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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 9 (January 1, 1929)

Snow Ploughs

Snow Ploughs.

There are many features of winter railway working in Britain which present considerable interest to railway employees in other lands. Apart from the special calls made upon one and all in connection with the handling of Christmas and New Year passenger and parcels business, there is a fund of interest associated with the working of such equipment as snow ploughs, steam heating of passenger carriages, and the like. The operation of the snow ploughs, which are employed for clearing the exposed tracks of the north-going lines, is a winter's task of the first importance. Although it is in Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and other continental lands that the largest type of snow plough is employed, machines of formidable dimensions and immense power are to be found at work in Britain during this season. These vary from relatively small ploughs affixed to the front of a locomotive, to enormous steel ploughs resembling a battleship's prow (in miniature), which, thanks to the driving force of half-a-dozen powerful locomotives coupled up behind the plough, cut through the deep snow drifts with ease.

A typical snow plough employed in Britain is that of the London, Midland and Scottish line. This is 33ft. long and weighs approximately 26 tons. The plough has been built upon the framework of a discarded double-bogie tender, and has at the front a straight scoop just clearing the rail level, with a blunt nose rising to the height of the plough. The rear half of the plough bogie carries a reinforced van equipped with seating and cooking facilities for the accommodation of the crew. It is on the exposed routes in north-west England that these snow-ploughs are very frequently employed, and, more especially, on the old “Midland” route to Scotland, where the train crosses the lofty Pennine Mountains and many miles of extremely elevated and exposed track.