Re: Flanger spreader engine placement

For a light coating of snow the flanger is all that would be needed. In deeper snow the spreader is utilized. Maybe the east side of Cumbres had less accumulated snow and so only the flanger was required. But the west side had more snow so the spreader was moved forward in the train.

The other year I saw a program about the SP fighting snow over Donner Pass. The same sequence is still used by the Union Pacific over Donner.
First the railroad just uses the pilot plows on its diesels.
Then it moves to the flangers and often using return loops just keeps the flanger train moving back and forth over the "hill."
With heavy snow falls or after a storm ends it then goes to using its spreaders to push the snow back away from the track.
For heavy continuous storms it would then bring out the rotary flows to cut through the deeper accumulation of snow.

BN