Nice pics John, but sure doesn’t look like winter! Be careful what you wish for. 
Cheers,
Matt
Today it finally snowed a bit here. Perfect amount for snowfighting, perfect temperature. And by dumb luck I am home for the day. Here’s the first:
And a diesel doing some mop-up after the snow dozer had opened the main:
Cheers,
Matt
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Two locos for 2 coaches. Them thar hills must be steep.
That curve is 4.5% or worse in spots. One C-19 can handle both coaches, but when you add the Bachmann caboose it will slip. With two running with RailPro, it’s like the weight is hardly even there.
We have had only two accumulating snowfalls this season, and the biggest of that was barely 6 inches. This is far from normal, but the last 5 years or so, every winter has been milder. Then we went from 10+ days of overcast to 6+ of bright sun. Was supposed to be cloudy today, but the clouds broke by noon and the temp went over 50 for the second day in a row. I got outside and did some more remedial work on the washout. Some of the ballast I removed required a bit of chopping to break up the frozen parts. It has been cold at night. Replacement of the rocks will wait for warmer overnight temps…
Matt,
Have you ever shared in progress photos or construction details about your plow you made? I’m assuming it’s mostly brass?
Matt should just quit his day job and publish calendars.
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The only snow so far this season here in Maryland.
It would have been good for plowing if Covid had not visited for a few weeks…
Jerry
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Hi Craig,
I did, but it was on mylargescale.com back in 2007. That plow is actually all wood and plastic, except for the blades. Here’s how it looked before the addition of the wings and paint:
It’s since been backdated with a different headlight, more accurate for the era I am now modeling. It’s seen a lot of service since it first went to work just before Christmas in 2007. Here’s a shot from its first plowing trip back then:
Cheers,
Matt
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Cliff,
You’re too kind, sir. And thank you.
Matt
Thanks Matt. One of these days I’ll be getting back to my Snow Dozer project.
Winter finally arrived on Tuesday. Even if the bridge wasn’t out, trains would be annulled as this is too much to plow. Here’s a shot of Pine Summit. Left of the pine tree you can just make out the end of the engine house. To the right of the tree, the first pile is Pine Tank, the second is Bruce’s Mill and on the far right Ken’s “Radder’s Milling”…
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I usually avoid snow, and we don’t get much here in Maryland on the Bay. But it does get cold. Here’s my new Accucraft B&O Dockside in January with a nice plume of live steam, and a bunch of gondolas full of scrap metal, courtesy of my host Jerry (@naptowneng )
Back in my usual winter haunt, Jack’s Calusa Creek RR in Fort Myers is not in any kind of shape for winter running.
The (aluminum) track is getting old and the plastic ties have been out in the FL sun for 10+ years. Hurricane’s Irma and Ian sent tree branches flying, and Ian blew most of the fence down at the end of 2022. Last year the fence was replaced - but the workers trampled all over the track. I’ve been ripping up the worst of it, fixing the trackbed and laying new track salvaged from newer areas of the layout. Still a lot of work to be done.
We got some yesterday morning, about the maximum depth I can plow with Russell snowplow X-67:
Cheers,
Matt
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MATT,
Really awesome photos!!! Rare to see good snow shots.
The photo of with the water tower is exceptional!!!
Matt, big congrats on your cover photo and photo spread in the '24 Garden Trains Annual!
Stunning photos, amazing!!
Thank you, Cliff. It was a labor of love.
Cheers,
Matt