This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD.
Southwest Ontario’s rolling countryside is home to vast open stretches of fertile farmland. The gently rolling topography of the area forced the original builders of the rail lines in the area to employ a cut and fill approach to right of way construction.
The high amount of snowfall and numerous cuts in the area, coupled with the regions notorious high winds can fill up these cuts over and over during the winter months, forcing railroads to call out their snow fighting equipment to keep lines open.
Southwest of Toronto, well within the grasp of the Lake Huron snow machine, Ontario Southland is one of the region’s short lines that must employ snow plows when necessary to keep its operations fluid when Mother Nature gets nasty.
Ontario Southland was formed in 1992 and its main shop in Salford, Ontario is where the railroad stations its plow. The railroad leases the St. Thomas Subdivision between Woodstock and St. Thomas, the Port Burwell Subdivision from Ingersoll to Tillsonburg from the Canadian Pacific; and the Cayuga Subdivision between St. Thomas and Delhi from Canadian National. Operations on the Cayuga Subdivision began earlier in 2017 and have yet to see a winter under Ontario Southland operation, the Canadian Pacific trackage needs frequent clearing when snow and wind arrive in the winter months.
Ontario Southland owns former Canadian Pacific plow No. 401005, which was built in 1927 by Canadian Pacific at its former Angus shops in Montreal. Specially designed for Midwest operations, the plow has a retractable flanger blade on the front of it as well as wings that can be operated independent from one other and extend out from either side to push the snow farther back from the right of way.
When the equipment is checked out and everything is working properly, the crew throttles up to begin the day plowing south from Salford to Tilsonburg.
Operation of the snow plow is typically handled by two men, Superintendent Braq Jolliffe and Plow Foreman Jack Hyde. During normal plow operations, Jolliffe handles the communication with the train crew on the locomotives and helps communicate to Jack conditions along the right of way and the status of grade crossings for potential vehicle traffic.
Operating snow plows is a complex and difficult operation. The crew must know the details of the route and track conditions extremely well, as plows are typically allowed to exceed the posted timetable speed if necessary. Higher speeds allow the snow to be flung far enough from the right of way to be effective while keeping enough momentum to make it through longer drifts without stalling.
Frequently, areas with higher than average drifting will require a second pass to clear all the snow from the right of way. The decision to make another pass is left to the plow crews.
Since plowing creates white-out conditions for the locomotive crew, they typically operate from the locomotive on the opposite end of the plow. This allows them to see the track ahead for backup moves and eliminates changing ends when plowing is finished and its time to head back to the shop to tie up.
At the end of the day, crews clean off excessive snow from the plow before storing it inside for the night. The railroad typically parks the plow inside the shop between runs, allowing maintenance crews to easily make any necessary repairs or adjustments to the plow indoors.
and SD60 locomotives. The railroad has been the largest user of six-axle cowl locomotives in North America, but their ranks are diminishing. Earlier this year, CN retired its fleet of 62 SD60F locomotives, leaving only 81 C40-8M cowls built by General Electric in the early 1990s, which serve as the remaining example of six-axle cowls operating on a Class One railroad.
Canadian Pacific, who hasn’t purchased a new road locomotive in five years, continues to rely on its fleet of AC4400CWs and ES44ACs, the two models filling up almost half of the CP’s fleet, on everything from manifest to coal trains. The railroad recently made a sizable purchase of four and six-axle rebuilt locomotives from GP20C-ECOs from Progress Rail, making it the largest user of EMD ECO rebuilds in North America. The GP20C-ECO and SD30C-ECO locomotives have been assigned to various locations around the system for yard and local service.
CP has begun an overhaul program for 15 of its former Soo Line SD60s, which are receiving upgraded electrical systems and new road numbers when completed. The SD60s are one of the few non-GE road locomotives represented on CPs active roster.
