Re: (erielack) EL Snow Operations

["Bill K." <pontiac_@_dreamscape.com>]

Yes...  some 1911 steam powered antique that lasted long enough to get a
can-opener painted on the side of it.  Reminds me some of the Model Die
Casting "Kitbasher Series" rotary plow.   Conrail replaced it with this odd
self-propelled European built rotary, that has 2 small blades side by side.
This new one operates with MOW people under the same rules as a track car,
needing a Form-D to run the mainline..  I suspect CSX has it now.   With the
Buffal-snow and the line from Syracuse to Montreal up along the lake, it
would be tough not to have one.

The EL main more or less avoided the worst of the snow region, only the DL&W
up through Syracuse and the lines into Buffalo being super-vulnerable, so it
could be they weren't worth the maintenance to continue using them - in an
emergency I suppose they could borrow one from a neighbor or connecting
road.

FWIW, most the western roads still have rotaries, in fact the BN "Executive"
F units were rotary plow power units before getting the call.   Hmm,
actually there's only BNSF and UP, so I guess you could say all of them do -
BNSF a handful from BN, UP at least one from the SP and possibly their own
as well.   Each time they need to get one out, every 3rd year or so, you'll
see a ton of pictures in the magazines -

Bill K.

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Holbrook, Douglas W" <douglas.w.holbrook_@_baesystems.com>
To: "A Samostie" <quahog_@_sprint.ca>; <erielack@lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 7:27 AM
Subject: RE: (erielack) EL Snow Operations


> Didn't the NYC have a rotary stationed at DeWitt ????
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A Samostie [SMTP:quahog_@_sprint.ca]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 23:52
> To: erielack_@_lists.railfan.net
> Subject: Re: (erielack) EL Snow Operations
>
> Dear Group,
> What about rotary plows?  Did either the DL&W or Erie ever roster one?
>
> If any eastern road could have used them, it was the EL (ok, maybe
> Bangor and Aroostook).  The only photos of rotaries I've ever seen were
> from out west... and although a few survived to mid-century, they seemed
> to be a relic from the turn of the century or before.
>
> Cheers,
> Alan <quahog_@_sprint.ca>
>

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