Pardon my ignorance, but how do trains operate in heavy snow? That is, if there are several feet of snow already piled up on the tracks, do the trains just trudge through it, or what? Do they equip trains with a sort of plow, so they can effectively clear their own path?
Just wondering, as yesterday I drove by a set of seldom-used (but still active) train tracks, and with the natural accumulation, plus another several feet of snow deposited by snow plows clearing roads for cars, I have no idea how the trains will get by. Or do they just not run trains during the winter? I find that had to believe.
For small amounts of snow, I believe the trains just power through it. As with water flooding, steam locomotives tend to be the most effective in extreme conditions (they can handle floosing up to the footplate [firebox level], unlike diesel-electric and electric which can be knocked out by a few inches of water or snow). For large amounts, compacted snow could be a derailment risk, so prior removal with a plow is necessary.
The main problem is wheelslip (if you think driving in snow is bad, try steel wheels on rail). Locomotives drop sand on the rail ahead of the driving wheels to overcome this.
Rotary snow plows were (and still are, I believe) used in extreme conditions. The main advantage is that it doesn’t build up a wall of snow next to the track like a normal plow.
Although there is not the situation of heavy snow in the UK, sanding is done whenever the tracks are icy enough to lose grip. It’s carried on board the train and controlled by the driver.
I’ve only ever seen plows in the US, and typically a special plow train is run through first, rather than having anything on the front of the main engine.
My dad was an assembler at the GE plant in Erie, PA, one of his jobs was to put snow plows on the locomotives. In some parts of the country a huge snowblower is sometimes mounted on special trains.
There are certainly snow ploughs on British railways…IIRC I saw one in a siding at Colchester, where I believe it’s stationed. The problem is the same as British roads, that one or two inches of snow can easily form a drift of several feet when there’s few obstructions in the way, as is the case with large stretches of track across farmland.
