making a contribution to snowfighting problems, the branch lines were disappearing, and many of the branch lines caused the maximum amount of trouble in this respect.

The Author had provided some interesting figures in regard to the density of snow, which gave point to the fact that snowfighting must begin at the very beginning of the fall and it must begin with the


patrolling of the line. This required a very limited amount of mechanical equipment . In the north of England and south Scotland this operation of “patrolling the line” was highly developed. The plough- fitted locomotives were soon brought into action by the station masters themselves in the problem areas; and it was not often a well-patrolled line caused a lot of further trouble.

British Railways had developed a close relationship with the Meteorological Office and were now getting a useful amount of advance information, there was no excuse for getting the snow ploughs into action late.

The Scottish Region plough had been mentioned-it was relatively new, and British Railways would probably take time to make up their mind about it before deciding how much more mechanical equipment they wanted.

Particularly interesting was the reference to the “flanger”-in snowfighting and snow ploughing, what caused the greatest problem was the derailment of the plough or the pusher locomotive itself. The problem of keeping the wheels on the rails was most important, and probably one of the things not done very well. The Author might give more information of this machine. In his experience Mr. Matthewson- Dick said he had always avoided using bogic-fitted locomotives as pushers because of the greater tendency to derail. Now diesel traction was used, he was interested to learn what happened as diesel locomotives were usually mountcd on bogies.

With regard to some of the other devices mentioned in the Paper, the Author probably knew, although he did not mention it, that a lot of useful work was going on to prevent the more serious effects of low temperature and snow. Wherever there was a piece of track mechanism to be moved in the open the ‘sliding’ parts were protected by low temperature grease.

One of the troubles was due to condensation in the point motors. He believed that, to be entirely satisfactory, some sort of internal heater was needed in the point motor casing.

Mention was also made in the Paper of the rapid increase in the number of point heaters; British Railways Engineers already knew a great deal about these fittings-almost every known variety was fitted somewhere on the line. No doubt in time a standard pattern would be evolved. The gas-heated ones did not always stay lit, and it was no use having them to avoid the use of men with shovels if men had to be sent around to light them. There must be some sort of reliable remote ignition system. He would like to know more of the Author’s experience, because in this country he believed the pre-ignition system was a weak link in the equipment. Mention was made of electric point heaters, this implied the availability of an electrical supply, which was not always easy although it was rapidly becoming easier as multi-aspect signalling developed. The gas heater was probably the type which showed the signs of most success, if the pre-ignition could be got right.

The Author had mentioned the need of throwing the snow somewhere-there were many more built-up areas in this country than in North America which made disposal a problem as the rotary plough went forward.


Mr. Matthewson-Dick said he was particularly interested in the development of jets, because he had been in both the Regions mentioned and therefore knew something of the early experiments. In the North-East the early jets not only blew the snow away they blew the ballast away as well. The slowing down of the blast effect mentioned was interesting and more detail would be of interest. The device could perhaps be used effectively for clearing snow from the undersides of wagons in marshalling yards. He wondered whether the Author was making the point that there was the germ of an idea here for melting coal frozen in wagons.

The Author had dealt very cavalierly with the other troubles of winter, i.e. heating rolling stock, the waxing of fuel oil filters, the disruption of telephone lines and so on, each of which was perhaps worth a paper in itself. With regard to any kind of cold weather protection on British Railways, he felt a start must be made with the features that caused the maximum amount of trouble. He was bound to say, therefore, while thanking Mr. Parkes for the Paper, that snowfighting with the type of plant described in the Paper, was probably the least of the British Railways cold weather troubles.

Mr. A. J. Barter (A.M.) referred to two points raised in the Paper: the effect of snow entering traction motors and of snow and ice on conductor rails.

He had experienced motor failures in 1963 due to moisture penetrating under the commutator, but they proved to be entirely from a particular batch of motors, and an unsuspected weakness was found in a recently introduced alteration to the seal. The manufac- turers developed and introduced an improved seal almost before the snow had cleared. I t was interesting to note the different effects of this defect on electric multiple-units and diesel electrics using an indentical motor. On electric stock the Vce ring punctured and thr defect was immediately cleared with little consequent damage, but on diesels, earthed through a relay, damage developed until there was sufficient leakage current to trip the relay, and some commutators were burnt almost half way round. There were other armature failures, of course, but many of these were dried out on site and in the ultimate the rewind rate for 1963, after deducting the commutator defects, was little different from that for the following year.

There were field coil failures, too, of which about half were dried out or had other minor repairs, and the bulk of the rest were bottom field coils. The bonded coil, which was then being introduced, proved highly successful.

As over 3,000 of these self-ventilated motors continued to work throughout the trouble period, he was unable to recommend a penny- worth of expenditure solely as an insurance against snow damage.

One useful technique where the range of temperatures was greater and more reliable than in this country was to raise the working temperature of the motor in winter by restricting the air outlets. He doubted if one could afford to raise it by more than 10" or 15" C without risking greater trouble due to overheating than they were seeking to avoid.

Snow on conductor rails was not their real problem. The radial


shoe was very effective in sweeping it aside, in contrast to the older boat-shaped shoe, which used to ride over the snow and pack it into a sheet of ice, leaving trouble for the following train. The major difficulty left was freezing rain, or snow or sleet which melted and re-froze on to the conductor rail; the heavier the traffic, the less the problem. An interruption of traffic due, say, to blocked points, could allow the situation to develop; similarly, early morning trains were more susceptible. The de-icing fluid used was not a freezing point depressant, its object was to prevent ice bonding to the top of the rail, and therefore could not easily cope with freezing rain bonding a film of ice right round the head of the rail. The fluid must be put there first. A melting agent had been used experimentally but was highly conductive, presenting a real danger as the equipment in the de-icing cars was raised to line voltage.

How successful was this equipment on a system with 2,287 miles of conductor rail (926 route miles), and 26 miles of overhead wire? He showed a map indicating the location of incidents on a Sunday in January 1964, a month in which they ran 900,000 electric train miles per week, which can be summarised as follows:-

I t was too late once ice had started to form.

Treated Area Untreated Area Train equipment damaged 3 1 Assisted by diesel locomotive,

Assisted by electric train 4 Lost time 9

One of those assisted by a diesel locomotive was a two-car de-icing unit, clearing a stretch of line that had not been used all day. There was one report of a train stalling due to wheel slip and ice on the conductor rail late the previous night, and early the next morning a locomotive was unable to collect current from the overhead line owing to ice on the pantograph. This was a fantastic proportion, whether based on mileage, or on a number of pantographs versus number of shoes. Otherwise he had only twelve other reports for the whole of 1964. The map showed a tendency for incidents to be localised, but unfortunately they were localised in different places each time.

He himself happened to see one of the incidents while walking down the road alongside the line, and he saw two units coupled and move away without trouble. The next train also came to a stand, lower down the hill, and a unit was brought to assist it, whereupon it moved away solo, and with hardly a spark.

He would appreciate further information from the Author about de-icing baths in conductor rails, particularly the maximum speed to which they could be worked successfully, and if it was necessary to ensure that current is not broken by the shoe entering the bath.

Mr. A. W. Manser (The President) said he had already spoken to the Author about de-icing baths. They did not provide the ideal standard of distribution of de-icing fluid-too little fluid was spread on the rail and too much splashed on the underside of the rolling stock-especially at points where the baths were traversed at high speed.

etc. 6 4 3 -


Mr. A. W. Waterman (A.M.) said that in railway snowfighting the old adage “Prevention is better than cure” was very true, and while there must be expenditure on equipment and an organisation to bring it into use, the effectiveness of whatever was available, whether in material or human form, was dependent on accurate forecasting of bad weather. How many times had there been, in this country, men and machinery standing by for snow that was forecast but did not arrive, only to be caught napping every so often by the sudden onset of snow and icy conditions which arrived without warning

It was after one such occasion at the end of 1961 that he was privileged to be a member of an interdepartmental. party which London Transport sent to Stockholm and Hamburg early in 1962 to study the snow and ice precautions adopted on the urban railway systems in those cities. Some of the precautions had already been mentioned in the Paper, but there were others which were worthy of mention. Although winter weather conditions in Stockholm were generally considerably more severe than those experienced in London, the city being under snow usually between December and March during which time an average of 3 ft. 6 in. fell, the type of snow varied during that time from the dry, powdery variety to the slushy condition so often met in London, which could so quickly turn to ice. During the visit they experienced both types of weather, and the precautions taken to combat them, especial1 on the Stockholm Underground, seemed most effective. The &ockhoIm authorities emphasised the need for reliable weather forecasting so that preventive measures could be taken before or during snow and ice formation rather than corrective action afterwards, and in this respect seemed better supplied with accurate forecasts, presumably because of the greater predictability of the weather on the Swedish Baltic coast rather than because of higher skill in forecasting.

Snowfighting inevitably required the deployment of labour, and in view of the high cost of this it was essential that men were called in time for preventive action to be taken when it was necessary but not, as so often happened in this country, to spend a day waiting for snow which never came. In order to assist in this, the Stockholm authorities had an arrangement with the Swedish radio and television service for the broadcasting of a call for labour, and it might well be an advantage if such a facility was available in this country. The city authorities also made use of civil engineering equipment and labour which was unable to perform its normal function during periods of bad weather and was therefore readily available for such work as clearing streets and pavements of snow. This source of labour and equipment also existed in this country and could well be used for the clearance of platforms and station approaches, thus releasing railway labour and materials for work more suited to their special skills. In connection with this a special type of scoop was used, of cheap construction, consisting of a large piece of plywood with a metal edge on a long handle which allowed a much larger quantity of snow to be moved in a single movement without stooping, than was possible with the normal steel shovel.

The usuaI snow fence provided at exposed locations on the Stockholm Underground was of the horizontal open board type, the


boards being held on to the supports by clamps; a team of six men could erect 200 to 300 yards of such fencing in two hours. At a few exposed places where there was insufficient room to erect the open board type of fencing well clear of the tracks, certain protection was achieved by the use of a continuous jute webbing strip just over four feet wide attached to the ordinary line-side wire mesh fencing by hooks.

The Stockholm Underground current supply was by third rail at 650 volts d.c. with top contact, and a protection board above the rail was provided throughout the system for staff safety reasons, but this had proved invaluable in keeping snow, sleet and rain off the current rail. It did not, however, prevent drifting snow building up under and alongside the current rail until it covered the top. The dreaded cycle of events then took place: the train shoes rode up on the snow and caused arcing, melting the snow, the water thus formed immediately turning to ice.

To circumvent this, Stockholm Underground had two snowblower cars which contained centrifugal compressors and blew air out horizontally below the current rail to prevent build up. I t was also the practice on the Underground to put the current rail on the outer or high side of curves to avoid, as long as possible, its becoming sub- merged under the snow; and where severe gradients occurred a current rail was placed on both sides of the running rails to give more and better current collection. I t was interesting to note that the railway had originally been equipped with de-icing baths, but with the development of other methods of de-icing these had been removed after definite evidence had been obtained that the snow tended to stick to the layer of de-icing fluid on the rail.

In Hamburg the reliability of weather forecasting appeared to be no better than in London, but as the current rails were mounted relatively high and were of the bottom contact type, little current collection trouble was experienced. The main problem was one of keeping points clear of snow and ice, and methods described in the Paper were used for doing this. Traction motors were provided with a small drain hole in the bottom of the casing and snow removed from inside by regular application.. of compressed air.

With regard to the prevention of frozen equipment on rolling stock, two examples from London Transport’s experience might be of interest. The first long period of severe weather to which the 1959 Tube stock was subjected found them prone to ice formation in the electro-pneumatic brake valves and the air feed pipe to the compressor governors. The E.P. brake valves which were mounted in a case under the car suffered because apparently water vapour present in the air supply condensed on the valves as it passed through and froze, thus preventing operation of the valves. I t was noticed that these thawed out from snow after the train entered the tunnel section, and it was evident that a small amount of heat would overcome the problem. A 125-volt, 60-watt lamp was therefore provided inside the case connected across the car heater under the seat immediately above, and it had been found in practice that this provided all the heat necessary to keep the valves free. The air feed pipe to the compressor governors was a dead-end pipe, and at the time was one of the lowest parts of

RAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 45s

the air system; water tended to collect in this pipe, where it froze, causing mal-operation of the governors. The re-routing of the pipe was a long-term matter, and in order to overcome the immediate problem the pipe was disconnected and a teaspoonful of ethylene glycol inserted. This again was sufficient to ensure the correct operation of the equipment.

Whilst the overall cost of snowfighting must be high, these two examples did show that some measure of success in the battle could be achieved easily and cheaply.

Mr. C. M. S. Maguire (A.M.) said the Author had commented on the comparative immunity from icing troubles of overhead line electric traction equipment, and this was broadly true. In his own experience, the greatest icing hazard for overhead lines was freezing fog, when there was an incredibly rapid build-up of moisture on the high voltage insulators; it was so quick that it was almost visible. This could give rise to Severe flash-over problems, but fortunately it was extremely rare. In his experience he had only known it to happen twice. Once was in Glasgow in the early weeks of December 1960 when it occurred one afternoon. Secondly, the Eastern Region had a certain amount of trouble in the winter of 1962-3. At the same time the C.E.G.B. had a great deal of difficulty on outdoor high-voltage transformer bushings and also on the transmission line insulators. As a result the grid was seriously affected on the cast coast. The cause was a combination of very high air humidity and freezing temperatures.

The Same conditions could cause trouble on the foot insulators of pantographs of electric trains. The Eastern Region had attempted to combat this by fitting fibreglass shields over the foot insulators. Since they had been fitted, there had not been the same freezing fog, so they did not know if they were effective. There was an incidental benefit that they had made the insulators a great deal easier to clean, and they were probably worthwhile for this reason alone.

The only other important difficulty with high-voltage overhead line equipment was the formation of icicles under bridges where moisture dripped down and froze thus giving a stalactite effect, until they touched the overhead line equipment. The method usually taken to combat this problem was for patrols to go and deal with the vulner- able points which were learnt by experience.

The Author commented on rectifier troubles on the Eastern Kegion electric a.c. stock due to snow penetration. and eventually metal-type oil wetted grills were used. As a result of these failures a large number of units were out of service for varying lengths of time. He would emphasise that there was no question of serviceable units being withdrawn because of fire risk, which was the implication the Author gave in his Paper. This was entirely a question of the equipment becoming defective due to flash-overs of the rectifiers. As a result of the modifications that took place, the following winter showed better results, although climatic conditions are always difficult to compare. There were four failures in the whole winter the following year, one on an unmodified unit, and three on units fitted with new ducts but without louvres. All units were also modified to produce more gradual


potential gradients to avoid large voltage differences between adjacent live paths, and it was hoped that the trouble was substantially cured.

Mr. G. H. Hafter (A.M.) asked what was done on the North American railways, where the icing was very severe, to keep ordinary pneumatic equipment going. Mr. Waterman had spoken about keeping electro-pneumatic valves from freezing, but there were other parts of the pneumatic equipment where electric heating was not available. For example, there were unprotected triple valves, and they could freeze in bad conditions.

In a written communication, Mr. Hafter added that he would also like to know whether alcohol anti-freezers were still in general use in pneumatic equipment in North America. He often felt that they caused more trouble than they cured by depositing gum on the valves.

Mr. M. F. He$&-Phillipson (A.M.) pointed out that the question of pneumatic equipment freezing in bad weather had been raised, but mainly from the point of view of what could be done after the difficulty had arisen. He would be far more interested to know the items used by other railways than in Britain to prevent the trouble occurring in the first place, such as ensuring that the water, if it could get down the train, could not freeze, and secondly preventing the water from getting any further than the main reservoirs.

Mr. K. Cantlie (M.) spoke about the Chinese Railways. In Manchuria it could be extremely cold with temperatures down to 30°F below zero, and even in Peking winter temperatures could be lower than 10” below zero. In North China, however, winter weather was always dry, and dry snow could be handled by rotary ploughs with ease. I t was where the snow was wetter further south that rotaries did not work so well.

For points and signals they smeared all moving parts with thick coats of grease to keep the frost out and in busy yards point heaters were used. These, in the past at least, had been quite cheap ones of iron or brass which gave remarkably little trouble.

In regard to air-brakes, they had to be careful to see that air pumped along the train should be dry in order that as little moisture as possible reached the triple-valves. With proper moisture traps this was not very difficult. Wagons picked up from sidings, however, often had moisture in their pipes, but good traps and drain valves usually prevented trouble.

Concerning steam heating, some care was necessary in cold weather. Trains and spare stock were kept either in heated carriage sheds or in sidings piped for steam heat from stationary boilers. Heat- ing vans were used when found necessary. Sleeping cars and carriages for special duties had their own built-in heating boilers. The type of steam-heat connection usual in Britain had been superseded because the hinged catches often broke when being hammered to free them. Instead they used what was known as the ‘flop’ coupler, because thc two connectors flopped into contact and were rugged enough to with- stand rough handling. The ‘Gold’ and ‘Vapor’ systems of steam heat had given good service. The external thermostats had the

XAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 457

advantage that they increased the internal temperature in inverse proportion to the cold outside. Large diameter train pipes gave ample heat to the rear of trains. He remembered being in the last coach of a 12-car train in Manchuria in mid-winter and noting that the car was perfectly warm.

In Siberia, where it was really cold, often 40°F below zero special precautions were necessary because frost got into metal and made it brittle. It was perhaps for that reason that axles and drawgear were often abnormally large.

To sum up; in countries where winter conditions were always severe, the railways made adequate preparations in advance, and all went well.

Mr. R. 1. D. Arthurton (M.) was curious about the business of a snow blower filling wagons at the rate of three minutes a wagon. How were the wagons arranged? Were they in a train of wagons on an adjacent track which had already been cleared of snow? If so, how was it arranged that the capacity of the wagons exactly suited the amount of snow put into them?

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION Mr. F. C . Matthews (A.M.) wrote that we are told that all London

Transport sleet locomotives and some rolling stock now have air blast jets to blow snow off the conductor rails. Surely this is robbing thc main reservoirs of air at the very time that the compressors may be reduced in capacity by indifferent current supply; further, the reduction in temperature due to the expansion of escaping air is most undesirable?

AUTHOR’S REPLY M Y . T. Matthewson-Dick had said that most of the ground equip-

ment suggested by the Author was operated by gas or electricity and therefore subject to interruption. This may be true for electricity, but most of the gas point heaters operate on propane gas from independent sources, i.e. bottles or tanks.

Mr. Matthewson-Dick had also suggested that the number of hold- ups due to winter conditions over the past 30 years was small. The Author quoted examples of 1962-63 because the events were recent and therefore still in mind-and space was limited. Events early in 1965 are mentioned in the Paper and at the end of November, when the Author was in Britain, a passenger train was snowed up near Penrith and the line between Settle and Carlisle was blocked for two days by 12 ft. drifts in several places-men equipped with shovels could not clear the line; but a snow blower could have kept the line open. The number of blockages which have occurred over the past 25 years are difficult to ascertain in detail as records are not available.

With regard to the forecasting of weather, Mr. Matthewson-Dick had pointed out that useful information was being obtained from the Meteorological Oflice, but .MY. Waterman had shown up the com-

458 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE E N G I N E E R S

plete unreliability of this Department. The truth of the matter is that the climate in Britain is so variable that it is often impossible to obtain accurate forecasts for a small area even a few hours in advance. A slight change of temperature, a small shift of the wind, and the whole picture was changed. Professor Gordon Manley would confirm this.

With regard to the ignition of gas point heaters MY. Matthewson- Dick had pointed out that it was no use having point heaters to avoid the use of men with shovels if men had to be sent around to light them. This is not true because, to give one example, only 12 men per shift were required at York (339 heaters) to light the heaters against a normal use of 120 men per shift when there were no heaters. The Author agrees that much will have to be done for lighting the heaters by remote control and, probably, this applies more to heaters in remote locations than in big centres. The Dutch ignite at least 75 of their ARMA heaters by remote control and the Americans know a great deal about this. Arrangements can be made to ignite a single heater or a group by pressing a button in the signal box and the signalman has an illuminated indication that the heaters are in operation. He can have an indication also that the heaters are not functioning or have been extinguished. And there can be arrangements for automatically relighting the heaters in the event of failure. Some types of gas point heaters can blow out, but the Mills AKMA heaters are immune from this defect. Even so it is as well to see that the gas bottles are kept filled-this is not difficult as there are always four bottles with the Mills ARMA heaters, so that two may be replaced when empty, without extinguishing the heaters. There is a further and most important point to be borne in mind-it is that the men who are going to ignite and maintain point heaters should have complete knowledge of their operation and no one else should be allowed to interfere-and that the installation and maintenance of point heaters should be the sole prerogative of the signal engineers and linesmen.

On the subject of Flangers, the only equivalent in Britain is the plough brake used for ballast but these are not equipped with ice cutters. These are much smaller than the American models but possibly could be adapted for use with snow. But there is a difficulty as snow fighting is not planned in Britain, there are no trackside indi- cations to tell when the plough shares should be lifted, e.g. for check rails, level crossings, turnouts, etc., so it is likely that there would be damage to track and plough shares.

With regard to jet blowers, Mr. Matthewson-Dick had wondered if the Author was making the point that there might be an idea here for thawing frozen coal in wagons. A jet would be useless for this purpose. The answer to this problem is infrd-red heat which penetrates the frozen mass.

Definitely not.

MY. Barter’s question on de-icing baths was answered in part by the Chairman. The shoe does not enter the bath which is somewhat similar to a cricket pitch marker-that is to say that the shoe passes over a wheel, immersed in the bath, from which it picks up liquid to spread on the conductor rails.


M r . Waterman had said that the Swedes borrowed city labour and equipment for clearing snow from platforms, approaches and yards. This is almost a universal arrangement in North America-not only for city equipment but for that of private contractors as well. I t is part of the planned snow-fighting arrangements which is so foreign to Britain.

References to frozen equipment on rolling stock were made by Messrs. Waterman, Hnfter, HessL-Phillapson and Cantlie. The references in particular were to E.P. brake valves and triple valves. Mr. Waterman showed that a small amount of heat applied to the E.P. brake valve cured this trouble. 41r. Cantlie pointed out that proper moisture traps prevented trouble at the triple valves. The Author would like to stress here that the frequent failure of train heating systems (even before the advent of diesels with boiler troubles) every winter in Britain was due to faulty plumbing in the coaching stock. AS M Y . Cantlie remarked, “In countries where winter conditions were always severe, the railways made adequate preparation in advance, and all went well.”

In reply to Messrs. Matthewvm-Dick and Arthurton regarding snow disposal, even though Britain is comparatively small, there are hundreds of miles of line on which a snow-blower could throw snow away from the track without causing inconvenience to anyone. Snow thrown from a blower does not create banks, but spreads. In built-up areas, in sorting yards, and in the vicinity of stations, where snow cannot be blown away but must be removed, a blower with a turned-over hood can clear one track by depositing the snow on the other-then a train of wagons can be brought along the cleared track and the blower proceed along the parallel track, loading the wagons as it goes. The wagon train is kept moving to keep in step with the blower so that, when a wagon is full, an empty one may be pushed alongside the blower. Another machine which will do the same work without having a train of wagons, is the Snow Melter. This machine is described and illustrated in the Paper.

Mr. Matthews asked whether the air-jet blasts from locomotives and rolling stock were not going to rob the main reservoirs of air at a time when the compressors might lack current. He suggested also that the expansion of the escaping air would reduce the temperature at the rail. The Author feels that the air capacity will be ample for the purpose and that the reduction of temperature will make little difference provided it is snow, and not ice, that the air is clearing. He suggests that the London Transport Board would be reassured on these points.

MEETING IN DERBY, 23rd NOVEMBER 1965

An Ordinary General Meeting of the Midlands Centre was held at the Midland Hotel, Derby on 23rd November 1965 at 6.0 p.m., the Chair being taken by hfr. A. H. Emerson (Vice-president).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 9th November 1965 having


been agreed and signed as correct, the Chairman introduced Mr. G . Richard Parkes who presented his Paper entitled “Railway Snow- fighting.”

This was followed by a discussion.

DISCUSSION Mr. F. G. Clements (A.M.) congratulated the Author on an

excellent and very timely Paper which had so comprehensively covered this very difficult subject. He thought it appeared more difficult in this country because they were not called upon to meet the situation frequently enough and that may be largely responsible for their apparently lagging behind what was being done elsewhere.

He commented on what had been done about the problem of snow fighting in this country and said that if one reflected on the time when all locomotives were steam, one remembered the valiant efforts of steam locomotives and ploughs mounted thereon in combating snow, and the inducements to staff to go out on such expeditions; they got extra money and generally a “good time was had by all,” until they got into red difficulties which they did very frequently and then it was a tremendous job to get out of them.

As the Author indicated, there were a number of independent snow ploughs already in service and some in course of delivery and it looked as if they would be fairly effective. At the end of his Paper, the Author led them to the consideration of choosing either the rotary plough or the snow blower. Which should it be, and how should they be designed and built? They were expensive pieces of equipment to lie in a depot for long periods without being used. He thought some insurance was necessary in this respect and probably they should have a plough of this kind mounted on its own frame but propelled by the conventional locomotive and supplied with power by the locomotive. He said that there are already some diesel electric locomotives in service which had three-part generators, one part being used for traction, one part for auxiliaries and the third part for heating. He was sure that this heating element which on some locomotives was about 250 h.p., could well be used to operate a rotary plough or snow blower. Bearing in mind there were many places in this country where a rotary plough could not be used because of the structures close to the track, he thought that perhaps a snow blower would be the kind of thine; to go for which could load its own collection into vehicles which might be available, and could be used as a pusher in other less favourable places.

The Author said that ploughing should be commenced as soon as the snow started: whilst it was accepted that this policy could well be adopted in Canada and America where the traffic density was not very great, in this country one had to weigh conditions much more care- fully when deciding at what stage to bring out the snow plough, because the moment that happened, traffic was interrupted and that could have very serious effects, particularly on the lines of high traffic density. One was governed by meteorological forecasts which came to their Control and the Controller found that he himself was the one who made the decision. How did the Author think that decision

R4ILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 46 1

should be made; who should be responsible for making it and at what level?

Mr. K. Taylor (M.) said that the rotary plough would enable the lighter type of locomotive such as the electric locomotive to do snow ploughing duty in the deepest snow. In the past, deep drifts had generally been cleared by using the heavier types of wedge plough propelled by a steam locomotive which charged into the drifts. If an electric or diesel locomotive were to be used in this way the locomotive was likely to be damaged.

He referred to the point raised by the Author in clearing loop lines on the M.S.W. Line. The problem there was that very often the lines got blocked because the operators put a goods train into the loop when snow drifts were being created and the train itself would help to form a drift and so block the line. Experience on that line had shown that if they had kept through running to the main line only when drifting was likely they would not have been in difficulties so often. The difficulty was more often than not caused by operating the points and then, because of drifting snow, not being able to get them back again to their original position. This created sufficient time lag between trains to enable deep drifting to take place. He thought the Author’s opinion about point heaters was correct and that to keep points free would go a long way to overcoming many of the troubles experienced in this country, where generally the depths of snowfalls were not such as to cause immediate trouble and keeping the trains running tended to keep the track clear.

He said he had seen on the Pennines a fall of only three inches of snow create havoc on that particular section of the line because the wind cleared the snow from the fields and dropped it on the railway tracks. The use of snow barriers certainly deserved the fullest consideration.

With regard to the precautions taken to keep conductor rails free from ice, these are expensive and have not always proved to be wholly satisfactory. It was a pity that greater use had not been made of the side contact conductor rail system as was used on the Manchester-Bury Line, where no special precautions are taken when frost is expected, and to his knowledge of the line the service had never failed to run because of ice on the conductor rail.

With regard to overhead line equipment which was not very prone to icing trouble, trouble was experienced at bridges or in tunnels where stalactites of ice from the underside of the bridge or the tunnel roof sometimes touched the overhead wires drawing an arc which could result in the conductor being severed due to the high resistance of the fault. Also, where water dropped on to the conductors, it would sometimes freeze and the ice would build up until bad collection resulted. This ice could also present an obstacle to the passage of the pan which could lead to it being damaged. The Civil Engineer should therefore keep the tunnels and bridges dry or divert the water so that if it froze it could not cause such hazards.

Mt. A. H. Emerson (Vice-president) referred to his visit to Russia and said that they cleared points there by compressed air-one of the


most expensive fuels to use, and at a marshalling yard in Leningrad they had a compressor house merely to provide compressed air to blow the snow away. To give an indication of its size, it was larger than the power house in Derby.

Mr. B. G . .Sephton (A.M.) said one of British Railways most serious problems was train heating and this affected them whether snow fell or not, and the Author had made a brief reference to it. Could the Author, as a result of his experience and considerable research in this matter, suggest how British Railways might tackle this very serious problem? Surely all these problems have been overcome by other railways; did they have a reserve heating of some kind?

Mr. F. G. Cl.arke (M.) asked regarding Fig. 2 of the Paper, if there was any significance in the fact that the double-track plough was being propelled by a steam locomotive on an electrified section. In other words, by putting the centre line of the plough off centre, was a different type of unit required to push it, or would a high power I weight ratio electric locomotive be suitable?

In his reply stating that any type of propulsion was suitable, the Author observed that he was surprised more use was not made of this type of plough in this country, as it was in regular use in parts of Iiorth America where the vertical centre of the wedge is set in line with the off-side running rail.

Mr. Clarke then asked the following supplementary question- As this type of plough must produce excessive side thrust and risk

of derailment across the adjoining track, what counterbalance is required on the near side of it? Was there any special profiling of the wheel treads and flanges to accommodate the side thrust to avoid risk of derailment?

Mr. J. C. Loa& (M.) said in connection with camage warming on British Railways in extremely bad weather, he thought that, in addition to what the Author had said about design, there was also something in the matter of organisation. The mileage run by coaches in express trains waq relatively small compared with Continental trains, and then carriages were put away in cold carriage sidings where, if they had not frozen up on the journey, they froze up before their next iourney. On some of the Continental trains where coaches were doing i,ooo miles or more on a journey, camage warming was going on all the time and there were greater precautions taken at the terminals to ensure that heat wa; still supplied to the carriages.

Mr. A. H. Emerson (Vice-president) said on the electrified lines of the western lines t3f the L.M. Region there was electric heating now and there would be more supplies taken from overhead line equipment to give preheating of all trains and, failing that, a locomotive could be used to do it. He thought the secret of success was that heating must be kept on all the time, especially steam heating.

Mr. A. H. Edleston (A.M.) said the Author had stated in his Paper that British Railways could learn much from the practices on


the Continent and North America in so far as train heating was concerned. Mr. Edleston did not accept this as far as North America was concerned, because British Railways operated a large number of train heating boilers which were originally of American design, but now built in this country under licence, and to make these steam generators reasonably reliable it had been found necessary to undertake a very expensive modification programme and British Railways were still far from satisfied and further modifications would no doubt still have to be undertaken before these steam generators would be completely reliable. Would the Author give his opinion as to what else should now be done to achieve full reliability?

Mr. F. H. G. Wakefield (A.M.) said there was a massive programme in hand for modifying the present steam heating arrangements, and perhaps some measure of the success of these modifications was indicated by the fact that some two years ago British Railways sent a sleeping car which had been so modified to the testing station in Vienna. During the test the steam heating was turned off and then the car was subjected to 20" of frost; everything was frozen up. Steam was turned on again and within 20 minutes every steam heater was operating; all steam traps were unfrozen; everything was functioning properly. A very large percentage of rolling stock had now been so modified. Therefore, the Author's recent experience may have been due to "boilers", i.e. a failed steam generating boiler on the locomotive.

Mr. A. H. Emerson (Vice-President) asked if the Author knew any other railways using electric heating for their trains.

Mr. G. C. Jackson (M.) said that one of the difficulties with diesel and electric locomotives was to prevent fine powdered snow being drawn through the air intakes and thence into the machinery. Whilst the filters would obviously stop most of the snow there were some occasions where the air from the machinery did not require to be filtered and in these circumstances it would appear that special precautions would have to be taken to prevent the snow being drawn in. Could the Author say what precautions would be taken on the North American Railways to overcome this problem? Had they found that any particular design of louvre was effective? He understood that in certain Northern European territories the practice had been to fit a piece of ordinary coarse sacking behind the intake louvres, and although this appeared a very crude method it was apparently effective; however, it hardly seemed the correct scientific approach.

Mr. F. G. Clements (A.M.) asked if the infra red heaters used by the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad produced any side effect- beneficial or otherwise-on a train which came to rest beneath them. If so, was anything done to ensure that this did not occur?

Mr. A. H. Emerson (Vice-President) said that the Author had implied that not enough was done in this country about snowfighting to keep a line open, or about being prepared. The economics of this

464 JOURNAL CiF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

were something he had often wondered about. Was it really worthwhile trying to keep a piece of railway open in the Highlands or across the Pennines when the worst effect of many snowstorms in this country was all over in two or three days? Did it cost more money than it was worth? Had anybody ever measured this cost? Last night, for example, he believed the M 1 motor road was closed on the north- bound lane for many hours, due partly to pile-ups. Nobody was prepared there, apart from a little snow pushing, to deal with it. On only two occasions in his railway life, the speaker said, had a snow blockage been really serious and lasted several weeks and been extremely inconvenient; on most occasions it had all been over in a few days. He suggested that a plan of campaign should be developed and priorities fixed for various lines which could be put into operation if a big snowstorm caused wholesale blockage. Fixed diversions could be laid down and those lines cleared; the other lines could remain closed until the snow melted naturally, e.g. there are five separate lines over the Pennines at present; it is uneconomic to keep them all open simultaneously.

Mr. Emerson said that to make a snowplough self-propelling would mean that traction equipment would be provided which certainly in this country would be used probably at the most for one week in a year. The rest of the year that traction equipment would earn no revenue; it would lie idle and still need maintenance. The answer in this country, whether a rotary plough or a pusher, is to push it by a standard locomotive, and if necessary have in that snow plough only the power equipment necessary to drive the rotary equipment or provide compressed air, and the rest of the year the locomotive could be revenue earning.

Mr. A. B. Boath (M.) said he considered the Author had quite rightly emphasised the importance of point heaters as this development was proving a valuable contribution to keeping the lines open during snow or low temperature conditions.

As an extension to Mr. Clements’s question on infra-red heaters, it would appear that damage to vehicles could be sustained if stopped immediately below the ‘Sentinel’ type heater. It would be interesting also to know where the moisture sensing units are located on this equipment.

Whilst there appeared to be a wide range of snow-fighting equipment available in various parts of the world, it is obvious that the frequency at which this equipment would be required would govern the type of unit purchased. Could the Author indicate the approxi- mate cost of a rotary plough which could be used economically in Britain?

The type of twin rotary plough indicated in Fig. 9 would appear to be a useful unit, particularly for clearing open stretches of yard sidings. Could the Author say whether the rotary units are readily detachable and, with a view to use as a light yard shunter, could he give details of the engine rating of the locomotive?

Where the topography permits, permanent snow sheds are frequently used. The Author has emphasised that these are expensive to build and maintain. Has consideration been given to utilising the


wide field of glass reinforced plastic units? The Author has referred to experiments being conducted to

prevent coal or ore freezing whilst in transit to the consumer and that cars are being sprayed with polyurethane foam which has, to quote the Author--“twice the insulating properties of glass fibre and which has self-adhesive qualities.” It would be interesting to learn whether the polyurethane foam is applied to the outer or inner surfaces of the cars and whether any further protective lining is applied. Reference to the self-adhesive qualities is fully justified as any such insulating media must invariably provide considerably better insulating properties than could be achieved by any type of pre-formed materials.

Mi. B. E. Cook (G.) said that with the end of steam locomotion in this country more and more diesel-electric locomotives were being used with push snowploughs. He wondered what damage these locomotives would sustain when working at full load down to standstill conditions, as may well occur when charging snowdrifts at speed. The previous worst weather in this respect had been the winter of 196213 and since then many steam locomotives had been withdrawn. On the Highland lines of the Scottish Region, in particular, the sole responsibility for snow clearance was charged to Type ‘2’ diesel-electric locomotives.

Mr. G. E. Winfield (A.M.) said he believed that trouble was experienced with the B.R. Type “2” diesel electric locomotives in Scotland during the winter of 1962/63 and the frames of these locomotives were bent. A number of locomotives to be used on snowploughing were reinforced as a design modification.

The Author did not say much about the use of the miniature 3-part snow plough, but during the winter of 1962163 in Scotland this type of plough was quite effective in dealing with soft snow up to three feet deep. Since such ploughing would be quite effective for much of the work in the British Isles, economies could probably be made by the more extensive use of the 3-part plough.

Referring to the blower type of snow plough, were there limiting wind conditions when such a plough would be ineffective, bearing in mind that once the snow was lifted off the ground it could be blown back onto the track nearby?

Mr. E. H. Osborne (A.M.) said that if , as some may suggest, it was not economic to fight the snow, there may be no point in B.R. attempting to do so. On the other hand, if B.R. were going to fight snow, then the economics must be borne in mind. He suggested there were two avenues of economics here. First, how much was it costing B.R. to fight the snow? Secondly, the economics, so far as the country as a whole are concerned. They were told practically every week that a relatively short strike, in a car firm for example, cost about $1 m. I t probably cost the country a fair amount too in lost exports. Was that perhaps the line they really ought to take? How much was it costing B.R. to fight the snow and how much was it saving the

indeed, then perhaps this matter ought to be considered ;Y rom great a country? If the difference, as he suspected, was going to be ve

466 JOURNAL OF ’ME INSTITUTION O F 1.OCOMOTIVE EXGINEISRS

National point of view. Should not the country do something to enable B.R. to fight the snow?

Mr. R. G. Jarvis (M.), in proposing the vote of thanks, compli- mented the Author on an excellent Paper by an acknowledged authority on a most interesting subject which had produced a very lively discussion. The subject was one in which Mr. Jarvis had himself taken a keen interest and he first of all drew attention to two points--one a minor correction to the Paper, the other an omission.

Reference was made to the L.M. Region employing double-line type pusher ploughs and he thought that these would be ploughs of L.N.E.R. origin used on the Manchester/Sheffield/Wath section, as all the L.M.S. standard ploughs were of the single-line type. The objection to the use of double-line ploughs was the tendency to apply a lateral load which would increase the chances of derailment, but double-line ploughs had also beein included in the standard types of the Great Western and Southern Railways.

The omission concerned the very extensive tests carried out by the L.M.S. Railway, in conjunction with Messrs. Rolls-Royce and the Gas Turbine Establishment, between 1st March and 17th March 1947. In these, two Denvent 1 jet engines were mounted on a container flat from which the headstock had been removed, and during the extremely severe period referred to, snow clearance was effectively camed out on a number of lines in the Midlands, including the Castle Donington Loop, part of the Cromford and High Peak, Bromford Bridge to Lich- field Road Junction (near Walsall) and Saxby, towards Bourne as far as Little Bytham. In all these tests the snow was fairly newly fallen up to six feet in depth, and the jets cleared the track very effectively.

Reference was made in the Paper to the disturbance of the ballast, the L.M.S. experience showed that this could be avoided by throttling down the moment that the black ballast could be seen through the white of the snow.

During the later part of the period, the jet snow plough was trans- ferred to the Settle / Carlisle line which had been completely blocked for the main part of the period of nearly six weeks. An attempt was made to clear deep snow in a cutting close to Ribblehead Station. This snow had been compacted by alternate thawing and freezing and the jets were able to make little impression upon it. The only way in which progress could be made by by breaking down the snow with shovels and then blowing it away with the jets, otherwise the jets merely produced a curved channel through the snow which deflected the energy uselessly into the air. Following a morning’s blowing at Ribblehead, which had largely emptied a 3,000-gallon rail tanker of kerosene, someone looked up at the massive slope of Whernside and exclaimed ‘ I - !!, that mountain was white when we started”-sure enough by this time it was grey.

The final test was made on the Glasgow and South Western Line, north of Dumfries, at Auldgirth, as a demonstration for the experts of the Northern Division, including the Chief Officer for Scotland. Much the same experience was obtained and it was estimated that 13 tons of snow were moved in eighteen minutes. The party then travelled north to Camonbridge and watched from a bridge on the station a


Caledonian 0-6-0, fitted with an L.M.S. No. 2 snowplough assisted in the rear by a 2-6-0 “Land Crab,” charge a drift at about 50 m.p.h. emerging at the other end at about 15 m.p.h. and throwing an estimated 110 tons of snow well clear of the track bed in about fifteen seconds.

The L.M.S. Railway had long realised the need for rotary snowploughs to deal slowly and surely with drifts which were beyond the capacity of pusher ploughs, particularly where trains were snowed in and charging of the blocks would have been dangerous; high speed is an essential prerequisite of effective snow clearance with pusher ploughs.

One investigation was made in 1940 which became an engineering recommendation but was not proceeded with on account of expense. In 1947 two rotary ploughs were actually authorised but these were not built owing to financial stringency at that time. Instead a large number of locomotives were fitted with small nose ploughs, these were to be used in the danger areas for patrolling and also at the head of trains to prevent the build-up of snow between the wheels of the following vehicles, uhich is the usual cause of trains becoming snow- bound. Through the years these nose ploughs have been very effective, in conjunction with the larger type ploughs for patrolling in those areas where deep drifts might occur. The rotary plough must be regarded as a last resort and it is very doubtful, if they had been built in 1947, whether they would have, in fact, done any significant work since then.

In recent years Kent has been the scene of some of the worst dis- location due to winter conditions and yet the large standard steel ploughs provided on the Southern Region, XIr. Jarvis believed, had practically never experienced snow sufficiently deep for the plough to be able to reach down to it.

The Paper had been a most interesting one and he had great pleasure in proposing a vote of thanks to the Author.

AUTHOR’S REPLY Mr. Clements wondered who should make the decision to start

ploughing. I n the opinion of the Author, it should be the Controller as he should have frequent reports of conditions in all areas through signalmen and train crews. In Britain, local conditions can change fast and it is useless to rely on meteorological reports. To give an example: on the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath Line in 1958, three trains from Manchester were stuck between Valehouse and Woodhead (drifts up to 18 ft. deep) late at night and there was no through traffic on that line until 3.00 p.m. the next day. Had the Controller been advised of the conditions building up, he could have ordered the operating departments to get the ploughs moving and could have held back the trains until it was certain that they could get through to their destinations. In other words, the Controller should have been advised of the conditions by the men who were on the spot, particularly by the signalmen at Torside, Crowden, Woodhead and Dunford Bridge, and then acted accordingly.


Rotary Ploughs (Blowers) were discussed by Messrs. Boath, Clements, Taylor, Emerson and Jarvis. In hard-packed snow, in cuttings and where there are long deep drifts, the rotary plough of modem design is far superior to a nose plough because brute force is useless and the snow is blown away from the track. Self-contained, self-propelled rotaries are expensive in capital cost and, therefore, possibly could not be justified in Britain at the present time. There are, however, ploughs which were originally designed for use on the highways which have been adapted for railway use-a good example is the Sicard Snow Blower (Fig. 11). Today, there is available a British-made rotary snow plough which is self-contained and designed for fitting on to the front of trucks, tractors, bucket loaders, etc., which could be adapted for fitting on to a railway flat car. Known as the SNO-BLO and manufactured by Croker Engineering (Cheltenham) Limited, these machines (there are several models) are extremely robust and might be the answer to the needs of British Railways. The cost would be comparatively small and would warrant numbers of them being placed at locations where snow blocks are known to occur. These ploughs could be pushed by any type of locomotive, though there would have to be telephonic communication between the operator of the plough and the driver of the locomotive in order to maintain effective speed.

In general, Mr. Taylor’s opinions coincide with those of the Author, particularly with regard to point heaters, snow fences, side conductor rails, and the responsibility of the Civil Engineer in keeping bridge and tunnels free of ice deposits.

MY. Emerson had stated that the Russians used compressed air for blowing away snow from points. I t is also used to some extent in North America. The air jet, blowing at regular intervals clears the snow between the point blade and the stock rail. But this system will not work in wet snow as the jet opens a small channel at the base of the rail, leaving the snow above to block the switch movement.

Redving to Messrs. Sephton, Loach. Emerson, Edleston and Wakefield, camage warming on the railwavs of Britain has been unreliable from time immemorial. In the main, boiler trouble has not been the cause and the Author’s recent exwrience (November) when there was no heat in the front portion of the train but plenty in the rear (Manchester Central-St. Pancras) strengthens his point. The unreliability of steam heating has been caused by faulty design, individuallv or in combination, of couplings, valves, traps and general layout of the systems. In addition is the fact that provision for keeping the stock warm between runs is rarely made. In former days, steam locomotives were used occasionally for heating carriage stock while waiting, sometimes for hours, in a terminal. But more often stock was brought into the station cold in the hope that it would have warmed up by the time the train was ready to depart. In North America, all camage sidings, and tracks in passenger terminals, are equipped with steam pipes at the end of the track. Waiting stock is connected to the steam supply, so remains warm always. The Author


is glad to note that a new steam-producing plant has been completed at Swansea High Street (W.R.) for the purpose of heating waiting passenger stock.

The Author has been given to understand that the ultimate aim in Britain is to heat all coaching stock by electricity. This should be simpler and less liable to trouble than steam, but two important points must be understood and provided for at the outset. First, that diesel- electric locomotives equipped with generating capacity for carriage heating must be employed to take over trains starting their journeys on electrified lines (e.g. on the Euston-Glasgow run where the change- over takes place at Crewe) and, secondly, that provision must be made to keep coaching stock warm between runs-whether in stations or in the open on sidings. While there are a few diesel-electric locomotives in North America fitted with steam boilers (which may cause some trouble as in Britain), the normal method is to use steam generating cars which are placed at the head end behind the locomotives. As the steaming units have ample capacity, there is rarely any heating trouble - e v e n on trains 20 cars long.

Messrs. Clarke and Tarvis asked a b u t double-track push ploughs. The propelling unit required for a double-track is the same as for a single-track plough. Excessive side thrust can be discounted on a D/T plough when it is appreciated that a S/T plough frequently encounters drifts which are much higher on one side, thus causing a heavy side thrust. In other words, side thrust is a hazard with either type. There is no special profiling of wheel treads and flanges.

Replying to M Y . Jackson, fine powdered snow in air intakes is a vexatious problem because in a storm of fine powdered snow the inside of an engine compartment can be comparable with a raging blizzard. Oil-wetted grills on all air intakes might be a solution but, in the Author’s opinion, too expensive and complicated. Coarse sacking behind the louvres mav not be scientific but, if it is effective, why not use it-especially in Britain wherc fine powdered snow occurs less frequently than in other places?

Messrs. Boath and Clements asked about trains standing under overhead infra-red heaters. In the locations where these heaters are presently installed, it is unlikely that a train would come to a stand. However, it is the Author’s opinion that, should this type of heater come into universal use, some precautions would have to be taken- particularly because of the risk of a tank car of liquid gas or petrol, or of a refrigerator car, coming to a dead stand underneath the heater. The danger could be eliminated by a short track circuit coupled with a time relay which would extinguish the heater in the event of a train being brought to a stand for longer than a safe period, say, five minutes.

The economics of snowfighting was raised by Messrs. Emerson and Osborne. In the Author’s opinion, it was worth while keeping open routes in the Highlands, in Yorkshire and in Wales, since in severe storms the railways would be the only possible means of transport. Of


the five lines across the Pennines, adequate snowfighting equipment should be provided on three-Manchester-Leeds via Huddersfield, Manchester-Sheffield via Woodhead, and Manchester-Derby via Peak Forest-these lines could accommodate the traffic from the other two routes. The economics of railway snowfighting are not easy to assess. The Paper has shown the kind of savings which can be effected by the use of point heaters, but it is difficult to arrive at the total savings of keeping the traffic on the move. Mr. Osborm’s reference to the cost of strikes in the car industry was very much to the point. If main railways are blocked, many industries and businesses may suffer considerable losses and the cost to the country as a whole could be very high. The cost of planning with the use of adequate equipment is comparatively insignificant.

In reply to Messrs. Cook and Winfield, it is a moot point whether diesel locomotives will stand hard knocks in push ploughing. If used intelligently, there should be no trouble, but if they are used to try to shift blocks which even a steam locomotive could not move, there will be trouble. Behind a rotary plough, diesels would be remarkably effective because of their fine degree of speed control-this would apply equally to electric locomotives.

In a high wind, the chutes of the blower should be turned to follow the direction of the wind. Some of the snow will be deposited on the adjoining track but it is more likely to be blown well away from the line.

Mr. Jarvis mentioned the usc of jet-engined blowers on the L.M.S. Railway in 1947 and although they were effective on some lines, they were hopeless on others. This was in accordance with the findings of the L.N.E.R. and the G.W.R. The reference to throttling down to avoid disturbance of the ballast was interesting in that the blowers on the New York Central make use of this very important feature of reducing the pressure on the road surface.

Mr. Winfield asked about the wind effect on blowers.

Mr. Roath asked about moisture sensing units for ‘Sentinel’ heaters. These are located on a post about 4 ft. high close to the switch area but out of range of the overhead heater.

On the subject of foam-coated coal and ore wagons, raised by Mr. Roath, extensive experiments are being carried out by the Penn- sylvania and the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroads, with some evidence of success. Satisfactory application of the polyurethane foam requires that the metal surfaces be above 65°F and, apart from cleanliness, no special preparation is required. The foam is applied to the exterior of the wagons to a thickness of two inches bv means of a mixing unit and spray gun; and considerable operator skill is required in the application. The theory behind the insulation is to retain the inherent heat of the raw material. In the States, the cost is said to be low. However, the Author is of the opinion that, for British conditions, car thawing sheds using infra-red heat, 1oca;t;d at the consumers’ plants remote from the coal fields, i.e. where merry-go-round” trains do not run, would be more satisfactory and economical.

RAILWAY SNOWFIGHTIMG 47 1

MEETING IN MANCHESTER, 24th NOVEMBER 1965

An Ordinary General Meeting of the Manchester Centre was held at the Renold Building, Manchester College of Science and Technology on 24th November 1965 at 6.30 p.m., the Chair being taken by Mr. D. Patrick (Member).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 13th October 1965 having been agreed and signed as correct, the Chairman introduced Mr. G. Richard Parkes who presented his Paper entitled “Railway Snowfighting. ”


DISCUSSION Mr. C. L. Kelly (A.M.) said he thought it would be remiss to

let the Author’s remarks pass regarding the unpreparedness or the “couldn’t care less” attitude of the railways on the question of snow clearing. He agreed with the need for some improved equipment and point heating installations, also there might be something in what the Author said in regard to rotary ploughs. Mr. Kelly said that the emphasis must always be on prevention rather than cure, i.e. to prevent snow blocking the railway in the first place, and it might be of interest to know that on the North Western line of the London Mid- land Region, there were some 30/40 steam locomotives which were fitted with small ploughs (small nose ploughs), and also a number adapted for fitting with a larger type of plough. In addition a number of diesel locomotives were equipped with the nose plough and there were the new independent ploughs mentioned by the Author. I t was his contention that the small ploughs should do the job in the first instance; they should keep the route clear and it was the deployment of these that he thought was the problem. From his own experience, there had been a good deal of planning put into the question of clearing snow when snow was imminent. Ploughs were fitted and trains were reduced in size, banking locomotives were made available, and furthermore, patrol locomotives were used to keep running over the track-this was the crux of the matter. As a matter of interest, his own experience on the North American Continent was some 20 y e a s ago, and when travelling from Halifax to Montreal in blizzard conditions the train was 18 hours late, which speaks for itself-the difficulties are the same.

Mr. J . Trainer (M.) supported Mr. Kelly. The statement that we had no plans was just not true, the fact was that those plans were not good enough as no-one seemed to be able to foresee the peculiar difficulties that arise. There seemed one fact missing in the Paper-there was no mention of the human element. In 1947, he was Shedmaster at Hellifield and at one time had 27 snow ploughs working from the Depot. The plans appeared to be good-two snowploughs tender to tender, with a converted brake van in between to carry permanent way staff, whose job it was to dig the snowploughs out if they were stuck, but when the men were told that they should ride in this brake van, they were not keen to do SO because of the risk of injury when the

472 JOURNAL. OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

plough hit a sizeable snow drift. He stated that in many cases, it was the small things that caused serious trouble, and cited sleeper crossings between platforms at small wayside stations which became raised above rail level because of frost, and eventually were torn up and lodged in the motion of the snowplough locomotive. He thought we were a bit more advanced than the Author gave the L.M.S. Railway credit for, and recalled that in 1947 one frozen snow drift between Dent Head and Dent was cleared by using two mechanical nawies loading the snow into Engineers' low-sided wagons which were later taken away and emptied over a viaduct. He questioned the statement made by the Author that the jet snow ploughs were a success on the London Midland Region; in his experience on the Settle-Carlisle line, this was not correct.

Mr. K. R. Brown (M.) said the Author appeared to report favourably on propane gas heaters. Experience at Crewe Station area had been far from satisfactory, constant re-lighting having had to take place. He would like to know from the Author's experience whether, irrespective of cost, for reliability maintenance and general performance, electric heaters were in fact the best solution.

He had had a great deal of experience on the ManChester1 SheffieldIWath electrified lines, including keeping the line open during winter snow storms. As the line was predominantly freight the policy had been to keep the fast lines open by regular running of trains or light engines, allowing the accumulation of snow to pile up on the slow lines. There was one aspect which had not been mentioned and that was that as Engineers concerned with keeping the lines open during snow storms, they relied on their operating friends and quite often by the time notification had been received or the call put out and put into operation, the position had become serious. He hoped this would now improve under the Divisional organisation.

Mr. R. S. Faragher (V.) said it was true that the installation of Mills Arma heaters at Crewe had not functioned to the normal standard, and a thorough investigation had been made in close co- operation with the local Divisional Engineer and Research Department of British Railways. During the normal summer maintenance a careful examination of each heater had been made, and since their reinstalla- tion satisfactory reports of performance during the recent severe weather conditions have been received. A very recent development was a system of remote control for the ignition of the switch heaters, and this overcame one of the big problems of sending men out to light the heaters, as reports from the previous winter had shown that the heaters had not always been used to the best advantage because men were just not available to light them.

AUTHOR'S REPLY M Y . Kelly had said that prevrntion was better than cure and had

suggested that locomotives equipped with small nose ploughs should be run at frequent intervals to keep the line open. In this he is perfectly correct but, unfortunately, there are times when storms blow up so


suddenly that such methods will not keep the line open-drifts form and the line is blocked. He quoted a journey from Halifax to Montreal in blizzard conditions, when his train was 18 hours behind schedule, to indicate that the difficulties in Canada were the same. The problems are not quite the same, however, as the distance from Halifax to Montreal by the Canadian National Railways is 840 miles and for most of that distance is a single track road and the traffic is infrequent. In addition, trains may have to wait at Truro, N.S. for connections from Sydney, N.S. and at Moncton, N.B. for connections from St. John N.B.-if those trains have been held up the service is delayed. On top of this is the fact that the track is limited for speed and crossings have to be arranged with trains from the opposite direction-so time lost at any point cannot be regained and may be cumulative. At holiday times the position is aggravated by the running of duplicate trains.

M Y . Trainer had said that it was difficult to persuade men to travel in a brake between two locomotive snowploughs. The Author himself would refuse to travel under such conditions because of the risk of the brake being crushed between two heavy locomotives in the event of a sudden block. Many serious accidents, with loss of life, have occurred in the States through locomotives “jack-knifing.’’ Push ploughing at speed is a hazardous operation-with rotary ploughs the hazards disappear because they do their work with finesse instead of brute force.

Mr. Trainer mentioned that sleeper crossings raised by frost caused considerable trouble when ploughing. In the United States and Canada they have “Snow Plow Markers” which indicate when the ploughs and flangers have to be raised. That is part of planning for snow fighting.

Mr. lrainer is to be congratulated on the use of Mechanical Nawies between Dent Head and Dent in 1947. Today the work could be done more easily by front-end loaders. As Mr. Trainer probably realises, arrangements must be made with local contractors to borrow their equipment in the event of a heavy snow storm. This is quite usual in Canada and the States.

Mr. Trainer had questioned the Author’s statement that jet snow ploughs were a success in the London Midland Region. In fact, the Author made no such statement as, until the Meeting in Derby on the previous evening, he was unaware that the L.M. Region ever used jet engines for this purpose. He was aware that they had been tried on the L.N.E.R. and G.W.R. and that the results were highly unsatisfactory.

M r . Brozem had said that the experience of propane gas point heaters at Crewe had been far from satisfactory.

M Y . Faragher had agreed that the heaters had not functioned to the normal standard but he mentioned that, after a thorough investigation, the heaters were working normally this season. As hundreds of this type of heater (Mills ARMA infra-red) had been installed on British Railways, the Netherlands Railways, and elsewhere, with

474 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGISEERS

highly successful results, it would seem that the mal-functioning at Crewe was caused by something not inherent in the heaters. The investigation should eventually disclose the cause.

Mr. Brown had wondered whether electric heaters were better for reliability, maintenance and general performance, irrespective of cost. The Author is inclined to think that gas heaters have the edge on electric heaters because the installation and running costs are far less, more heat is provided where it is needed, the gas supply is independent of national concerns (except for the few installations which use town gas) and are therefore not subject to interruption, and methods are available for the remote control of gas heaters, even in outlying areas where electricity in quantity is not available, for igniting and maintaining them in operational condition. In addition, track maintenance is simplified as the gas heaters may be removed out of season.

MEETING I N GLASGOW, 1st DECEMBER 1965

An Ordinary General Meeting of the Scottish Centre was held at St. Enoch Hotel, Glasgow on 1st December 1965 at 6.0 p.m., the Chair being taken by Mr. P. G. Lamont (Member).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 6th October 1965 having been agreed and signed as correct, the Chairman introduced Mr. G . Richard Parkes who presented his Paper entitled “Railway Snowfighting.”


DISCUSSION Mr. A. J . Powell (A.M.) thought it was true to say that when

someone raised the question of providing snow fighting equipment in this country, and possibly gave an example of what was done somewhere else, the immediate reaction was that the snow in this country is different from that which is experienced abroad. Is there any truth in this?

Mr. I. M. Campbell (V.) said that he had been interested in the Author’s Paper from the Civil Engineer’s point of view as this occupied a large part of the Paper.

The Author had been severely critical about British Railways Engineers’ knowledge of the value of labour and the potential savings to be made from the use of machinery. I t could only be presumed that the Author had been away from this country for a considerable time because our knowledge and progress in the use of mechanical aids was very much up-to-date. We are in this country well aware of the cost of labour and on the Civil Engineering side in Scotland alone by the effective use of method study and mechanisation the labour force engaged on track maintenance had been reduced from 6,000 to 3,000.

The Scottish Region has several hundred point heaters in operation already. Their operation is excellent although there are a number of minor drawbacks. The figures quoted by the Author for savings on the North Eastern Region could not be accepted without some quali- fication as to their interpretation.

IZAILWAY SNOWFIGHTING 47s

Mr. Campbell doubted whether in fact there were any savings in most installations particularly where mechanical control of signals and points was still in operation. He was of the opinion that the point heaters must be installed but the justification should be entirely on the grounds of traffic amenity.

Mr. Campbell referred to the question of snow fences and the snow shed on the West Highland Line indicating that he had inspected the much more extensive snow shed provision in the Cascade Moun- tains region of the Southern Pacific Railroad but that expenditure on this scale could scarcely be justified in this country.

There is also some doubt as to the justification for provision and maintenance of snow fences provided that ploughing arrangements are adequate.

The desirable distance from the railway to the snow fences had been determined by extensive research related to both roads and railways on the PerthIAviemore line and the recommendation is that the fence should be at a distance from the railway equal to 15 times its height.

Finally, Mr. Campbell asked a question related to the control of gas switch heaters: the Author had stated that these were controlled automatically over a distance of some 200 miles. Would he elaborate on the type of installation and indicate how this worked?

Mr. Low (V.) asked if it was possible to give an estimate of the actual snow fall required to justify the provision of a large amount of capital on snow ploughs.

Mr. D. Binnie (V.) looked forward to the day when the Glasgow- Carlisle main line is electrified (overhead line) and asked the Author to comment on the most suitable plough for this main line.

Mr. Sharp (V.) asked if the Author had any experience of fine powdered snow getting inside electric locomotives. Mr. Sharp had spent some time on the ManchesterlSheffield line and one winter the traffic was stopped, not because of snow drifts but because very fine powdered snow got inside the locomotives and short circuited every circuit. Long hours were spent to find out which parts could be cut out and what temporary connections could be made to get the locomotives going. Various modifications were carried out afterwards, but still this particular condition exists on the ManchesterISheffield line about every seventh year, and the point was that when the modifications were done there was a seven-years wait to see if they were successful.

Mr. C. J. Lamb (M.), asked the cost of some of the equipment, such as rotary ploughs, for snow clearance.

Mr. D. S. Currie (Assoc.) said he was interested in the Author's remarks about the flangers used in America. He asked if this covered the possibility of clearing snow and ice from continuous check rails. For example, on the West Highland Line difficulty was experienced two years ago where snow and ice packed between the check rail and the running rail and also in the four-foot space. This caused the trains to ride over this hard packed ice and to become derailed.

476 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION O F LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

Had the Author any solution for this problem? Commenting on the use of ballast ploughs for snow clearance,

Mr. Cume said he would not like to attempt this during a snow storm, particularly in view of the fact that the plough would be below rail level in the centre of the four foot and would be foul of the A.W.S. equipment which would be buried, and also would come in contact with diverging junction work crossing the centre of the four foot.

Mr. Boyes (V.) thought that trouble with conductor rail icing in the Southern Region probably interrupted more traffic than snow or ice in any other part of the country. He was rather surprised that the Southern Region had not done the same as the Euston/Watford line, i.e. put de-icing equipment in the normal trains. They had it in about 10 per cent of the normal trains and the units were so diagrammed that one of these ran over the line every half-hour.

Mr. A. J. Powell (A.M.) said that the freezing of coal in wagons was a very serious problem and in cases where very large intakes were involved, such as at power stations, it could be disastrous. No doubt the Author will have heard talk about the “Merry-go-round” trains for supplies to power stations and, certainly in cases in Scotland where this will be applied, the coal will not be more than two hours in the wagon before it is discharged. In those conditions and having regard to the ambient temperatures in Scotland, did he think that such wagon loads of coal would become frozen?

Mr. D. Rose (A.M.) said that last year they experienced trouble in Scotland with snow between the rails. This had become packed and the traction motors started to skid over the top of this leading to derailment. Is similar difficulty experienced on the continent or in the United States and how is it overcome?

Mr. I. H. Wylie (A.M.) asked how the snow passed through the filters on the side of the diesel locomotives. The filters are oil treated but still the snow comes through and gets into the generator and causes trouble.

Mr. Sharp (V.), in considering the length of trains that one hears of being handled in Canada and America, asked if there was any difficulty with the weight of snow camed on the train itself, because there must be a considerable quantity.

Mr. E. Catchpool (A.M.), on the question of rotary ploughs, asked what is the procedure in the States. Do they first of all use a rotary plough followed by another plough to shift the remainder of the snow from the top of the rails, because the centre of the plough shares seemed to be about 18 inches above rail level? What happened to that snow?

AUTHOR’S REPLY Replying to MY. Campbell, the Author is fully aware of the con-

siderable progress made in the use of mechanisation for permanent way


renewal and maintenance, but he contends that such mechanisation has not been applied to snowfighting. Point heaters are comparatively new on British Railways and they are doing an excellent job, but rotary ploughs are non-existent and the use of bulldozers, front-end bucket loaders, rotary brushes, etc. are practically unknown for this purpose.

The Author agrees with Mr. Campbell that snow sheds are an expensive luxury and that their maintenance is costly. But snow fences are a necessity. They are comparatively inexpensive to install and maintain and they can save considerable cost in snowploughing operations.

With regard to the remote control of point heaters, not only point heaters, but the points themselves may be remotely controlled over any distance. Power for heaters and points is obtained locally, but the ordinary telegraph line can convey the control signals. This is a perfectly normal arrangement in Centralised Traffic Control territory where signals and points may be as far away as 200 miles from the operator.

M r . Powell asked if snow in Britain is different from Abroad. The answer is no! But snow in Britain and Tapan, both islands, will tend to be wetter on average than, say, in Russia or the central parts of North America. The coastal areas, up to a considerable distance inland, in North America and Western Europe have wet snow, and such is not unknown in Montreal and Quebec. Britain can have fine powdered snow of which maybe the classic example occurred in 1942 when many o f the points between Rirmingham and Glasgow were badly affected from this cause-some of them were hard to find as they were buried under three feet of this fine powdered snow. The Author congratulates Mr. Powell for bringing up this important point which is often used as an excuse for doing nothing.

To M Y . Low, it is now possible to estimate the snowfall necessary to justify the cost of expensive equipment. A three-inch fall on the Manchester-Penistone line can cause complete disruption by snow drifting, but in other areas a ten-inch fall might cause little or no inconvenience.

In reply to Mr. Binnie’s point regarding overhead electrification, the Swiss, the Swedes, the French and the Americans use rotary blowers under such conditions without ill effect on the overhead lines.

In reply to Messrs. Shurp and Wylae, fine powdered snow penetrating locomotives is a problem which has cropped up frequently but a universal satisfactory solution has not been achieved. Success in individual cases has involved oil-wetted screens, coarse sack cloth and inertial typcs of air-cleaning equipment.

To MY. Lamh, the cost of a rotary plough or blower on its own self-propelled chassis will be 230,000 and up. On the other hand, a self-contained machine which can be fitted on to a flat car (e.g. the SNO-RLO made by Croker Engineering of Cheltenham) to be propelled by a locomotive may cost less than 22,500.


Messrs. Cuwie and Rose raised two points-the build-up of hard- packed snow in the four-foot which derailed locomotives because the motors slid on the snow, and the build-up of ice between the check rail and the running rail, with similar consequences. The Author has never seen a check rail in North America and he questions the necessity of having them on main lines-surely they are of no practical use today unless, maybe, for keeping four-wheel wagons on the road? The removal of check rails would solve the ice problem. In other countries, the build-up of snow in the four-foot is prevented by the use of flangers which remove snow and ice below rail-top level. I t is -possible that the plough brakes used for levelling ballast could be used for this purpose but they would have to be provided with means of raising the plough shares when approaching turnouts, level crossings, bridge rails and other obstructions in the track. Unfortunately snowfighting is not planned in Britain, so there are no trackside signs to indicate when the plough should be lifted. In North America there are boards about two feet long with white dots, fixed on posts some twelve feet above the track which indicate that there are obstructions ahead thus enabling the operator to raise the plough in time to avoid damage.

MY, Powell asked about the freezing of coal in wagons. This should be no problem with “merry-go-round” trains as the coal is in the wagons for a comparatively short time and therefore unlikely to freeze. On runs where coal is liable to remain in the wagons for two days or more, the answer is a car thawing shed at destination and, as has been shown in the Paper, the cost per ton of coal is very small.

Replying to MY. Boyes, all lines with top contact conductor rails are plagued with the icing problem. The Author has given details in the Paper and in answers at other Centres.

To M r . Sharp, the weight of snow which might accumulate on a train of cars is negligible.

To Mr. Catchpool, rotaries open a cut and can return with the side wings open to increase the width of the cut. Or they can be followed by a cut-widener which opens the cut and deposits the snow in the middle of the track to be picked up by the returning, or a following, rotary. This provides more room for subsequent falls of snow.

1965 snow paper

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