Railroad Forums
tom18287 wrote:at about 1120 am, i saw a single mbta loco with one yellow(ish?) boxcar heading north. what was this?Was the loco the 3247? if so I am guessing you saw the work extra with the snow flanger (the yellow looking boxcar). I know it has been out and about lately on all the lines plowing snow!
tom18287 wrote:didnt catch the number, i was driving. it didnt look like a normal mbta loco, but it was still purple and silver.LOL if it didn't look like a normal loco then it was the work engine 3247. Look at the link below that would be a pic of it from our Mod's webage
Dick H wrote:It was reported on another site, that the MBTA was making salt deliveries to several commuter rail stations. They use trhe work train loco and a box car containing the bags of salt to make the deliveries. This is probably what was seen.
Dick
Dick H wrote:It was reported on another site, that the MBTA was making salt deliveries to several commuter rail stations. They use trhe work train loco and a box car containing the bags of salt to make the deliveries. This is probably what was seen.When salt deliveries are made the ex-amtrak MHC is used. The yellow looking boxcar is the flanger, if you look under it you can see the huge blades.
Dick
tom18287 wrote:driving by the line in wakefield today, the snow is very dirty, looks like something scraped out around the rails, so that makes sense,
130MM wrote:As noted above the flanger has four blades -- one plowing to each side for each direction of travel. They are mounted on air cyliders which are controlled electrically from a simple box with switches that say "Up" or "Down". (The electricity comes via MU cables from the loco.) When they are in the down position the blades extend below the top of rail. So the operator has to know where all obstructions are, and lift the blades accordingly. As there is a little lag time in the lifting, one has to be careful to lift it early enough.Thanks for the quick lesson
The main purpose is to clear the flangeways (hence the term "flanger"), as well as clearing the snow from the gage which, at least in our case, prevents the cables between the cars from abrading on the snowpack.
If I ever figure out how to do it i'll post a short video I have shot from the cab of the loco during flanging.
DAW
tom18287 wrote:driving by the line in wakefield today, the snow is very dirty, looks like something scraped out around the rails, so that makes sense,
I had the pleasure of being the cndr on the work train a few weeks ago when we took it out for the 1st time down the Fitchburg Route. I must say it is very interesting to tug that thing along at 35mph and sit back in the caboose and watch all the snow fly everywhere!diburning wrote:Hmm, I've been on a Fitchburg train that was the first train out to Fitchburg and the ROW was completely buried in snow. When the train pulled up to each station, the passengers all got a faceful! Do they only use the flanger if the snow is compacted or if they suspect icing?
