Western Railroad Discussion > Sierra Snow - Flanger

With a strong storm hitting the Sierra Nevada mountain range, UP is running a flanger set to keep ahead of the storm. This set had just lead Amtrak train #6 across the summit, turned and was heading west again out of Truckee, Ca.

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Superb shots
Andy

Surprised that UP didn't put a UP Shield on the side of those Flangers.

Thank You!

Perhaps the Flanger continues to carry SPMW (Southern Pacific MoW) reporting marks??? : )

Strange there is no shield. Here is the Dunsmuir Flanger with SP reporting marks and a shield. And as a bonus "Winter Professionals"

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SierraRailfan --
Those are gorgeous photos! That first one is a stunner! Talk about a lot of snow!! SO glad to see the flanger still has her SP-era reporting marks and color. Nice! (Sorry, though the SP has been gone for more than 21 years, I just cannot get used to snow-fighting equipment here in California being Armour Yellow.)

Great photos!

So far today's storm has sort of been a bust with snow at low elevations NOT happening!

Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Regards, Jim Evans

Great images Roger! Glad to see you were able to get out and nab some winter shots!

Great shots! Thanks for braving the elements and sharing...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Great stuff! Many unique details on those "snow fighting" locomotives too!

And no UP shield, only "SPMW" on that flanger!
I think the SP rotary equip has no UP shield either?

Thanks for news from the Hill!

Sierra storm conditions made the local news down here tonight.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/18 23:07 by RailRat.

Heavens to Mergatroid,
The thought of a UP shield on an SP Rotary??

Very NICE series of snow shots!

Larry

terexgm Wrote:
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> Heavens to Mergatroid,
> The thought of a UP shield on an SP Rotary??

They're not SP units anymore. They were assimilated by the Yellow Borg of Omaha years ago...

Thank you all for the kind remarks!!! It was a fun day!!!

Perhaps I am missing something, but I do not understand what good is does to pull a snow plow. It would seem that if the locomotives can make it through the snow, the plow is just along for the ride. Can someone explain this?

ToadHaul Wrote:
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> Perhaps I am missing something, but I do not
> understand what good is does to pull a snow plow.
> It would seem that if the locomotives can make it
> through the snow, the plow is just along for the
> ride. Can someone explain this?

The diesels are pulling a Flanger, i.e. NOT a "snow PLOW". The Flangers are fairly light, and thus are generally most often pulled. A true "Snow Plow" is quite a bit heavier, larger and designed to plow much deeper snow.

ToadHaul Wrote:
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> Perhaps I am missing something, but I do not
> understand what good is does to pull a snow plow.
> It would seem that if the locomotives can make it
> through the snow, the plow is just along for the
> ride. Can someone explain this?


The flanger digs out between the rails, not very far below the rail but enough to be of value. The locomotive's snowplow clears the obvious build up but there is plenty that is left and also whatever gets blown back into the guage.

The problem they are trying to avoid is the build up of ice that has caused lifting and separation of the air hoses in the past. The Flanger train also patrols the track for general conditions, fallen trees, ice or snow build-up between the two main lines, potential or has happened snow slides etc. also verifies the signals are still working before a regular train gets into the area. The flanger train brakes faster than a full train and is easier to put back on the rails if something happens.

In the distant past the flanger car was also used to carry supplies to the difficult to reach locations on the pass. The older flanger cars have side doors to allow supplies or fuel tanks to be carried, either to Norden or to individual signal locations or perhaps to bulldozers or other equipment along the way. All such places have been removed or roadways have been built to allow access. There are modern snow cats and contract bulldozers that access most of the route now. All remote depots have been removed in the past few decades.

On Donner they usually use two locomotives in the consist to allow them to back out of an avalanche or other situation that causes damage to the lead unit. The flanger car itself has two blades to throw the snow to either side, but not both at the same time. There are two ballon tracks to turn the flanger train, one in Truckee and one downhill from Emigrant Gap, located below the typical bad snow conditions.

The idea of the flanger patrolling the district is partly due to the unique conditions of the snow and remote area of Donner Pass. The flanger is also small enough to run regular freight past it, using larger plows or Jordan spreaders gets into maintainance windows without opposing traffic, etc. The flanger can usually keep the tracks open for a while but the larger spreaders have to come out to move larger amounts of snow out of the way. There's a number of interesting DVD's available that show the idea.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/18 13:38 by TCnR.

Thank you for your reply. It all makes sense now.

Great job Roger!


Al