Comments on: On the approach to Hunstville, the spreader continues its journey North at a measly 10mph..

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 21:53:19 +0000

Fred, great photo. It really captures the abilities of the spreader. Sometimes I’ve been called for a snowplow & we’ve ended up just using the spreader to push back banks of snow in cuts that were filled. The wedge plows could only make a limited size path, and that would fill in quickly in subsequent storms if the are was not “spread”. We also used them to clear yards in the heavy snow in the late 1970s. We’d start with a middle track & push snow to the outside. As we did this another engine had to pull cars out of the track being spread, from the opposite end.. & put them back once that track was done.

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 21:48:24 +0000

Joe, The spreaders are also used in warmer weather for maintenance jobs, including scraping out drainage ditches beside the track, leveling new ballast etc.

By: Fred DesRochers

Fred DesRochers — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 02:11:30 +0000

Yeah exactly! Just pushes the snow away from the tracks

By: JoeDurocher

JoeDurocher — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 15:09:35 +0000

What does the spreader spread? The snow? Does it lower the mounds of snow on and along the tracks?