There's something so satisfying in watching a machine cut a clean, sharp passage through the snow. Feels like it's making a road out of snow, just like making a castle out of sand. To get straight, sharp lines out of something so diffused and inherently unstable, bringing order into disorder. :)
MackP I’ve seen 4 meter thick edges along the road here in Austria. Was about 12years ago.... we got over 5m of snow in 2 months, they call it the winter of the century, I’ve not seen that much snow before or after. You would have liked the clean cur edges on all the roadways, like I mentioned from 4m to 1-1/2m every road had edges.
I’m proud to call this area home. I will never not live in the mountains. I travel Donner Pass weekly, sometimes multiple times a week, and I always look at the trains with the delight I had as a 12 year old model railroader. We should all pay our respects to the amazing work of a young engineer by the name of Theodore Judah, who first envisioned and pushed for the Donner Pass Route as the first Transcontinental Railroad.
We have a place in the Graeagle area. I only get to visit a few times a year, but it's my most favorite place in the world. From highway 80 it always amazed me to see the railroad far up on the cliffs.
@@ryanb6047 heck yes! Love Graeagle! Go a tad further north on 89 to 70 and you get to encounter the wonders of the Feather River subdivision -like the Keddie Wye! I don’t care what any of the haters say, California is the American mecca!
In Sparks, Nevada, there was a very long train waiting to leave. It was after dark. I sat down a few feet from the track and waited for the train to leave. Sitting there by the humongo chest rumbling engines was impressive. Then the train left, starting out very slowly and gradually increasing in speed. By the time the last cars went by, they were sailing past me at full speed. The whole experience was awesome.
@@alan6832 The Rotories were originally built to run everythig with steam. They were converted in the 50's to diesel electric to run the blade. There is a small boiler installed to supply steam to various parts to keep them from freezing like the wing hinges and of course the whistle.
Thank you for sharing this video which shows a very different side of railroading as compared to what I witness here in central Massachusetts. This brings back memories of traveling on these tracks back in August 1968 on the City of San Francisco.
I don't know what happened to me when I started watching this. I just sat spell bound and enchanted until it finished. Thanks and congratulation from Bangladesh.
Okay, a short history. Rotaries were originally developed in the steam era, with steam providing power to the rotary blade. In the US, traction (movement) power was supplied by separate engines coupled to the rear. Once diesels arrived, most rotaries were converted, usually by permanently attaching a "snail" to the rear of the plow. The snail is an old engine the retains it's prime mover (diesel engine) to provide electricity, but has no traction motors. The electric power from the snail is used to turn the rotary blade. A small(er) steam generator was retained to provide steam to keep linkages/moving parts from getting frozen in position. Originally there were engineers in both the plow and the attached traction engines, but most railways have added controls to the plows so the traction engines can be controlled remotely. Most rotaries have been replaced by simple wedge plows and front-end loaders for reliability/financial reasons. Even after upgrades, rotaries are much more expensive to run than a wedge that is just a big hunk of metal. The rotaries are kept in reserve as a last line of defense in areas that receive massive amounts of snow, usually mountainous passages. Union Pacific is the most well known user, but BNSF also has some. I would be surprised if CP and CN also don't have a couple stashed away. Japan has an active fleet for use in it's mountainous regions. I'm sure the exist in other locations, but do your own research. In 2012, after getting over 17 meters of snow in Donner pass the previous year, UP completely rebuilt #207 to modern specs. 207 is the lead plow in this video. Compare it to #209 on the other end of the train, and you can see the differences. To my knowledge, they really haven't *needed* the rotary since the rebuild, but they bring it out every year for practice and training. Of interest is the equipment that UP uses to keep the pass clear. In addition to the rotaries, wedges, and loaders, they also have flangers (clean between and around the rail) and spreaders (clean above the rails and several feet to the side). th-cam.com/video/08PTkFwRoU8/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/Qx5jmtnekCQ/w-d-xo.html
Actually, the most well known user of a rotary in the US would be the former D&RGW on their narrow gauge. OY gets regular used on the C&TS section and many make the journey there to see a steam powered rotary pushed by 2 or more steam engines.
James Lehnert Is a Jordan Spreader what you refer to as a simple wedge plow? Because they use four of them on Donner Pass and each one was rebuilt from the frame up a few years ago at a cost of around $1 Million each. Pretty expensive wedge plow I'd say. The loaders you refer to are known as Bulldozers. You couldn't keep Donner Pass open with a fleet of endloaders. Where in hell did you come up with this nonsense? You make no mention of the use of Flangers and or Pyke or Norberg snow removal machines either. I think you may be a expert on reading things but never getting out in the field and seeing how it actually all breaks down. BTW I think the last wedge plow on the old SP line where this was filmed was pushed by steam locomotives and they weren't worth the powder it'd take to blow them to hell. Just a opinion from someone with something you can't learn in a book, it's called "experience".
Sir, perhaps they were the winter equivalent of Gandy Dancers who used to align the rails manually. I remember the last crew of Gandy Dancers being phased out in 1973 (I believe) in Mississippi. I can still sing the cadence they used to use to keep the alignment effort on track. Here is a video for you: th-cam.com/video/lu7hBuhr-Ls/w-d-xo.html Here is a link to that last crew of Gandy Dancers from a segment of Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" series. Go to 30:30 to see it. th-cam.com/video/bry-Y7qDg1Q/w-d-xo.html
I used to nordic ski in that area and was always fascinated by the blowers. Many of my relatives were railroaders out of Dunsmere up that the north end of the state, below Mount Shasta. I lived in the mountains south of Donner. The snow was always nicer in that area, and deeper. I lived a short time in Blue Canyon that regularly got 10-25 feet of snow so entering the home was on the second or 3rd level in the winter, and the leaving the vehicle far away on a plowed country road, resulting a couple mile snowshoe or ski trip to the 4x4 to shop. Most of my free time was in the winter so stocking up with wood all fall and food storage was a welcome relaxing adventure for most of the winter. A nice thing about the mountains in the central Sierra was it never really got that cold, years later I moved to a country where I got down to -57C ....that is cold!
I have been watching this in awk. While Australia’s fires still burning since Sept and it is now January. How I envy your snow ! I feel cooler already,but 43deg will soon become a reality again. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Kath, hey we feel your pain over here in Nor-Cal. Our Summers and Fall we live on egg shells too with our increasing fires and fire danger. Hang in there!
I just happened to come accross this video. Now that is one snow blower. I am tryiing to figure out where the snow is going with the rotary brush. Thumbs up to you for being out there in the cold so long filming this. Thanks for posting an educational - and 'entertaining' clip.
@march14, It's actually fairly simple, Plow enters snow field, Fan blades pick up snow, through centrifugal force the blades fling the snow out of the spout. Hope this description helped you!
My mom lived up in the California mountains. She had a 2' x 3' photo of a train snow plow plowing through deep snow. You could tell it was traveling fast because of how high and wide the snow was being shown. The photo was taken on a clear blue sky day after a big snow storm. Remarkable photo.
They just had one of these on display at the California state railroad museum in Sacramento. I was there in January 2020. Although with the museum, we explored Lake Tahoe, Muir woods, Alcatraz island and Yosemite national park. This was a present for my mom for her 70th birthday.
🌸 I've always loved steam trains, having a beautiful one near me, but we have heat and not snow where we live, so seeing a train clearing snow is amazing. Thanks
Finally we get enough snow for rotary action. Thanks for making the effort to get up there and finding a great vantage point. And for getting clobbered that first time. Bet that was fun!
I'm from southern America ( Atlanta, Georgia) and the most we get is 8 inches on the high side and that's every few years! This year we got a very rare foot of snow. I'm kinda jealous to not live farther north, but I guess you get tired of all that snow you get. LOL!
I'm from Atlanta as well. I am jealous of the snow. I spent 16 years in Seattle. Not a bunch of more snow in the city, but always a ton more just east and north of Seattle.
these things are amazing and will be forever the kings of snow removal. I finally found one in HO scale that I'm gonna do some detailing on and get working nicely.
Soda springs and Sugar bowl, those were our stomping grounds during the fifties and sixties and sometimes in the seventies. We used to visit a cabin just north of Immigrant gap before it was reset to the south side of what was then Hwy-40. The state took out the cabin to build Hi-Way 80. In the summers we would climb to the top of the gravel ridge and watch the trains go by. If you look at the site of Sugar bowl you will see those sheds which were built to keep snow off the tracks on either side of the tunnel. Those were some great times.....
It is not your fault. These are Caltrans Railroad workers who are just being themselves. However, the problem would be if that they knew they were going to be filmed with the possibility of public viewing. Otherwise, it is a great compilation of videos that bring back many memories to me. I'm a retired over the driver and have been across Donner Summit many times, they clear the highway just like that when snows. Thank you. I believe the public deserves to know how the men and women of our infrastructure work hard to keep them open in times like that.
I simply Love! Watching this kind of Action! And I wish the younger generations could understand how! this is! I am an “O” gauge modeler and Love this Scenery.
Actually I got to fire a couple of these critters. About the term "fireman." After the last fire of the last steam engine was dropped there were still firemen but the term was carried over until 1964 when the craft of firemen was abolished but was re-instated in 1973. Again the term remained. But what they actually were, were apprentice engineers. Except for the rotaries. There the fireman had duties to perform which created those 160’ rooster-tails There were officials all over the place from the Assistant Superintendent on down. The fireman controlled the operation of the blade at the behest of the Road Master. He would tell the fireman what RPM he wanted to be maintained and he got what he wanted. There were 3 points of control for the blade. The first was a simple toggle switch with idle and run as the two options. Next came the throttle. It had four notches, unlike a locomotive with eight notches. Finally came a rheostat controlled with a big bar, looking like an old steam engine power reverse or Johnson bar. There was an ammeter, like the old ones found on GP9 the SD7 and SD9 including F units. The position was just ahead of the center of the cab, facing the engineer’s seat. Power for the blade was provided by “snails.” Old F7B units, but not powered. Powering the blades. Their traction motors were moved under the hood of the rotary. Everything else was powered by steam; wings, deflectors, including a steam whistle. The whistles were made by a machinist in the Sacramento shops that utilized fire extinguishers as the basic start. This was not done for nostalgia. The whistles powered by air can get the throat of the horn plugged up with snow/ice. Steam was not produced by a boiler but by four Vapor/Clarkson steam generators. Firing a rotary was fun. For about 20 minutes. The rest of the 11 hours and forty minutes following was mind numbing boredom.
That was terrific!!! I hope no one got pneumonia. Nothing better than trains in snow. But then, I never stood out all day waiting for them. Congratulations, job well done.
pneumonia? Really? Do you even know what it is? Apparently not cause its not a cold caused by being out in the cold its fluid in the lungs from infection and or gems. Its funny how people think when its cold outside you get sick which is not the case its actually the complete opposite the cells that fight infections in the body increase and thus work better then in warm weather. People need to research words not in their dictionary before speaking.
The great thing about youtube its always the other who assumes they know anything about another. Coming from the guy letting the shit flow unrestricted from his mouth. I guess you aren't man enough after all you talk the talk but lack the balls to walk the walk. As I said be careful of what you say or wish for, you never know what that other person knows.... but like a good house wife you will follow up with more comments. BTW let me know when you actually work a job which employees all the rail roaders combined.
Tt Ss One last thing. You must be off your meds...again....so when you write another dumb ass comment, maybe you could explain exactly what the fuck your final sentence up there is supposed to mean. Trying to communicate with a tweeker is hard, forgive me.
dont bother man, some people just cant get over the fact that you corrected someone for their stupid-ass mistake and go full on whiteknight, deciding to be hostile no matter what you say from that point on. its a waste of time with all these poor inbred mutts.
Beautiful video view. I like trains alot and mountains full of snow. Wish I had a place up in the mountains somewhere so I could go up there at weekends especially in the winter
Torque can hold a load forever and not move a thing , until motion is applied. Then, and only then, horsepower gets the job done! One horsepower is required to lift 33,000 pounds 1 foot in 1 minute...
British rail fan fast becoming a American rail fan that was amazing also most of the UK hasnt seen proper snow for years and years its snow a inch for a day or two and the UK grinds to a halt
I never noticed the curse word at 7:35, but then you said "hard nipples". That got my attention as hard nipples usually do. Amazing how these machines work. We get a lot of snow where I am, but never enough to require track cleaning / snow throwing. The train traffic here I guess is enough to keep the line clear, plus there aren't any steep grades where it would be necessary. It's awesome to see how snow clearing works in the mountains. Thanks for posting this. :)
A good read, or listen if you prefer AudioBooks is Stephen Ambrose's "Nothing Like it in the World" About the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, which goes into to pretty good detail about the section across the Sierra range. Excellent video thanks, I enjoy trains, mostly steam but newer as well. My grandfather was a fireman for Missouri and St. Louis RR around 1900 to 1905, then he came to CA and worked in the Boilershop in Sacramento, ending his career in Los Angeles working on the Red Car for Southern Pacific. What it must have been like to work during they hey day of RailRoad..
Pretty awesome....As an "Original Transcon RR" fan, have been to Summit Tunnel, etc., along with much of the original construction artifact-areas. Winter of course, gives a whole new meaning to the enterprise. Thanks. PS: subscribed!
Odd that I sat and watched whole video as if a trance or hypnotized. Awesome video, kudos to the dedication to sit out all day and film that. Also cool to see they are still using a F-7 B unit.
From Sacramento: At 5:45, Amtrak passing by, is it snowing while you're filming ?! 29 deg F. Brrrrr ! Edit: Look at the storm coming in the upper right ! Great shots ! To anyone NOT from this area, IF you come to N. Calif (especially in winter) take time to go to Donner Pass and look at what you see !! It's 2 hours from San Francisco on I-80 at 70 mph. It is worth the drive.
Very nice video with a lot of action. If the winter here in Denmark will be like previous years, then the snow seen here will be the only snow I will see the next month. Cheers Adam
Love seeing the rotaries work. Haven't seen a video of recent years yet, till now. If I had my choice Donner would still be under Southern Pacific rule! With lots of Tunnel Motors!
+Mike Haire ..couple of questions sir. Do you live near these train tracks? 2. did you buy a portable train radio to listen to engineers talking? 3. how far of a walk is it to get to this spot?
Yes, I'm about 45 min from this location, yep been using scanners to monitor the crews and if you have a high clearance 4X4, you can drive up to this spot in the summer/fall. We snowshoed though up on this day about 1 mile from Donner Pass Rd
I have loved trains my whole life (I'm 70 now) and I have never known why and never worried much about why, either. To repeat the words from Edna St. Vincent Milay, "There isn't a train I wouldn't ride, no matter where it's going."
Great footage and wonderful light. I love seeing the 'SPMW' still on the rotary plow equipment. I hope for more recent footage of Donner in winter (without the juvenile comments in the background). Also, try to keep the camera level and avoid zooming, just cut back and forth. Thanks!
I have literally never watched a train video in my life but somehow, at midnight, I find myself watching all 38 mins of this
George it's really cool! Found this at 3am, shared it with my little boy before school..Now, this is what he wants to do when he grows up
Fake as all he-l, we live up here.
@@helenjackman8984- How can it possibly be fake?? I think you are a fake troll.
@@inthegoldenrodhours333 it's the internet, everything is "fake" these days.
Me to ! Cool
I was a train operator for 20 years. I hauled everything through bagger pass. Where steel meets the tracks as they say. I was my own hero
There's something so satisfying in watching a machine cut a clean, sharp passage through the snow. Feels like it's making a road out of snow, just like making a castle out of sand. To get straight, sharp lines out of something so diffused and inherently unstable, bringing order into disorder. :)
MackP I’ve seen 4 meter thick edges along the road here in Austria. Was about 12years ago.... we got over 5m of snow in 2 months, they call it the winter of the century, I’ve not seen that much snow before or after. You would have liked the clean cur edges on all the roadways, like I mentioned from 4m to 1-1/2m every road had edges.
(Hello Antithiest), MackP there is something special about you.
The Atheist p
Excellent description...
I was thinking the same thing, looking at the wall of snow cut by the outboard devices.
I’m proud to call this area home. I will never not live in the mountains. I travel Donner Pass weekly, sometimes multiple times a week, and I always look at the trains with the delight I had as a 12 year old model railroader.
We should all pay our respects to the amazing work of a young engineer by the name of Theodore Judah, who first envisioned and pushed for the Donner Pass Route as the first Transcontinental Railroad.
We have a place in the Graeagle area. I only get to visit a few times a year, but it's my most favorite place in the world. From highway 80 it always amazed me to see the railroad far up on the cliffs.
@@ryanb6047 heck yes! Love Graeagle! Go a tad further north on 89 to 70 and you get to encounter the wonders of the Feather River subdivision -like the Keddie Wye! I don’t care what any of the haters say, California is the American mecca!
@@NevadaSmith24:29
I lived in Roseville a few years back and would see the Rotary units in the yard, but never in operation. Thank-you!
In Sparks, Nevada, there was a very long train waiting to leave. It was after dark. I sat down a few feet from the track and waited for the train to leave. Sitting there by the humongo chest rumbling engines was impressive. Then the train left, starting out very slowly and gradually increasing in speed. By the time the last cars went by, they were sailing past me at full speed. The whole experience was awesome.
209 has a boiler? why is that? Do they still use steam components in these things?
and that's why I chase and photograph them! Goodtimes!
@@alan6832 The Rotories were originally built to run everythig with steam. They were converted in the 50's to diesel electric to run the blade. There is a small boiler installed to supply steam to various parts to keep them from freezing like the wing hinges and of course the whistle.
It's absolutely amazing the amount of power generated by today's locomotives
Breathtaking scenery!
Jamaica road. Improvements
About 4500 HP, right?
Thank you for sharing this video which shows a very different side of railroading as compared to what I witness here in central Massachusetts. This brings back memories of traveling on these tracks back in August 1968 on the City of San Francisco.
I don't know what happened to me when I started watching this. I just sat spell bound and enchanted until it finished.
Thanks and congratulation from Bangladesh.
It's called ASMR, kind of the same feeling you get when you get a back rub. A relaxed state of mind, in other words.
Great job Mike. Watching your video made me feel like a ten year old boy! Wide eyed & slack jawed. Thanks!
Thanks Terrance!
Born and raised in So Cal I love watching this stuff but I’m also thankful that I don’t have to work or commute to work in the snow.
Okay, a short history. Rotaries were originally developed in the steam era, with steam providing power to the rotary blade. In the US, traction (movement) power was supplied by separate engines coupled to the rear. Once diesels arrived, most rotaries were converted, usually by permanently attaching a "snail" to the rear of the plow. The snail is an old engine the retains it's prime mover (diesel engine) to provide electricity, but has no traction motors. The electric power from the snail is used to turn the rotary blade. A small(er) steam generator was retained to provide steam to keep linkages/moving parts from getting frozen in position. Originally there were engineers in both the plow and the attached traction engines, but most railways have added controls to the plows so the traction engines can be controlled remotely.
Most rotaries have been replaced by simple wedge plows and front-end loaders for reliability/financial reasons. Even after upgrades, rotaries are much more expensive to run than a wedge that is just a big hunk of metal. The rotaries are kept in reserve as a last line of defense in areas that receive massive amounts of snow, usually mountainous passages. Union Pacific is the most well known user, but BNSF also has some. I would be surprised if CP and CN also don't have a couple stashed away. Japan has an active fleet for use in it's mountainous regions. I'm sure the exist in other locations, but do your own research.
In 2012, after getting over 17 meters of snow in Donner pass the previous year, UP completely rebuilt #207 to modern specs. 207 is the lead plow in this video. Compare it to #209 on the other end of the train, and you can see the differences. To my knowledge, they really haven't *needed* the rotary since the rebuild, but they bring it out every year for practice and training.
Of interest is the equipment that UP uses to keep the pass clear. In addition to the rotaries, wedges, and loaders, they also have flangers (clean between and around the rail) and spreaders (clean above the rails and several feet to the side).
th-cam.com/video/08PTkFwRoU8/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/Qx5jmtnekCQ/w-d-xo.html
Actually, the most well known user of a rotary in the US would be the former D&RGW on their narrow gauge. OY gets regular used on the C&TS section and many make the journey there to see a steam powered rotary pushed by 2 or more steam engines.
James Lehnert Is a Jordan Spreader what you refer to as a simple wedge plow? Because they use four of them on Donner Pass and each one was rebuilt from the frame up a few years ago at a cost of around $1 Million each. Pretty expensive wedge plow I'd say. The loaders you refer to are known as Bulldozers. You couldn't keep Donner Pass open with a fleet of endloaders. Where in hell did you come up with this nonsense? You make no mention of the use of Flangers and or Pyke or Norberg snow removal machines either. I think you may be a expert on reading things but never getting out in the field and seeing how it actually all breaks down. BTW I think the last wedge plow on the old SP line where this was filmed was pushed by steam locomotives and they weren't worth the powder it'd take to blow them to hell. Just a opinion from someone with something you can't learn in a book, it's called "experience".
To me this is ASMR train edition! All the sounds are so relaxing! Love this, thank you.
Amazing progress....150 yrs ago men with shovels did this back breaking work.....amazing!!!
Sir, perhaps they were the winter equivalent of Gandy Dancers who used to align the rails manually. I remember the last crew of Gandy Dancers being phased out in 1973 (I believe) in Mississippi. I can still sing the cadence they used to use to keep the alignment effort on track. Here is a video for you:
th-cam.com/video/lu7hBuhr-Ls/w-d-xo.html
Here is a link to that last crew of Gandy Dancers from a segment of Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" series. Go to 30:30 to see it.
th-cam.com/video/bry-Y7qDg1Q/w-d-xo.html
Mike, this was just awesome. Thank you so much for braving the weather and the snow to bring us this. Great Job!!!!
Great video!!!!! Thanks for sharing so us flatlanders can see what life in the mountains is like in winter!!
I remember Donner Pass from my truck driving days. Winter was always particularly fun to drive truck over Donner Pass. :)
No. Not with chain laws. They enforce the chain law when the road is dry!
I used to nordic ski in that area and was always fascinated by the blowers. Many of my relatives were railroaders out of Dunsmere up that the north end of the state, below Mount Shasta. I lived in the mountains south of Donner. The snow was always nicer in that area, and deeper. I lived a short time in Blue Canyon that regularly got 10-25 feet of snow so entering the home was on the second or 3rd level in the winter, and the leaving the vehicle far away on a plowed country road, resulting a couple mile snowshoe or ski trip to the 4x4 to shop. Most of my free time was in the winter so stocking up with wood all fall and food storage was a welcome relaxing adventure for most of the winter. A nice thing about the mountains in the central Sierra was it never really got that cold, years later I moved to a country where I got down to -57C ....that is cold!
Stan SPb what country is that?
Did you move there voluntarily?
@@thefemalien7764 AHAHAHAHAHA🤣🤣🤣🤣
Great shots, beautiful composition , no fluff, no music, no nonsense. Excellent. Subscribed and 👍
Look at those perfect precision lines... That's just incredible...
Best therapy there is watching these videos
I have been watching this in awk. While Australia’s fires still burning since Sept and it is now January. How I envy your snow ! I feel cooler already,but 43deg will soon become a reality again. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Kath, hey we feel your pain over here in Nor-Cal. Our Summers and Fall we live on egg shells too with our increasing fires and fire danger. Hang in there!
You have no clue how satisfied i am that the work coming out is so sharp and perfect!!!
Riding the Amtrak thru the Rocky Mountains in the middle of winter has to be a beautiful adventure. That would be one trip I would love to take.
Beautiful. After shoveling the driveway, those blowers are asmr therapy to my ears.
It’s pretty cool I watched that train get refurbished across the street from my job. In Sacramento.
I just happened to come accross this video. Now that is one snow blower. I am tryiing to figure out where the snow is going with the rotary brush. Thumbs up to you for being out there in the cold so long filming this. Thanks for posting an educational - and 'entertaining' clip.
@march14, It's actually fairly simple, Plow enters snow field, Fan blades pick up snow, through centrifugal force the blades fling the snow out of the spout. Hope this description helped you!
This is really awesome this is the first time I've watched a rotary plow in action so happy you guys took the time to make this video
Eric Charles Jimmy moo moo
My mom lived up in the California mountains. She had a 2' x 3' photo of a train snow plow plowing through deep snow. You could tell it was traveling fast because of how high and wide the snow was being shown. The photo was taken on a clear blue sky day after a big snow storm. Remarkable photo.
They just had one of these on display at the California state railroad museum in Sacramento. I was there in January 2020. Although with the museum, we explored Lake Tahoe, Muir woods, Alcatraz island and Yosemite national park. This was a present for my mom for her 70th birthday.
Simply outstanding! Thank you for the effort and for posting.
It's 3:00 o'clock in the morning, AND I'm watching Snow plowing train 🚂 videos. AND I'M loving it ‼️👍🏽🤩❤️❤️🤩❤️.
Great video fantastic shots! These locomotives are truly equipped to match this job. Really amazing footage.
If you want to see a real snowblower look up the beilhack snow blowers we use in Norway
🌸 I've always loved steam trains, having a beautiful one near me, but we have heat and not snow where we live, so seeing a train clearing snow is amazing. Thanks
Finally we get enough snow for rotary action. Thanks for making the effort to get up there and finding a great vantage point. And for getting clobbered that first time. Bet that was fun!
I love when they buried him at 11:00 lmao
I'm from southern America ( Atlanta, Georgia) and the most we get is 8 inches on the high side and that's every few years! This year we got a very rare foot of snow. I'm kinda jealous to not live farther north, but I guess you get tired of all that snow you get. LOL!
I'm from Atlanta as well. I am jealous of the snow. I spent 16 years in Seattle. Not a bunch of more snow in the city, but always a ton more just east and north of Seattle.
My hats off to the men and women who brave this weather every year that have a job to do and do it so well!!
these things are amazing and will be forever the kings of snow removal.
I finally found one in HO scale that I'm gonna do some detailing on and get working nicely.
Soda springs and Sugar bowl, those were our stomping grounds during the fifties and sixties and sometimes in the seventies. We used to visit a cabin just north of Immigrant gap before it was reset to the south side of what was then Hwy-40. The state took out the cabin to build Hi-Way 80. In the summers we would climb to the top of the gravel ridge and watch the trains go by. If you look at the site of Sugar bowl you will see those sheds which were built to keep snow off the tracks on either side of the tunnel. Those were some great times.....
Impeccable work. Stunning scenery.
Totally loved this video
What beautiful countryside. I love the Pine tree with all the snow in their branches.
If this was the u.k the rail network would grind to a halt...great vid...
Hovermotion if this was the UK that passenger train would have a) been on time and b) passed at a much higher rate of speed.
It is not your fault. These are Caltrans Railroad workers who are just being themselves. However, the problem would be if that they knew they were going to be filmed with the possibility of public viewing. Otherwise, it is a great compilation of videos that bring back many memories to me. I'm a retired over the driver and have been across Donner Summit many times, they clear the highway just like that when snows. Thank you. I believe the public deserves to know how the men and women of our infrastructure work hard to keep them open in times like that.
Pretty sweet video...thanks for sharing. Just in time for winter to start upon us once again.
I simply Love! Watching this kind of Action! And I wish the younger generations could understand how! this is! I am an “O” gauge modeler and Love this Scenery.
Great Video....Thanks!! From a city boy....Wow am I missing how beautiful the country is!
Actually I got to fire a couple of these critters. About the term "fireman." After the last fire of the last steam engine was dropped there were still firemen but the term was carried over until 1964 when the craft of firemen was abolished but was re-instated in 1973. Again the term remained. But what they actually were, were apprentice engineers. Except for the rotaries. There the fireman had duties to perform which created those 160’ rooster-tails
There were officials all over the place from the Assistant Superintendent on down. The fireman controlled the operation of the blade at the behest of the Road Master. He would tell the fireman what RPM he wanted to be maintained and he got what he wanted. There were 3 points of control for the blade.
The first was a simple toggle switch with idle and run as the two options. Next came the throttle. It had four notches, unlike a locomotive with eight notches. Finally came a rheostat controlled with a big bar, looking like an old steam engine power reverse or Johnson bar. There was an ammeter, like the old ones found on GP9 the SD7 and SD9 including F units. The position was just ahead of the center of the cab, facing the engineer’s seat.
Power for the blade was provided by “snails.” Old F7B units, but not powered. Powering the blades. Their traction motors were moved under the hood of the rotary. Everything else was powered by steam; wings, deflectors, including a steam whistle. The whistles were made by a machinist in the Sacramento shops that utilized fire extinguishers as the basic start. This was not done for nostalgia. The whistles powered by air can get the throat of the horn plugged up with snow/ice. Steam was not produced by a boiler but by four Vapor/Clarkson steam generators.
Firing a rotary was fun. For about 20 minutes. The rest of the 11 hours and forty minutes following was mind numbing boredom.
Hi!
I'm Hungarian engine driver and this video is very good!
Respect! :)
Almadara iii
Look up the history of Donner Pass. Your expression may change a bit. The history before the railroad came, is what you want to read about.
Holy sheet. Great camera work. What a great location. Mountain railroading is so awesome.
lover that shot of your buddy getting swamped in blown snow (23:00)
mike malo f😃😀Ⓜ️
Fhj
Why is watching trains so fun? I could do it all day.
Beautiful video. The quality is spectacular! Well done.
Just beautiful! A still shot of this scene would make a great Christmas card bc it's timelessness!
Thanks!
That was terrific!!! I hope no one got pneumonia. Nothing better than trains in snow. But then, I never stood out all day waiting for them. Congratulations, job well done.
pneumonia? Really? Do you even know what it is? Apparently not cause its not a cold caused by being out in the cold its fluid in the lungs from infection and or gems. Its funny how people think when its cold outside you get sick which is not the case its actually the complete opposite the cells that fight infections in the body increase and thus work better then in warm weather. People need to research words not in their dictionary before speaking.
Tt get a grip. Get a life. Get lost.
The great thing about youtube its always the other who assumes they know anything about another. Coming from the guy letting the shit flow unrestricted from his mouth. I guess you aren't man enough after all you talk the talk but lack the balls to walk the walk. As I said be careful of what you say or wish for, you never know what that other person knows.... but like a good house wife you will follow up with more comments. BTW let me know when you actually work a job which employees all the rail roaders combined.
Tt Ss One last thing. You must be off your meds...again....so when you write another dumb ass comment, maybe you could explain exactly what the fuck your final sentence up there is supposed to mean. Trying to communicate with a tweeker is hard, forgive me.
dont bother man, some people just cant get over the fact that you corrected someone for their stupid-ass mistake and go full on whiteknight, deciding to be hostile no matter what you say from that point on. its a waste of time with all these poor inbred mutts.
Thanks for braving the elements so that I may watch from the comfort of the apartment...!
Beautiful video view. I like trains alot and mountains full of snow. Wish I had a place up in the mountains somewhere so I could go up there at weekends especially in the winter
That's my project. Rebuilding the spmw207. Been working on the snow equipment since 2008. It's an awesome ride.
That snow arc is a direct result of massive torque being applied.
... too bad they couldn't direct it to either side of the Engine
@@tomschwab9230 They can, they just don't want to add any snow to the higher elevation side (up the mountain).
Torque can hold a load forever and not move a thing , until motion is applied. Then, and only then, horsepower gets the job done!
One horsepower is required to lift 33,000 pounds 1 foot in 1 minute...
@@manitoba-op4jx yep it could cause a avalanche and that wouldn't be good
Im from Ohio and it amazes me to see that "sunny" California gets more snow than we do!
British rail fan fast becoming a American rail fan that was amazing also most of the UK hasnt seen proper snow for years and years its snow a inch for a day or two and the UK grinds to a halt
Mesmerizing! Like visiting another world! Reminds me why I moved south 60 years ago.
Now this rotary snow plow is what we need in Minnesota right now
Nice work, documenting history for future generations!
Glad to see you still get some real snow out there. We really don't get shit compared to what we got 10-20 years ago, seems like.
It just seems that way. I think I know why.
Fucking global warming... it's ruining the only season I actually like.
Out standing, loved every minute.well done, one of the best I have seen.
This is awesome!!!! Just amazing, great video!!! I only see it from hey 80 going up and down the mountain! Thank you👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Briliant rail movie! Good work, master! Thumbs Up
Greetings from Romania
Respects - Andrew
Thanks man!
.
Go, Dracula!!
You are real trainspotter. good for you :)
Florence Montgomery
O
Wonderfull capture friend!🥰🥰
hallo mike
ein wunderschönes video und danke fürs zeigen ☺☺☺
Hi Mike
a beautiful video and thanks for pointing ☺☺☺
The scenery is absolutely beautiful.
I never noticed the curse word at 7:35, but then you said "hard nipples". That got my attention as hard nipples usually do. Amazing how these machines work. We get a lot of snow where I am, but never enough to require track cleaning / snow throwing. The train traffic here I guess is enough to keep the line clear, plus there aren't any steep grades where it would be necessary. It's awesome to see how snow clearing works in the mountains. Thanks for posting this. :)
Thank you 🙏 for maintaining it .i feel sorry for train 🚂 watchers I and listen 👂
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954. Still get a tear in my eye when I hear an old train in the night.
I would like to thank you for this video. I was very interested to see a rotary snow plow in action. I appreciate your work well done
thanks dood!
What a beautiful winter! And a happy train!!!
Yes it was!
24:55 Nice view of the steam generator puffing. Watch carefully and you'll see bits of ice fall off the plow.
Who needs their own train set? Live action right here!!
A good read, or listen if you prefer AudioBooks is Stephen Ambrose's "Nothing Like it in the World" About the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, which goes into to pretty good detail about the section across the Sierra range.
Excellent video thanks, I enjoy trains, mostly steam but newer as well. My grandfather was a fireman for Missouri and St. Louis RR around 1900 to 1905, then he came to CA and worked in the Boilershop in Sacramento, ending his career in Los Angeles working on the Red Car for Southern Pacific. What it must have been like to work during they hey day of RailRoad..
6:12
Pretty awesome....As an "Original Transcon RR" fan, have been to Summit Tunnel, etc., along with much of the original construction artifact-areas. Winter of course, gives a whole new meaning to the enterprise. Thanks. PS: subscribed!
Odd that I sat and watched whole video as if a trance or hypnotized. Awesome video, kudos to the dedication to sit out all day and film that. Also cool to see they are still using a F-7 B unit.
It seems they need a source of steam, and the old B-unit is providing that
Anlushac11 yep me too. That’s real mountain railroading
Quite a contrast, to see the skiers having effortless fun on their "gravity rockets", and those rotaries slavin' away, at the same stuff--snow.
Very nice video. Beautiful landscape. Reminds me of Norway.
From Sacramento: At 5:45, Amtrak passing by, is it snowing while you're filming ?! 29 deg F. Brrrrr ! Edit: Look at the storm coming in the upper right ! Great shots ! To anyone NOT from this area, IF you come to N. Calif (especially in winter) take time to go to Donner Pass and look at what you see !! It's 2 hours from San Francisco on I-80 at 70 mph. It is worth the drive.
Brings chains❗️
I’ve taken this on Amtrak in similar conditions. Amazing!!!!!!
Very nice video with a lot of action. If the winter here in Denmark will be like previous years, then the snow seen here will be the only snow I will see the next month.
Cheers Adam
Man that diesel is running some high RPMs with that gadget attached.
About 900 max.
Really excellent video... well shot, great editing. Nicely done.
Thanks man!
Props to you for being out in the middle of nowhere in that weather!
People are skiing in the background... ;)
Huge foamer location in the winter.
It's not the middle of nowhere. Just watch the whole video to see that :)
I miss going out and seeing the sights. But I still travel a little. Be safe and enjoy the view.
Love seeing the rotaries work. Haven't seen a video of recent years yet, till now. If I had my choice Donner would still be under Southern Pacific rule! With lots of Tunnel Motors!
Nice, that was awesome. That's some man made engineering for sure.
More people need to see this ,, it's wonderful video .
I've hitched Donner before. Beautiful up there. Beautiful.
Excellent video, being an adult the language here isn't important and the length was perfect. Appreciate the time and effort.
Thanks David!
+Mike Haire ..couple of questions sir. Do you live near these train tracks?
2. did you buy a portable train radio to listen to engineers talking?
3. how far of a walk is it to get to this spot?
+Mike Haire ...and did you know they were gonna blow snow that particular day?
Yes, I'm about 45 min from this location, yep been using scanners to monitor the crews and if you have a high clearance 4X4, you can drive up to this spot in the summer/fall. We snowshoed though up on this day about 1 mile from Donner Pass Rd
Yep, we have a good railfan/foamer community here in Nor-Cal. Knew from my buddies it was being run on this day.
OMG WOW!
They're so long it's nearly bloody nuts!
The good old Southern Pacific rotaries....I saw at Roseville yard in 2019.... They looked like new...
Thanks for the great video from 2022!
Fantastic.
I love trains and I don't want to know why.
Thumbs up.
I have loved trains my whole life (I'm 70 now) and I have never known why and never worried much about why, either. To repeat the words from Edna St. Vincent Milay, "There isn't a train I wouldn't ride, no matter where it's going."
@@kmerena I am 75 and I am with you. I have had this love affair since I was 4 years old.
I'm turning to a large rail Fan, Thank You much for this vide🤠
Great footage and wonderful light. I love seeing the 'SPMW' still on the rotary plow equipment.
I hope for more recent footage of Donner in winter (without the juvenile comments in the background). Also, try to keep the camera level and avoid zooming, just cut back and forth. Thanks!
watching trains blow snow off the tracks. its very addictive and fun to watch .
Incredible views in the video, thanks for sharing!