[hserus]

Phew, yes that will clear the snow all right. What a beauty.


IMAGE SOURCE

Saw this on a friend's FB line, and have a friend who has actually seen this behemoth in action.

Essentially a giant rotary snow blower that's essentially a couple of steam engines harnessed to a giant fan that blows away any snow blocking the tracks on the White Pass & Yukon railway line in Skagway, Alaska.

Built in 1899, mothballed in 1964, brought back to use in the mid 90s and still in use. The results are spectacular as you can see in a couple of videos posted later in this thread. Here's a video of what it does - from a standing start to powering through a huge mound of snow piled up and blocking a railway line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBSuNz3g0oA

[Mafia]

Looks like a Tunnel boring Machine on wheels! Quiet extreme!

Looks like it is used to clear the tracks when an avalanche buries the track in snow!

is there a video link to see it in action?

[slicvic]

Originally Posted by Mafia

is there a video link to see it in action?

There you go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdRfvYHPAY

[hserus]

This one has a headlight.

Advantage White Pass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWpvw_TZLU

But nothing compared to this beautiful thing. Two MiG 21 jet turbines mounted on a t34 tank chassis and used to extinguish oil well fires during the Gulf War.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E16g1_ibpBM

[Rehaan]

I wonder how much slippage there is for those steel wheels on the tracks, especially when they are cold, covered with snow, and facing the opposition of piles of snow that need to be cleared!

Originally Posted by Mafia

Looks like a Tunnel boring Machine on wheels! Quiet extreme!

So true! Though there's a huge difference in scale:


Image source

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

I wonder how much slippage there is for those steel wheels on the tracks, especially when they are cold, covered with snow, and facing the opposition of piles of snow that need to be cleared!

Too big and heavy to fall? I guess the weight and forward momentum of that thing keep it going

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the commercial vehicle section.