The blizzard of 2024 - Part 2: snowed in

Рет қаралды 4,553

2 ай бұрын

It's the 24th of March. I've shoveled and snow blowed out the all the essential areas (driveway, walkways, etc...) and now it's time to see if I can get to the plow that got stranded by the sugar house halfway through the storm on the 22nd. Will we make it? Watch and see.
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Пікірлер: 64

@Conn653 2 ай бұрын

Consider one engine with Briggs & Stratton power instead of traction. It could propel both a rotary plow and motive power with a geared transmission. This 'situation' should be a good reason to build your High-Rail Kit for your snow blower. At least put some guide wheels on the back side of the blower case, to keep it 'on track'. The tires would provide power outside the rails track. Just my $.02 worth 🙂

@garywalleck794 2 ай бұрын

All that snow is beautiful but watching you shovel it makes me happy I live in south central Texas.

@wocookie2277 23 күн бұрын

Impressive, if you look at pictures of the plows used on mountain lines in Canada the train plow they are high and have a swoop to push the snow up and over, and travel at speed to throw the snow.

@bradfordthompson8326 2 ай бұрын

Heres a thought ...could you put some cement blocks on one end of one of your flat cars ..and install some steel angle bars to clamp in your neat walk behind snow blower with some plastic flat sheets bolted to the bottom of the rotary snow blower and push slowly with the #70 .It be the coolest content on YOU TUBE .....JUST SOME MILLBROOK RAILWAYS ADMIRALTY GROUPS 😊😅😮❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

@danielfantino1714 2 ай бұрын

Thanks Aaron about your 50 ' curve radius. Really helpful. Oh ya ! Hard partially frozen block of ice snow. It was your storm of the century event. At least, no derailment. Now it´s spring with green grass. Plenty of time to study other options. Cheers my friend. You did good.❤

@SD40Fan_Jason 2 ай бұрын

Man, that's a real bummer on the traction motor. You mentioned making an adaptation for the snow blower to have hi-rail equipment on it. May not be a bad idea so long as you can also use it for your driveway too. In the meantime, we'll be rooting for you from down here in sunny East Texas where it got up to 82F today. Maybe ship some of that snow down here, we can sprinkle some sugar water on it and sell it as snow cones! Haha!

@chrismulders2344 2 ай бұрын

Sometimes railroads will call upon excavators for snow removal. You filled the part. Might need another Russel or a Jordan plow

@poowg2657 2 ай бұрын

Just like the real ones, you have to back up and slam the drifts. We had a guy in Eagle River Wi. with a G scale garden layout that built a Leslie rotary powered by a small gas engine. It would throw snow way out of proportion to its' size. All of his motive power was radio controlled Aster live steam so it was a real treat to watch. The downside was having to refill the locomotives way more often. Excellent video, thanks much!

@backwoodssolutionsllc9823 2 ай бұрын

Holy cow! 16” of snow. That’s a nightmare. Shoving snow stinks. Lots of work there. Ugh! Good video. Not a fan of winter. Hope your temperatures are warmer! Can’t wait for part 3

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

Tat 16 inches of snow was on top of another 11 inches. Storm total was 27 inches.

@mikeashely8198 2 ай бұрын

Try putting chains on your traction tires

@jaybird4095 2 ай бұрын

Some crazy reason you dropped off my subscribed list. I'm glad someone got snow this year. We have only had 20" in total. 10 of them in January and the rest came in March. Been a dry year. Normal for use is 80", last year well over 100"

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

We had low amounts of snow this year as well. Very similar to what you had.

@MatthewBerginGarage 2 ай бұрын

Need to get the steam engine going. If nothing else it will keep you warmer while shoveling. 😉 Make it pellet powered.😊

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

I really need to get on that project again.

@williamsquires3070 2 ай бұрын

Hi. Maybe a switch heater as well, just like the prototype. This way, the points don’t freeze solid. 😢 At least for the turnouts close to the engine shed (workshop.) Well, no one ever said railroading was easy. Even for scale modelers.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

Well, I've only had a switch freeze solid once. The one in this video was only packed with snow, and I was able to sweep it out. Winter railroading isn't easy.

@LordPhobos6502 2 ай бұрын

(GrumpyCat.jpg) "Trudging throught the NO, and a snow plow full of NAY"... You do great work mate, but damn that looks like hard work. Sorry about your traction motor :(

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

It's the hardest thing that these little trains do is push snow. The traction motor still spins, so I'll just keep running it until it doesn't anymore.

@kenshores9900 2 ай бұрын

Snow is tough! Guess you’ll get a new traction motor.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

I'm just going to run it until it smokes out completely, like last time.

@kenshores9900 2 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad Stills sucks none the same. Rail on!

@mustachemike802 2 ай бұрын

Have you ever seen the Lego snowblower? I'm willing to bet you could scale up the build on one to the 7.5 in. relatively cheaply if you have your heart set on using the 70 to clear the tracks. Otherwise, you could always ask a helpful neighbor with an ATV that has a plow on it...

@jimbruneau6769 2 ай бұрын

Even if you HiRailed the snowblower, there would still be the problem with snow freezing to the wheel treads. Seems the powered engines can spin their wheels enough to clear snow off the treads, mostly. So, what if you powered the trucks under the Russell plow? One axle hung motor per truck, and chain drive the 2nd axle. The spinning wheels would ride the rails better. The Cumbres and Toltec has to resort to bulldozers when their Rotary can't handle the snow load anymore, even the UP on Donner uses dozers. Maybe your last resort is to use your snowblower to open up the line, like you did on Day 1. Lastly, if you geared down the 70 like the 10 is, you wouldn't be cooking traction motors plowing snow. The 70 goes too fast anyway... OR rig up the 10 so that you can sit on it and push the Russell with it, it'll be your dedicated snow plow engine. Leave the 70/71 to be your RoadRunners.

@Keikdv 2 ай бұрын

please don't hurt the 10 no more... you almost broke my heart.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

The 10 didn't get hurt. It was the 70 that cooked another traction motor.

@jwdeluca 2 ай бұрын

At 10.min in, you're shoveling. I'd be using the snow blower. Anyway, I enjoy your posts/channel.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

There's a little problem with the snow blower. It tends to grab the rail when the snow is that heavy.

@terravarious 2 ай бұрын

Fan me that doesn't know squat about miniature rail; This summer high rail on the rotary should be a priority. Also see if you can extend the engine exhaust to exit at the rail head. Professional me that knows a bunch about electric motors; Add cooling fan(s) to the motors, possibly adding cooling fins (there's a bunch of computer crap that has finned heat sinks you can salvage). But far more importantly add a thermal overload circuit to your engines. The make sensors that can be glued to the motor, others are attached to washers that go under a mounting bolt. But the best are stuck in the armature windings. A buzzer would be enough, just have it come on when the motor hits temp. I think it's 174f, but google or your motor supplier will be more accurate. Then if you have a few seconds work you can ignore the buzzer, if you have lots left you can let it sit, or pack snow around it until the buzzer stops. (a cancel circuit made with a glow plug timer will shut it up long enough for you to walk away and go make a hot beverage).

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

The priority for this summer is installing tie plates and new ties and replacing some of the worn rail. If there's enough time after that, the plowing equipment may get some attention, assuming something else doesn't break.

@peterhanson9806 2 ай бұрын

You need to take 70 and get a used snow blower, bring them to the work shop and rebuild the two of them into one making the 70 gas powered with the blower's motor. It will be cheaper than keep buying Traction motors just saying 😊

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

It doesn't make sense to take my primary locomotive and turn it into a snow plow. There isn't enough room in the cab to put a gas engine in it anyway.

@peterhanson9806 2 ай бұрын

Well that could be a new project for you

@robertrabhudsonhornet5869 2 ай бұрын

If it was me I would find a old snowblower and remove the handles and make a bracket that would mount to the front of the train then I could start the snowblower and run the train round the track and clean the snow it would not be hard on the train and me. The train I would use for heavy work I would have a gasoline engine

@william_k4arx 2 ай бұрын

Maybe a giant wedge on a car? Could easily slice through sixteen inches. Not the mudflap, again.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

I'm having trouble picturing what you're suggesting. A giant wedge on a car sounds yo me like the Russell plow to me. The mud flap is a sacrificial edge that is there to scrape the rails off while protecting the track. Had I had 71 on the property at the beginning of the storm, I probably wouldn't have stranded the plow in the first place. So, what's your idea? Something like a second plow? That would be a good idea.

@wolftrainservicesltd6418 2 ай бұрын

Can you turn a riding lawn mower into a high rail unit with a snowblower attachment

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

It costs a lot more to do that than it does to build a new machine from scratch.

@michaelconnolly4109 2 ай бұрын

How about buying a used snowblower at the end of the season. Then build a car that can hold it in the front. Then you'll have the answer.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

I have a couple donor machines. I just need the time and money to do it.

@ronarant2897 2 ай бұрын

What you motorized the snow plow so the 70 &/or the 71 can run with it?

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

It is best to keep the plow as simple as possible.

@Scoobers-fj6jk 2 ай бұрын

How much do these motors cost ??

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

Between $80 and $90. But when you smoke a traction motor, you've only reduced its life, not killed it completely. It still spins, it still does work. It just maxes out earlier than it would have otherwise. And to be clear, it was 70 and not Shady Pines 10 that had smoke coming out of the traction motor. I've had some commenters who didn't understand that.

@artillerest43rdva7 2 ай бұрын

so sorry you burnt out the motor, that just stinks! was it due to the miss match of the 2 engines? good luck, be safe and careful out there! nice video, can you use the cub cadets blower over the entire line! take care,

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

I'll just run it until it completely smokes out like I did the last one. When the snow gets heavy, it gets difficult to run the cub cadet without clogging and breaking shear pins.

@artillerest43rdva7 2 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad Yes, I know that first hand! silicone spray or other treatments in the shoot help to keep the snow from sticking. especially when it is as deep as it is, it is very difficult to move the deep snow. so you are going to “drive it to failure” then replace it. did you over heat the windings? damaged some wires? will it have a very negative effect on the operation of the engine? great video, except for the oops!

@garyduvall7266 2 ай бұрын

why not use the snow blower to clear the whole track

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

When the snow gets heavy and wet, the snow blower either clogs up or grabs the rails. Either way, not ideal.

@solarusthelonghaulerrailfa3226 2 ай бұрын

And Q the derail 😊👍

@toadjam12000 2 ай бұрын

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r5qfktijqNXRcYU.html

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

That's a nice rotary, but only half the snow.

@TVF-72 2 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad Хороший вариант. Лично мне он больше нравится чем плуг... Хотя, тоже с трудом убирает снег....

@guepar58 2 ай бұрын

You really don't have the power to do that, you need a bigger motor... !

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

I do have a second loco, but the chassis was down at the Stoddard Hill Farm Railway at the time.

@southern207hobbies 2 ай бұрын

Your plow needs to be taller and wider

@robertheinkel6225 2 ай бұрын

That’s when he switches to the other plow with more capacity

@southern207hobbies 2 ай бұрын

@@robertheinkel6225 then there's cases like this

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

Normally, this much snow would get the Russell plow. The problem was that the Russell plow was stranded at the other end of the line. Ideally, I would have had 70 and 71 pushing together, but 71's chassis was at the Stoddard Hill Farm Railway at the time.

@chuckmayerchak3071 2 ай бұрын

If you insist on heavy-duty operation, Why don't you give up on that car battery electric crap and build a real prime mover using a gas or diesel engine and a hydrostatic drive. It would be a bullit proof setup capable of some real work.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

Hydrostatic? You have to be joking!

@chuckmayerchak3071 2 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad Why? It's a proven drive system for small tractors to large equipment. Easily driven from an engine and easily connected to an axle or multiple axles by gear or chain drive.

@MillBrookRailroad 2 ай бұрын

Electric traction is better suited for a railroad, where you need to smoothly, carefully and precisely control the amount of power going to the rails. It is also tried and true. An electric motor was first used to power a locomotive in the 1880's. Easily driven by any power source to a single axle or multiple axles by gear, chain, belt, or differential and cardan shaft. No hydraulic hoses to maintain and no hydraulic oil to keep cool inside a very confined space. The lack of an internal combustion engine allows me to not worry about fuel systems, oil changes, ignition systems, or air intake filters. When I do smoke an electric traction motor, it's an incremental thing. I'll run it in a compromised state until it smells so bad I can't stand to have it in the car with me anymore. I still get annoyed when I damage a traction motor, though.