• Jordan Spreaders in New England

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

  by RG479
 
Does anyone have any information on the present existance of Jordan Spreaders still in New England, and their location? I am researching the jordan spreader for a project on OU on the Cumbres And Toltec next year. Are any parts books, maintenance manuals, detailed (not model) drawings availiable? The company once was located in East Chicago, Indiana, but went out of business in the 1980's. I know the B&M had several, the MEC one, and saw a picture of an ex CN spreader on the St Lawrence And Atlantic.
  by eddiebear
 
There was an article in TRAINS within the past 20 yrs. or so that gave the historical aspects of the company.
I saw one being moved on the Boston & Maine, just once. ( I did not see it in actual snow removal operations.) I can't remember if it was after the two heavy snows of February, 1969 or the Blizzard of (Feb) '78, but one was out on the Fitchburg between Ayer and Boston.
They seemed to usually stay parked for years in the same spot at major terminals. That was probably due to the fact that most railroads just stopped keeping the right-of-way in good shape and instead addressed drainage and related ditching problems as each crisis arose rather than have a long range maintenance plan.
  by hh660
 
I believe there is a jordan spreader at rigby yard in S. portland. located near the yard office and two snowplows. It appears to have some 'homemade' modifications-cab enclosure most obvious
  by Trackmobile
 
Although this isn`t in New England exactly :wink: ,it`s close.The D&H (CP) still uses them on occasion. :-)

  by CGRLCDR
 
The last time I was in the railyard in Framingham behind the station next to the Farm Pond I remember seeing a Jordan spreader and other maintenance equipment. That was about two years ago; I'm not sure if it is still there. I suspect that it was moved there from Hopkington a several years ago.

  by oibu
 
Current Jordans that I am aware of in New England:

-MMA has several, both of Bangor & Aroostook and of CP heritage, some with front snowplows, some without

-SLR does have an ex CN unit

-Guilford has 2 ex MEC Jordans, I think all the ex-B&M ones (originally 5 or so I believe) are gone

-CV had one, I'm not sure if NECR has it now

-VRS has one, ex D&H nee Rutland

Most of the NEw England roads generally favored the Russell plows for snow work and therefore just had a few spreaders to use primarily for ditching/ballast work and clearing snwo from yard trackage; some roads in other areas were quite fond of the spreaders in plow service though (CN, CP, D&H, all had large numbers of spreaders and use/used them regularly in plow service- D&H being the most extreme as by the 60s or 70s I think all their plows had been retired in favor of their 5 or 6 or so spreaders, with a few flangers here and there to handle lighter amounts of snow).