UK Railways Snow Removal vehicles?

[Smudger105e]

The Railways have to use two loco's between the independant snowploughs because there is no means of attaching an assisting engine in case of failure, so a belt and braces job.

When selecting power for the snowploughs, flat fronted loco should be used (47, 33, 66 that sort of thing) not loco with a nose (37) as snow would build up on top of the nose and block the observation lights (windscreens)

 

[Ploughman]

I think all the Tender conversion varieties of plough have been withdrawn.
The only large independant ploughs now are specific design vehicles rather than conversions.
They may however contain some ex Steam parts such as wheelsets.

 

[Class83]

Much as the drift ploughs and blowers look quite fun to drive, it's a bit odd that newer DMUs and EMUs haven't been fitted with the sprinter style deflector boards which would deal with probably 99% of the snow a british train is likely to encounter. Also would fitting brushes (or some sort of foam/rubber pad) behind the board to clear the last small amount of snow off the rails (particularly 3rd rail) be a good idea?

 

[Ploughman]

That sort of fitting has been fitted to all ploughs since 1909 at least.
I know as there is a set of wire brushes fitted on my 1909 NER snowplough.

May not be so practical though on daily service trains.

 

[michael769]

Also would fitting brushes (or some sort of foam/rubber pad) behind the board to clear the last small amount of snow off the rails (particularly 3rd rail) be a good idea?

There is really no need. The sheer weight of a train bearing down on very narrow wheela means that they can cut through quite deep snow( as already mentioned up to 20cm is allowed for sets without ploughs). 20cm falls are very rare in most of the country, issues tend to be more down to snow blown drifts which can be 6ft or more deep but are quite localised. Some areas are known to be prone to drifts and can be targetted by NR's patrols.

Beyond that most of the issues are more due to low temperatures and ice which can build up very rapidly and cause all sorts of malfunctions, or as I mentioned previously snow being sucked into the electric. In practice trains tend to break down rather than get stuck in snow.

 

[6Gman]

Interesting. I have to say that most of the ploughs I have seen are just rusting on sidings. I did not realize any of the old tender conversions are still in use.

Robert

Presumably because we very rarely get the sort of snow incident that requires ploughing?

 

[DarloRich]

To add to the discussion i think the somewhere in the region of 20 of the Southeastern 375 fleet have been fitted with deicer equipment on the shoe gear which squirts deicing fluid straight onto the conductor rail.

You may also find this doucment (found via the internet) interesting:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/download-media/6304

 

[gimmea50anyday]

I think all the Tender conversion varieties of plough have been withdrawn.
The only large independant ploughs now are specific design vehicles rather than conversions.
They may however contain some ex Steam parts such as wheelsets.

Some of these ploughs were made from class 40 bogies. There are 4 in service in Scotland. I recall an article in Rail magazine by Roger Butcher which mentioned some of these stored in Thornaby, although that was a fair few years ago and I seem to have pickled a few brain cells since then!

http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/page/Snow+Ploughs

 

[DarloRich]

Some of these ploughs were made from class 40 bogies. There are 4 in service in Scotland. I recall an article in Rail magazine by Roger Butcher which mentioned some of these stored in Thornaby, although that was a fair few years ago and I seem to have pickled a few brain cells since then!

http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/page/Snow+Ploughs

The Beilhacks are based on the class 40 bogies rather than the big independent ploughs

 

[Bald Rick]

To add to the discussion i think the somewhere in the region of 20 of the Southeastern 375 fleet have been fitted with deicer equipment on the shoe gear which squirts deicing fluid straight onto the conductor rail.

You may also find this doucment (found via the internet) interesting:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/download-media/6304

The word 'should' is missing...

 

[DarloRich]

The word 'should' is missing...

there is 20 in operation i think. I dont think any more were identified to have the equipment fitted. Did it not happen at all?