I tired as a mechanic working the snow trains after having been an engineer for 35 years. The snow removing years were very boring and fricking cold while maintaining or repairing these old beast. The rotor is like a huge flywheel designed to run an average 2,000 rpm max about 3,200 or less. Any faster you run the risk of bending the rotor shafts in heavy dense snow other wise you can maintain a more constant speed in light snow but snow drifts are compacted this is why you can walk on it.Cheers
I think you are exaggerating a lot. Do you realize how fast 3200 rpm s is? N ok way on earth big flywheel spins that fast. You might want to research that
Just a guess here, but the cutter head and rotor/thrower are turning at different speeds. The rotor might be what the OP is talking about spinning 2000rpm.
I grew up in Colorado and it's still tough to wrap my head around the notion that this machine exists because they get that much snow repeatedly. Every winter.
The plow is driven electrically from the B Covered Wagon. The Plow has steam to de-ice the blade, windows, et al. The entire unit is pushed by 2 GP 60's.
This is one of the best scenes I've ever seen of a rotary plow in action. It's amazing how badly the snow drifts there. I wish I could've been there and seen that for my self. Also, thanks for using the high quality setting on your camera! Great video!
What an incredible amount of snow! It seems to be rather fluffy and not frozen and hard as I have seen other machines struggling to move only a few feet.
Thanks very much Chad Carlson for taking the time and energy to log this great video of the BNSF Rotary Snow Plow operators. It's fascinating watching what these men do in adverse conditions. Mike
@@dirtfarmer7472 Honestly i believe it would feel amazing getting all that snow blown onto you. Btw I have no memory of posting this three years ago, but time flies by, i got nostalgic
This is so COOL! I LOVE trains and NEVER knew that a train has a snowblower. The sound, the snow shooting in the air, the whole thing is cool, thanks for posting!!
How about if they fell in to a void over the track. Stuck, no one could hear them over the noise of the blower. Not such a good idea to be in front of the blower. Think about safety. Kids, don't try this in your home.
the engine is an old F7B unit with an old 567 or 645 in it from EMD. It pulsate's as you have to keep the blade at a certain speed, when it slows down, you throttle up, when it gets to the speed, you throttle down.
+Cristi Neagu Go watch "The battle for donner pass" there are some really good prime mover sounds in there, up in the pass plus some in the concrete sheds.
Was it because the cuts we're between two shelterbelt so it would be soft fluffy snow filling up the cuts instead of hard crusted over and with the wind in that area and the fields bear the snow ended up in the cuts between the shelterbelts.
the "Power Units" are basically mechanically and internally Identical to the B-units they were converted from except for the fact that they no longer have Traction motors to drive the wheels and thus the B-unit can no longer move itself. The B-unit also has heavy duty cables to provide power to the plow it is attatched to. The plow is electically driven from the power unit, the plow geared to locomotive traction motors.
they need some big snow fences to pile up all those drifts somewhere else. I remember in VA they took down some snow fence and ended up with a 20' drift on the road. it was amazing1
This plow keeps moving forward at a steady Pace whereas when they close the Carlyle Branch from Beach North Dakota to Carlyle Montana, the engineer had the back up and take a run at it and go forward because the snow was as high as the top of the light on the plow. Rest of the story is with the commenter below!
Not any worse than the blizzard of 77-78, or the one of 78-79. I-70 was closed from Oakley to Limon during the snow of 77-78; and then, in the 78-79 snow, I-70 was closed from Wakeeny to Limon. The UP, which runs through Wakeeny, to Limon, had 2 plows get stuck, during both winters. Took six diesels, and four front end loaders to dig those plows out, so the UP brought down their rotary plow to do the job. Only it got stuck just west of Sharon Springs.
This is an awesome video! My kids and I were just looking at this bad boy sitting in the Hobson Yard. They will LOVE seeing the video of it in action. Thanks for posting!
I think this was shot after a Christmas Holiday, and a period of snow and 40 mph winds. The wind drifting builds walls and mounds. It can happen in a day. The snow can compact and form ice that needs to be cut through. The operation of the plow involves the direction of the rotatory, the speed of the rotary, and the forward speed. When you hear him letting off its probably the throttle as you cannot rush this. Too fast and you can derail the rotatory. Slow an careful is best.
+consanna true. I was truck driving in Europe in the mid 90's when I got caught in a serious snow storm with driving winds. ( central france, coming back from Italy.) it came on very suddenly. I was on a driving break of 45minutes. lovely when it started. then the driving winds came and that's a game changer. it created utter chaos. wind driven snow can cover houses in minutes. very scary.
Imagine what a pain it would be to do that by yourself with a shovel? Man, that snow blower... I can't believe what it's capable of. Pretty awesome power! It's also pretty cool to see one of the brand new ES44C4s on the job too. Great video!
If you think that tightens your gut. When the Section Crew was ordered to knock a 2-foot overhang off in front of the plow with shovels. And one shovel accidentally-on-purpose happened to fall in front of the plow when the Engineer had backed up and was headed forward to hit It again and the shovel came out in 3 pieces the Roadmaster said, "I don't think we'll do that anymore". You think!
you know it takes a lot more to just maintain trains and tracks it all these other people that are the back bone of the rail ways like the men that drive these men deserve our respect
You should see the snow plume, when they plow the line between Essex Montana and Kalispell. Between the snow sheds, once in a while there will be an avalanche that happens at the end of the snow sheds, if there are Bighorn Sheep trapped inside it's a beautiful red snowy plume that shoots out of there every once in awhile between snow sheds and then a big one at the end!
Interesting snow blower, bigger than my 8hp one at home. Love the action. I also noticed the fields have no snow on them yet there is 6to 10 on the tracks.
Wow, that was awesome! Not only the machine, but the amount of snow. You would think they would keep a steady amount of force on the blower instead of stalling it out and letting it catch up and repeating.
+bjmxd Where do get this nonsense? A diesel may burn 1/5 less fuel than a gasoline engine doing the same work. NOT 1/5 of. e.g. if a gasoline engine burns 100 gallons doing a job the diesel would burn 80 gallons. (likely more in real life)
It’s actually a two-cycle diesel-electric unit, likely a repurposed prime mover engine made by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division (EMD) from the 1930’s or 1940’s. Most rotary plows use these old EMD 2-cycle engines as that was what was available when the last of these types of rotary plows were built, or being converted from piston-steam engines to diesel-electric units. They do sound like big gasoline engines though, don’t they?
Awesome video I wish I could have been there to see but thanks to you I was and didn't have to freeze. The engines that was pushing that beast sounded so cool I loved this video. Thanks again for your sharing!!
I believe this video has been around awhile. I really like it. THANKS for putting time and location on it. I too would be interested to know why the blowers' engine surges, and the answer to some other questions people wrote in.
RedArrow73 They move those around a lot. I live in Phoenix where we might get snow to actually stick once every 40 years. Occasionally, Jordan Spreaders show up during a bad winter and plow up to Ashfork on the mainline, along Interstate 40 west of Flagstaff. All that old junk will find its way down to Argentine or Cleburne for a rebuild and some fresh paint.
TheFichtner; You have to remember,, this is drifted snow, not light fluffy stuff. Drifted snow turns into what we call snowcrete. Notice how these guys are walking on it and barely leaving footprints. Not to mention when you are driving with steel wheels on a steel track, you don't get too much traction for moving slowly through it. I have to do the same thing with my tractor to either get into the snow, or to hope it breaks up and falls into the blower.
I think there needs to be a redesign on the outlet chute, its blowing the snow too high into the air, and the wind is blowing the snow back onto the rails again
I tired as a mechanic working the snow trains after having been an engineer for 35 years. The snow removing years were very boring and fricking cold while maintaining or repairing these old beast. The rotor is like a huge flywheel designed to run an average 2,000 rpm max about 3,200 or less. Any faster you run the risk of bending the rotor shafts in heavy dense snow other wise you can maintain a more constant speed in light snow but snow drifts are compacted this is why you can walk on it.Cheers
Damn 3000 rpm that realy fast
I think you are exaggerating a lot. Do you realize how fast 3200 rpm s is? N ok way on earth big flywheel spins that fast. You might want to research that
This video explains 90 revolutions on the fan blade. Maybe iij misunderstood your 3000 rpm comment.
ua-cam.com/video/SuX4G3znpDE/v-deo.html
The old SP rotaries were never designed to run at that speed.
Just a guess here, but the cutter head and rotor/thrower are turning at different speeds. The rotor might be what the OP is talking about spinning 2000rpm.
That snow buster makes such a scenic display in the air, with a bright blue sky as it's canvas. Nature's beauty at it's finest.
I grew up in Colorado and it's still tough to wrap my head around the notion that this machine exists because they get that much snow repeatedly. Every winter.
Former CBQ rotary snowplow! Nice! Hard to believe seeing how many of these well-maintained units still remain on BNSF's roster!
The plow is driven electrically from the B Covered Wagon. The Plow has steam to de-ice the blade, windows, et al. The entire unit is pushed by 2 GP 60's.
"The entire unit is pushed by 2 GP 60's."
No it's not. It's an ES44AC (BNSF 6185) and a AC4400CW (CEFX 1019).
Watching the direction they are blowing (trying anyway) the snow reminds me of the old adage about not pissing into the wind.
These are obviously the best snow-fighting equipment the railroads have; they are rather impressive to watch too!
Lived by them tracks and was snowed in for 5 days during that blizzard. Watched that machine come thru town .. amazing
This is one of the best scenes I've ever seen of a rotary plow in action. It's amazing how badly the snow drifts there. I wish I could've been there and seen that for my self. Also, thanks for using the high quality setting on your camera! Great video!
What an incredible amount of snow!
It seems to be rather fluffy and not frozen and hard as I have seen other machines struggling to move only a few feet.
Thanks very much Chad Carlson for taking the time and energy to log this great video of the BNSF Rotary Snow Plow operators. It's fascinating watching what these men do in adverse conditions.
Mike
Just felt an urge to reply to your 10 year old comment 😳
@@urosvlahovic9279
Just adding my 2 cents worth in 2024, & comment about the level of intelligence for the people who were standing down wind.
@@dirtfarmer7472 Honestly i believe it would feel amazing getting all that snow blown onto you. Btw I have no memory of posting this three years ago, but time flies by, i got nostalgic
This is so COOL! I LOVE trains and NEVER knew that a train has a snowblower. The sound, the snow shooting in the air, the whole thing is cool, thanks for posting!!
This is great! Thanks for all the effort you put into it. Glad to see we are not the only area that gets buried in the winter.
How about if they fell in to a void over the track. Stuck, no one could hear them over the noise of the blower. Not such a good idea to be in front of the blower. Think about safety. Kids, don't try this in your home.
Next time a rotary snow plow comes by my house in 30ft of snow, I'll stay far away
Me to lol
Sounds intense. I always loved rotary snow plows. There is so much power. It is amazing how far the snow goes.
The snowplow actually does a beautiful job for heavy snow, no joke. Amazing stuff.
That engine sounded amazing on my sound system, shook my whole room and I could feel it in my chest. Bet that sounded great in person.
the engine is an old F7B unit with an old 567 or 645 in it from EMD. It pulsate's as you have to keep the blade at a certain speed, when it slows down, you throttle up, when it gets to the speed, you throttle down.
That is probably the best sounding engine i've ever heard.
+Cristi Neagu Go watch "The battle for donner pass" there are some really good prime mover sounds in there, up in the pass plus some in the concrete sheds.
Yeah, the EMD 567 is one of the most iconic diesel engines out there.
Best toy EVER!
Thanks for sharing AND for explaining why the fields were clear of snow.
Was it because the cuts we're between two shelterbelt so it would be soft fluffy snow filling up the cuts instead of hard crusted over and with the wind in that area and the fields bear the snow ended up in the cuts between the shelterbelts.
Wow! Really fast and efficient!
the "Power Units" are basically mechanically and internally Identical to the B-units they were converted from except for the fact that they no longer have Traction motors to drive the wheels and thus the B-unit can no longer move itself. The B-unit also has heavy duty cables to provide power to the plow it is attatched to. The plow is electically driven from the power unit, the plow geared to locomotive traction motors.
they need some big snow fences to pile up all those drifts somewhere else. I remember in VA they took down some snow fence and ended up with a 20' drift on the road. it was amazing1
Greetings from the BIG SKY. That's a big snow drift you got there.
Glad UA-cam recommended this, anyone else?
looks like the kind of snow my dad would make me shovel in NH "to build character" when I was younger..
Guy H. in July!
G. H. With no shoes hehe
No shoes and a spoon and you had to eat it all
uphill, both ways!
Big character.
BMW 801 radial snow blower, that's awesome!!
Wait they used 801's in these?
@@ToreDL87 I'm pretty sure it was General Motors engines, and general electric generators and motors. Henceforth ergo electro-motive division of GM
WOW! That is amazing to such high amounts of snow.. Really makes that rotary plow work!
This plow keeps moving forward at a steady Pace whereas when they close the Carlyle Branch from Beach North Dakota to Carlyle Montana, the engineer had the back up and take a run at it and go forward because the snow was as high as the top of the light on the plow. Rest of the story is with the commenter below!
That is a beast of a machine.
yep
Sounds awsome
Wonkabar007, talk about old school...it sounds & looks like it took all winter
@@MrAIRSHOWFAN100 0000000000000
increase engine strength and it would be better
I just love listening to the engine working hard to move that snow.
Thats the train moving, theres a separate motor for the blower.
THAT FOOTAGE IS AWESOME !!!!!!!
Not any worse than the blizzard of 77-78, or the one of 78-79. I-70 was closed from Oakley to Limon during the snow of 77-78; and then, in the 78-79 snow, I-70 was closed from Wakeeny to Limon. The UP, which runs through Wakeeny, to Limon, had 2 plows get stuck, during both winters. Took six diesels, and four front end loaders to dig those plows out, so the UP brought down their rotary plow to do the job. Only it got stuck just west of Sharon Springs.
That stuff is packed so hard, no wonder that have to go slowly, yikes
This is an awesome video! My kids and I were just looking at this bad boy sitting in the Hobson Yard. They will LOVE seeing the video of it in action. Thanks for posting!
"Hey...whats that noise?" - Snow burrowing squirrel nest
Scenes like these make me glad to spend the winter months in Mexico.
I think this was shot after a Christmas Holiday, and a period of snow and 40 mph winds. The wind drifting builds walls and mounds. It can happen in a day. The snow can compact and form ice that needs to be cut through. The operation of the plow involves the direction of the rotatory, the speed of the rotary, and the forward speed. When you hear him letting off its probably the throttle as you cannot rush this. Too fast and you can derail the rotatory. Slow an careful is best.
+consanna true. I was truck driving in Europe in the mid 90's when I got caught in a serious snow storm with driving winds. ( central france, coming back from Italy.) it came on very suddenly. I was on a driving break of 45minutes. lovely when it started. then the driving winds came and that's a game changer. it created utter chaos. wind driven snow can cover houses in minutes. very scary.
The power of the rotary is AMAZING!!!!! 😳
In this depth of snow 1mph is making good time.
Legend has it, they're still trying to figure out how tall it was, because there was only one way.
I wonder if they sell this snowblower attachment at Home Depot.
No, but they have it at Lowe's :)
No only at Train Depot!
@@deannelson9565 Literally AT a Train Depot!
Yeah I saw it for $49
What. No Strawberry!? This ice cream machine sucks.
XE b
I live in Buffalo New York, I can use this in my driveway
I can totally relate. I was there when you got 7 1/2 feet
Jesse H yeh same, I live in England and we got about an inch last winter and it as so bad it was gone by lunchtime
That is totally cool! Love the video!
Blessings to you and your family
That thing's like an avalanche in a box!
Seems woefully underpowered. The fact that it lags so badly without even taking a full bite that sucker need at least double the HP it's being fed.
Realmente muito lindo a beleza da neve. Bem difícil a remoção. E incrível o trabalho de limpeza e liberacao da via férrea. Amei o vídeo.
Imagine standing in front of it
It sounds a little like an Alco. It's a real workhorse!
Smokes like an Alco too!
@@GnonplussedGnome 16-567 EMD diesel.
Imagine what a pain it would be to do that by yourself with a shovel? Man, that snow blower... I can't believe what it's capable of. Pretty awesome power! It's also pretty cool to see one of the brand new ES44C4s on the job too. Great video!
It would take weeks to clear all that snow with a shovel even if you shovelled with another person at the same time.
That is a mountain of hard , compact snow. The roost that blower throws is amazing. Very awesome footage. Thanks!
i was hypnotised by the snow i could see the flying "dog" from never ending story.
Athearn model trains makes a nice powered HO scale model of this snow plow & tender BN972559.
They're standing on those snow drifts and not sinking into them. That's like igloo making snow. Super chilled, wind blown and densely consolidated.
Now that is so very impressive.It tightened my guts when you were close too the thing,but it was really impressive.
If you think that tightens your gut. When the Section Crew was ordered to knock a 2-foot overhang off in front of the plow with shovels. And one shovel accidentally-on-purpose happened to fall in front of the plow when the Engineer had backed up and was headed forward to hit It again and the shovel came out in 3 pieces the Roadmaster said, "I don't think we'll do that anymore". You think!
@@earlhollar1906 if you think that tightens your gut you should see my toro 6 horsepower gasoline powered 4 stroke single stage snow blower in action
Something very asmr about this...minutes into it I'm like, why am I still watching this?
When they are done there, they can come on over and do my driveway.
Two Beers lol
you know it takes a lot more to just maintain trains and tracks it all these other people that are the back bone of the rail ways like the men that drive these men deserve our respect
sounds a lot like my 85 Dodge pickup....so thats where it went that weekend, i was wonderin.... thatd also explain the slowness....
Wow that is so awesome to see. Also the beautiful blue sky. A good day in Nebraska thanks
Did they finish this before spring?
Very funny ass hole!
@swollenrhino… asshole is one word
Toms Chevelle Ass is one word, Hole is one word, Asshole is a compound word...lol.
That is super... Thank you for the spelling lesson!
Toms Chevelle Glad to help!😊
Cool to see a video from back home. Soon i will be back.
VERY well done! Good video and beautiful snow plume shots.
You should see the snow plume, when they plow the line between Essex Montana and Kalispell. Between the snow sheds, once in a while there will be an avalanche that happens at the end of the snow sheds, if there are Bighorn Sheep trapped inside it's a beautiful red snowy plume that shoots out of there every once in awhile between snow sheds and then a big one at the end!
Interesting snow blower, bigger than my 8hp one at home. Love the action. I also noticed the fields have no snow on them yet there is 6to 10 on the tracks.
the ultimate Zombie train.
Wow, that was awesome! Not only the machine, but the amount of snow. You would think they would keep a steady amount of force on the blower instead of stalling it out and letting it catch up and repeating.
I bet the railroad guys hate it when the foamers get that close to the tracks, especially when they're running that kind of equipment.
No actually they like it
Most of the people present there *are* railroaders.
@@ZachPumphery yeah no one minds.
...THE BEST rotary action camera angles , EVER...👍👍👍👍👍
that certainly is an impressive piece of kit. nice job, well done fella's.
The sound alone of the engine is awesome
Imagine the freaking DIESEL that thing goes thru?
Not much.
+mike starr diesel burns conventionally slower than regular gas so it burns nearly a 1/5 of the gas normal things do
bjmxd Oh...I wasn't aware of that thank you! Makes sense though.
I really know nothing about any of that really...
i guess i am a prime example of ignorance! ha!ha!ha!
+bjmxd Where do get this nonsense? A diesel may burn 1/5 less fuel than a gasoline engine doing the same work. NOT 1/5 of.
e.g. if a gasoline engine burns 100 gallons doing a job the diesel would burn 80 gallons. (likely more in real life)
That’s one monstrous snow machine. Awesome
That blower sounds like an old truck! Lol
sounds alot bigger than a truck engine!
LOL i was fixing my snowblowerso i turned to look and see the old truck plowing(Heard it) NOPE its a TRAIN!
Old truck with 5,000 hp
Judging by the wind shouldn't they be blowing it the other way?
These big ones i think only blow one way
ben dunn You can’t change the direction on those ones it’s only shoots one word
@@wyatt2920 Which word?
@@johnchalleen3278 Snow!
@@JackReacheround you actually can
Oh what 😳 a pretty sky,...with all that ❄ snow
that thing sounds scary and looks amazing!
That’s one awesome piece of machinery! I would imagine that it uses a lot of fuel! Thanks so very much for sharing that with us! Great footage!
With that much torque I wonder if they had to engineer something to keep it from twisting itself off the rails.
Cool video! Thanks for sharing :)
Sounds like a big gas engine in that blower. I'm surprised, I figured it would be diesel. I think it must be an old unit?
It’s actually a two-cycle diesel-electric unit, likely a repurposed prime mover engine made by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division (EMD) from the 1930’s or 1940’s.
Most rotary plows use these old EMD 2-cycle engines as that was what was available when the last of these types of rotary plows were built, or being converted from piston-steam engines to diesel-electric units.
They do sound like big gasoline engines though, don’t they?
@@rucarnuts13 Yes, that was my first impression. Thank you for the clarification.
I wish my Honda sounded like that.
That would be a very heavy Honda. :P
I wish your honda was ground up by that snow thrower
@@maggs131 lol
Awesome video I wish I could have been there to see but thanks to you I was and didn't have to freeze. The engines that was pushing that beast sounded so cool I loved this video. Thanks again for your sharing!!
Anyone else go "OM NOM NOM NOM" everytime the locomotive opens the throttle a little bit?
@shoppy168046 then the power units sound really sick. the blower has control over how much power they need so it could be the old f7 motor reving
yeah, that was pretty darn cool.
That must be a complete massive amount of snow...It appers like it's not even moving!
that what it looks like when i snow blow my driveway....the neighbors hate me!
Bnsf crew, boy that was a big snow drift!!! SP guys in Donner roll their eyes
I believe this video has been around awhile. I really like it. THANKS for putting time and location on it.
I too would be interested to know why the blowers' engine surges, and the answer to some other questions people wrote in.
Very Interesting. I love those GE's for the sound. Here in Michigan we use Russel Snowplows.
These things are awesome
Beautiful, great filming!
Just like the other DiscoveryChan video - 567 power driving that blower, so there. It's antiquated and gets maybe a twice a decade workout.
RedArrow73 They move those around a lot. I live in Phoenix where we might get snow to actually stick once every 40 years. Occasionally, Jordan Spreaders show up during a bad winter and plow up to Ashfork on the mainline, along Interstate 40 west of Flagstaff. All that old junk will find its way down to Argentine or Cleburne for a rebuild and some fresh paint.
Great video
Wow this comment was made when I was 7 holy crap
@@atticusrallye702 👍
Ur old.
TheFichtner; You have to remember,, this is drifted snow, not light fluffy stuff. Drifted snow turns into what we call snowcrete. Notice how these guys are walking on it and barely leaving footprints. Not to mention when you are driving with steel wheels on a steel track, you don't get too much traction for moving slowly through it. I have to do the same thing with my tractor to either get into the snow, or to hope it breaks up and falls into the blower.
This is what we need in Minnesota on our railroad line's
BRUTE FORCE, I LOVE IT
i love this video so much ive seen it like 10 times lol get some more footage if you can this winter dude !!!
very satisfying
I love this 😍❤️👍🏽. This is just AWESOME AMAZING BEAUTIFUL ❤️
I think there needs to be a redesign on the outlet chute, its blowing the snow too high into the air, and the wind is blowing the snow back onto the rails again
I am sure all that is adjustable. These guys just don't seem to know any better. Maybe they are new.?