Winter 2015 and Impact on MBTA

And of course, being the T, they're only fitting them to 40 married pairs out of a fleet of hundreds. So come wintertime, they'll have Chicago-style miniplows, but half of them will be OOS and the rest will be sandwiched in the middle or at the trailing ends of consists, leaving the cars ahead of them to clear the snow with their traction motors.

This'll be worth bragging over only when the plows are fitted fleetwide, the way every other system that uses miniplows does it.

This is a trial set, made by Everett shops. It means they can send specifically those cars out to do all-night clearing, which is a big plus. If the plows are successful, then more will be fabricated by outside shops.

The EGE wrote:This is a trial set, made by Everett shops. It means they can send specifically those cars out to do all-night clearing, which is a big plus. If the plows are successful, then more will be fabricated by outside shops.

Sounds like the right way to innovate. Launch and learn. And the right way to run late/early (infrequent) service on snowy days. For now, it'd be potentially very wasteful to roll out an untested design, yet this is sufficient to have a test that can also be enough to get us through a tough winter.

The Orange Line trains tried mini-plow blades once before. It was in the pre-ATO days, before the ATO signal sensor beam was attached to the lead trucks.

JoeD

I agree with the above posts. Seems pretty smart.

Its good to hear the are thinking about different strategies.

More snow equipment news:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/1 ... story.html
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/bu ... ter_storms

Here's an idea the could use!
Chicago Surface Lines.

Image credit Wayne Roberts via the Streetcars Trolleys Trams facebook page.

Now the passengers only have to climb over the snowbank their b̶u̶s̶ trackless trolley just created!

There is precedent for the "lead sled"..

Image credit Wayne Roberts via the Streetcars Trolleys Trams facebook page.

In his Facebook post, Wayne Roberts wrote:Rochester Electric Railway was "cutting edge" back in 1890. The Rochester to Charlotte Beach line opened in 1889.