Re: D&RGW use of bulldozers for snowfighting

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful responses. Now I will suggest my explanations...

1. The snow in western BC is more dense (thicker) than in Colorado, because it is near the coast. Some of us saw how slow and shaky the rotary was on Cumbres in May '93 when pushing through 10' of packed snow. In mid winter the snow in Colorado is very light and relatively easy to throw, so the rotary does a fine job.

2. Coquihalla Pass is scoured everywhere by narrow chutes that dumped rocks and trees and God knows what on the tracks and cuts, tearing up the blades of a rotary pretty quickly.

3. KVR had instances of stuck trains that were entombed from December or January until spring, during which time the railroad was at a standstill. I suppose it is not too costly to abandon a dozer versus an entire train should nature win the fight.

And a counter argument...

I would not want to be the poor guy assigned to drive his D8 across those trestles, especially when they were covered in a mantle of snow.