Built in 1910 for the former Bernina Railway (now part of RhB) the steam rotary usually gets at least two extra “show days” during the winter. Unusual for rotaries (SG and NG) this one can move under its own power.
And one more going back to the '30s; how they used to clear snow back then
And in 1:22.5 with plenty of pushing power behind it.
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Thanks HJ. Also unusual is device up front that looks like a flanger with wings running in reverse to peel the sides off into the rotrary’s path,
I was surprised to see the spreader preceding the rotary, pulling the snow down onto the track for the rotary to toss aside.
Great stuff, H-J!!! More please!
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
PS - didn’t somebody make a large-acale model of that rotary some time ago?
Thank you Gentlemen!
Dietz did/was going to or whatever!
Many years ago there was a write-up in “Die Modelleisenbahn” (CH mag) where someone took a LGB Mallett for the drive and built the rest. I’d have to check if he reversed the one drive block to get the opposed cylinder config.
On that “scraper” ( Schneeräumer), Bernina Bahn took the idea from the Kiruna-Narvik line (Sweden-Norway) - lots of drifting snow - and built one for their mountain conditions. The Bernina summit is wide open and originally they hadn’t planned on snow sheds or galleries. As a matter of fact they needed to correct the alignment to avoid some of the notoriously worst sections where the snow would pile in right from winter’s onset.
In the “good old days” they would also have the rail cars travel back and forth throughout the night to keep the line open, once the rotary was done.
“Rauch, Dampf und Pulverschnee” (Smoke, steam and powder snow) is one of the books about snow clearing on the different Swiss railways, complete with descriptions of the different types of rotaries that have been designed over the years.
The modern replacements of the rotaries look like this
And out on the line like this
Clearly visible the lateral displacement of the two cutting assemblies, which allows to adjust the clearing width to a wider path as long as there are no catenary masts in the way. The scraper is limited to the fixed profile between the catenary masts on the LH and RH side.
Now I was going to make a comment about the first video before watching it the whole way through. In the beginning it appeared the plow/flanger was clearing the way for the rotary but then they put the rotary to work.
But I do question the intelligence of the people taking pictures from the discharge side of the plow. I guess you get great shots of tons of snow falling on you.
I never get tired of watching the solutions that are arrived at for snow removal where there is “professional levels” of snow. Awesome!
Devon,
Not worse than the guy who filmed that CN train come through the snow drift and the level crossing.
It’s OK as long as it is powder - almost guaranteed in the Bernina region. Different story in NB where they get freezing rain along with thaw and freeze cycles that make for a hard crust. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
true not to mention the frozen blocks the plow piled up. You know the guys in the rotary enjoyed burying those people n fine fresh powder. Stupid railfans. I am sure the folks at St Maries think I am crazy for spending all day taking pictures of them.
That RotX steam machine is the bees knees!!! Really cool. The modern one is…well, MODERN! I’m sure it works easier but it is just too slick. Doesn’t look like it is WORKING!