The equipment used for railroad snow removal depends on how much snow has fallen. For light snow of a foot or less, railroads may attach small plows to diesel locomotives or track maintenance vehicles so they can clear away snow while on their regular trips.
For snowfalls up to a couple of feet, railroads attach snow throwers to track maintenance machines and send them out to clear the rails. The snow throwers are powered by the track machines and work like a household snow thrower you would use to clear your driveway, except they are much larger.
For major snowfalls, such as those that happen often in the western and Rocky Mountain states, railroads still keep a few of the big snow-removal machines on hand. Railroads use giant wedge plows to clear snow that is several feet deep. These essentially are a steel wedge mounted on a weighted railroad car that is pushed along the track by a locomotive. The type most often used is called a Russell plow, after the Russell Snow Plow Co. that invented the device. Wedge plows work best at high speed, controlled by a spotter in a small cab behind the plow who can raise the plow to avoid obstacles. They scoop up the snow and blast it to the sides.
The biggest railroad snow removal machine is the rotary snow plow, for use against massive drifting and heavy mountain snows that can reach 12 or more feet deep. The locomotive-size rotary plow was invented by John and Edward Leslie in 1883. Originally steam-powered, more modern rotary plows were diesel-powered. They have a giant fan that traps and scoops the snow, blowing it out of the discharge chute. They are pushed along by a locomotive. Because they are expensive to operate, only a few rotary plows are still in service. They’ve been displaced by snow throwers in all but the snowiest mountain regions.
For clearing snow from rail yards, railroads use snow jets. In essence, these are jet engines mounted on a self-propelled rail car. The hot exhaust of the jet engine is fed into a nozzle the width of the tracks. The hot blast of air melts snow and ice from crossings and switches and blows the melted water away.
