Canadian Railroads > Why railwaymen hate winter!

From Tuesday to Wednesday Montreal received 40 cm (16 in) of snow from a March blizzard.  There were countless highway accidents, some involving trucks on fire and hazardous chemical releases.  The railways were slowed but not crippled.  But the work of the train, mechanical and track crews is made much more difficult. 

Witness the snow and ice packed around the undercarriage of this VIA F40 photographed at Dorval this morning.  The train came from Ottawa and has slightly delayed when it tripped a dragging equipment detector.  The dragger was hit by ice accumulation under the unit.

More photos to follow.

Ken Goslett

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Winter looks cute on Christmas cards.  But the reality is something else.

KG

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kgmontreal Wrote:
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> Winter looks cute on Christmas cards.  But the
> reality is something else.

Well, at least you weren't stuck in that 8-10 hour traffic jam where Highway 13 ends under these tracks in Lachine. By luck I avoided it by just a few minutes. The 18-wheeler that caused it was backing down into the 90-degree corner tunnel (against the flow of traffic) when I passed.

Ray

The "reality" of winter railroading! Thanks for reminding us of how winter can affect railroads.
Bob

WOW! Excellent set of pictures ! Thank you for sharing ! :):):)

What drives me nuts is when the ground speed sensors (basically a radar unit pointed to the ground and located behind the pilot/plow) get fouled with snow and the wheel slip control goes bat $h!t crazy. Then I've got to get out there and climb under the locomotive to dig those suckers out. Total PITA.

Meanwhile in the U.S. where there was significantly less snow in the major metropolitan areas, Amtrak and some comuter lines basically gave up. Wimps. 

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> What drives me nuts is when the ground speed
> sensors (basically a radar unit pointed to the
> ground and located behind the pilot/plow) get
> fouled with snow and the wheel slip control goes
> bat $h!t crazy. Then I've got to get out there and
> climb under the locomotive to dig those suckers
> out. Total PITA.

That's why we tried to keep GP50s off the point over (BN) Stevens Pass in winter. They also don't like high, open deck bridges.

TAW

Make sme wish that the railroads would use infra red heat tunnels in the yards  and stations to melt all the ice and
snow from the locomotives just like  some airports do to eliminate the need for spraying deicing chemicals and
polluting the ground water.

What is even scarier is that president trump wants to kill amtrak now.