Excellent description Jerry!
Back in the early days of the D&S, when the "OF" was returned to service, the movement of the wings were manual, all done by the crew and MOW employees riding the train. There were both short and longer heavy steel poles that were attached to the flanger and wings with a clevis and steel pins to adjust the wings as needed. There was a lot of stopping/starting, moving the wings in/out for cattle guards, rocks and other close clearance areas. Early D&S car forman, Dan Nickols, came up with the idea of using the surplus power reverse for the wings. I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of these flanger runs as a fireman during those years.
MD Ramsey
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