This winter has got me thinking about a rotary snow plow. Seeing some photos of scratch built ones in action got me hooked. I decided I would give it a try and build my own to help with the snow clearing on the line. After looking at some designs, I found one of the old Southern Pacific rotary plows. I like the older ones because it will fit my late 1800 or so logging theme more and the car itself is wood. (shut up Rooster). I also decided to take it a step further and see if I can make it powered by live steam. I had a Regner micro motor and Midwest sterno boiler sitting around for a future tram project. Rather then build another tram I thought it would be neat to see if I can get the rotary to operate on live steam. I still have to play around with my option of using chain driven by sprockets or gear driven and what would be the best ratio. If it works out as planned, I will eventually replace the boiler with a better butane fired one and maybe a better motor down the line. Im also going to make it so I can use a battery powered motor for the deep snow if needed. (The Regner motor is the same as in my Otto and it has power). My basic design will be based off this photo with a little backwoods flare:
I started gathering the parts needed for the project including a fan from a vacuum cleaner. I got the fan off Amazon.