Light Rail and Snow

The last Trains Mag had an article on light rail vs snow. This weekend witnessed the first heavy snow of the season in the Salt Lake Valley. I rode Trax and took a few photos.

www.utahtransit.us/blizzard1.htm

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LRV's and trolley cars, streetcars, have always had a problem with snow, and ice, as do buses. The answer is proper snow removal equipment and salting equipment. I believe I even once saw a photo of a rotary snowplow used for trolleys. As I remember it, the streetcar company was responsible for snow removal along its ROW. So, there were trolleys that were snowplows etc.

Heavy snow is probably more of a problem today for Light Rail lines than it used to be, particularly for suburban & interurban lines. As Pennsy indicates, many companies had snow plows with big rotary blades which could keep a line open in all but the heaviest of storms. Philadelphia's Red Arrow Lines had such a plow and, during the 1950's and '60's, used to pull out its old two man Center Door Cars, which rode much higher than the 80 series, Brilliners, and St. Louis Cars, and would run them to clear the snow so that the newer cars could operate. One notable time when this didn't work, however, was the last night of rail service on the Ardmore Line ( December 29,1966) when the cars making the last rail trip to Ardmore ( St. Louis Cars Nos. 13 & 20- running in tandem) were unable to make it all the way to Ardmore because of extremely heavy snow.

Yo Walt,

And you have to admit, nothing looks sillier, or more out of place, than a trolley car, or streetcar, stuck in snow. The only ones more uncomfortable are those inside those cars. Their heating systems were the worst.

Streetcar heating systems, at least on the PCC cars, only operated when the car was in motion. I believe the motors generated the heat, so if a car got stuck in the snow for any length of time, it lost interior heat. There is a good photo of Red Arrow Cars 13 & 20 stuck in the snow on that last Ardmore run in the original ( 1972) edition of Ronald DeGraw's The Red Arrow on Page 359.

The PCC heaters in the NYC area had blowers that continuously blew hot air into certain areas. The area where the doors opened had sort of a warm air curtain to block the cold air from entering the car at the stops.

Here's an approach that Boston used about twelve years ago - the MBTA made up home-made snowplows that were designed to be pushed by a trolley on the Green (Riverside) Line. This shot was taken at the Riverside Shops in '96.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... ullman0517

In some states, there are still laws on the books requiring street railway company's to clear snow on streets used by their equipment. In Massachusetts, these company's are required to clear between their tracks and eighteen inches on both sides.

This is an old photograph of the Boston Elevated Railway Company plowing Washington Street in Roslindale in the early part of the 20th Century. (notice the horse-drawn funeral procession in the background.)

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa26 ... l/Plow.jpg

pennsy wrote:The PCC heaters in the NYC area had blowers that continuously blew hot air into certain areas. The area where the doors opened had sort of a warm air curtain to block the cold air from entering the car at the stops.

The blowers opeated continuously, but the actual heat was generated by the motors and the electrical resistance created when the motors were propelling the car. If there was no motion, there was no resistiance, and thus no heat.

pennsy wrote:The PCC heaters in the NYC area had blowers that continuously blew hot air into certain areas. The area where the doors opened had sort of a warm air curtain to block the cold air from entering the car at the stops.

The blowers operated continuously, but the actual heat was generated by the motors and the electrical resistance created when the motors were propelling the car. If there was no motion, there was no resistance, and thus no heat.

True enough Walt, but they were still warmer than the old wooden trolleys. Those were the ones that had sawdust on the floor when the weather was wet.

When the street railway company is responsible for plowing the street, the company has more plowing equipment and is in a better position to make sure the tracks are clear, compared with other companies also working in the street and leaving snow on the tracks.

Having the street railway company plowing the entire street nowadays doesn't make much difference to the taxpayers because the company is heavily subsidized.

Some companies a century ago used snow clearing cars with large cylindrical rotating brushes. These could fling the snow some distance from the track so in case there were several storms in a row, no huge drift formed right up alongside the track making plowing more difficult each time. I'm not sure how long the brushes lasted (regarding needing to be rebristled or replaced). (Seashore Trolley Museum has one of these cars, from Ottawa)

Disney Guy wrote: Some companies a century ago used snow clearing cars with large cylindrical rotating brushes. These could fling the snow some distance from the track so in case there were several storms in a row, no huge drift formed right up alongside the track making plowing more difficult each time. I'm not sure how long the brushes lasted (regarding needing to be rebristled or replaced). (Seashore Trolley Museum has one of these cars, from Ottawa)

Here's a shot of a loaned ex-Toronto sweeper that was being used by the MBTA in 1977 on the Mattapan High Speed Line. This sweeper was, at the time, Seashore's (could this be the one which you are referring to ?).


http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... r&BOOL=ALL

Icing of the overhead (or third rail) can be as big an issue as the depth of the snow...