Re: Rotaries Question

The rotaries would fight epic battles against the snow. They would regularly bog down and need to back out...which is why the last engine was usually facing backwards.

While the D&RGW was known for taking full trains of MoW cars, the C&S usually didn't take much more than a car or two to provide the hot coffee and support for the shovel crew.

Because the Rotaries couldn't handle drifts deeper than they were, nor could flangers open up turnouts, shovel crews were frequently needed to dig out snow and remove ice from turnouts.

The snow drifts faced by the rotaries were frequently much harder than you'd think. A number of rotary snow plows met their ends when their drive shafts were broken from improper operation with heavy snow packs. IIRC, the first DL&G/C&S plow as well as the RGS's plow (they actually had 2, 1 of which was mistakenly sold in the 1890s) both ended their careers when their shafts were broken while fighting snow drifts. If you look around a bit, you'll find photos of tough snow packs with the shape of the rotary blade imprinted from where it bogged down.

In addition to the Lesley Snow Plows, such as the surviving OM, OY, C&S rotary at Golden, and the WP&Y rotary at Leadville, there was also competing designs. The most famous example of these was the Jull plow, the most famous of which was used in the snow plow trials on the Denver, Leadville, and Gunnison (The South Park). Despite the Lesley defeating the Jull, a handful of Jull plows were built...there are a number of photos of the AT&SF Jull in service on the Colorado Midland.

Here's a link with a picture of a Jull plow...
[www.collectionscanada.gc.ca]

Michael