Re: Plowing Snow With Geared Steam - Which was better?

Well Matt, like everything it is not quite that simple. What you say is true, but there are other things which limit the speed of a plow train. Most geared locomotives can make 12 to 15 mph, with the Climax being somewhat slower and the Heisler a little faster. On good track it would be possible to exceed this speed with a rod locomotive, but on much narrow gauge track the track speed is within the limits of a geared locomotive. Here is an example: The Sumpter Valley mainline from S Wye to Larch Summit, a distance of 4.45 miles, has 30 curves with a total of 2,980.72 degrees of curvature, or 8.29 complete circles, and a maximun curvature of 24 deg. In that distance it climbs 735 feet for an average gradient of 3.13%, and a ruling grade of 4.08%. No train is going to exceed about 10 mph on this kind of track, and 3/4 of the 80 mile SV mainline was similar. Power would count for more than momentum on track like this and geared locomotives, with all of their weight on the drivers, smoother power application, and flexable running gear, would out pull a rod locomotive of similar or slightly heavier weight.

This does not mean that geared locomotives were popular for snow plowing. Most railroads used what ever they had for plowing, including the Sumpter Valley. The SV had an advantage in that geared power was available if they needed it, as with the snowbound trains mentioned.

Jim