Monday, February 17, 2014

Clearing the Tracks

 Crossing signal

East Gwillimbury has  two lines of railway tracks running through it:
1. GO (Government of Ontario) tracks that run from Toronto to Barrie
2. CN (Canadian National) tracks that run east and west from Halifax (Nova Scotia) to Prince Rupert (British Columbia) and north and south from New Orleans (Louisiana) to Toronto.

 CN tracks

When it snows here, the tracks get snowed on too. (Imagine that!)  But have you ever wondered how the snow is cleared after a heavy snowfall"

 Machine that clears the tracks of snow on GO tracks

TaDa!

 Closeup of the  plow end

Closeup of the snow-blower end

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

45 comments:

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

A little bit of snow usually shuts down our railways; once they even told us that "it was the wrong sort of snow"!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I can see how really heavy snowfalls could cause problems in so many areas EG.. Sometimes I wish we had snow in winter but when I see how disrupted it can be.. maybe not :)

William Kendall said...

Ah... so that is how it is done!

Little Wandering Wren said...

Beautiful photos - we have had our tracks overheating this summer, but if you're a snow railway track technician you're going to be unemployed for ever here!! Thank you this was a really interesting post, keep warm!
Wren x

Revrunner said...

Might have been a little overkill on the sidewalk in front of my house.

Buttons Thoughts said...

Wow that is very cool. Hug B

Kerri Farley said...

I had no idea they took the snow off the tracks like that! Very cool! and Great shots!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I have never seen the tracks cleaned up after a heavy snow (because it has been eons since I lived in the north and it was always on a military base that did not have a railway through them!) but I have watched local ones replace the ties..which is fascinating to watch. They are really quite clever.

Judy said...

That is so neat. Glad you were able to capture it. That is some pretty heavy equipment.

Lowell said...

Actually, no, I've never thought as to how snow was cleared from tracks...but in the foggy recesses of my mind it seems there is a photo of this happening many, many years ago in the western part of the U.S.

Nice shots of all this snowy activity!

Darla said...

Interesting. I've ridden the train through snow over the Cascade Mts. and wondered how they were managing it. Couldn't see in front of the engine so didn't know.

Darla

My Little Home and Garden said...

Their machines must be getting a good workout this winter.

Halcyon said...

How neat! I've never thought of how snow is cleared on the tracks.

Nancy said...

Funny how we don't often think of these things that need to be done in winter to keep everything moving.

MadSnapper said...

well i Never! to cool to see a railroad tracks snow blower... what will they think of next. makes me wonder what happened way back when they first built the railroads... i guess they just stopped until it melted. cool post

LONDONLULU said...

We could use more of those stateside! Whenever there's heavier snowfall, there's inevitably train delays that have nothing to do with downed wires or faulty signals (they always announce those)...I suspect it's uncleared tracks!

Penelope Notes said...

Those all sound like wonderful destinations for the train tracks. I think I supposed that the trains run so fast and frequently that snow never has a chance to build. :)

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Pretty neat. Great job done.

TexWisGirl said...

totally cool! have never seen that before!

Judy said...

I think it would be an amazing trip to ride the train from Halifax to Prince Rupert! Something to dream about.

Ruth Kelly said...

I've never seen a machine like that - that would be something to see.

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

As a kid I'd think it fun to stand by as the snow was blown out from that shute. Maybe not.

21 Wits said...

Even now, just as much as when I was little, I have to pause and watch this powerful moving of the snow! Great shots.

Indrani said...

That is highly mechanized. Great captures.

Gail Dixon said...

A train that goes from Toronto to New Orleans? Didn't know you could do that! And I never thought about snow on railroad tracks; guess I just figured the heat from the heavy trains would melt it.

RedPat said...

Cool! I've never seen the snow clearer before, EG!

cieldequimper said...

That must be a lot of work in the winter. Do the trains stop nearby?

carol l mckenna said...

Intriquing post and photography about your railway system for OWT ~ thanks,


carol and artmusedog
www.acreativeharbor.com

Rose said...

Now THAT is a snow blower! Do the trains get held up because of snow sometimes?

Michelle said...

That is a lot of snow to remove!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's a huge snow blower!

Pamela Gordon said...

That is quite a busy area for trains. NB used to be back in the day. Moncton was the big centre for CN then most of it closed. The tracks still run through the centre of the city. There's talk of closing the route through northern NB now. I've never seen the snowblower unit before, I guess because the trains don't go through Fredericton now. Interesting photos.

Linda W. said...

How cool! I never thought of how tracks are cleared of snow.

Krishna/കൃഷ്ണ said...

Wow ! A snow shot...

thanks

Anonymous said...

Love the colours in these shots. That first photo is a favourite!

Unknown said...

With all the snow, keeping the tracks clean must be a huge chore.

Anonymous said...

No messing around, leaves on the tracks have been known to stop train services in the UK. Great shots!

eileeninmd said...

Wow, that is a cool snow blower. What a neat process. I would think the Amtrak here would need the same snow remover. Thanks for sharing!

Stuart said...

You guys up North can handle anything !

Stephanie said...

You bring back memories of track cleaning after a snow fall. I love trains, have travelled to Banff from Montreal and back a few times and from Banff to Vancouver. Love these captures.

Carver said...

Wow, that must be quite a task to blow off the tracks.

Jack said...

It is interesting to see how some southern cities don't even have snow plows, but up there, you have monster special purpose snow removal equipment.

Fun60 said...

The first photo looks like two red eyes with a crossed brow. That snow blower looks one powerful machine.

Pat Tillett said...

Lot's of work goes on behind the scenes to keep trains running through the winter.
Great photos!

Anonymous said...

That's something you don't really think much about, until you actually see if getting done.

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.