SNOW IN CANADA

Hokitika Guardian, 20 May 1933, Page 6

SNOW IN CANADA

KEEPING TRAINS RUNNING

MANY DEVICES NEEDED

VANCOUVER, May 12. Over a. period, of thirty years, the avtu/.ge annual tsndwfaliac Parry Sound, Ontario, was 129. Sin. Montreal was second, with 121.5 in.; Quebec third, with 117. Tin. The tali, heaviest in February, calls for a high standard of organisation to keep trains running on time.

Improvements in roadbed and equipment enable the Canadian, railways w> carry on with less disruption.than ever before. Locomotives of increased size tnd tractive effort “buck” snowdrifts.

which would have required the attention of snow ploughs in an earlier generation. Train crews are bettor pro-

tected from the elements. Vision screens, installed in the windows of high-speed passenger locomotives, turn at a speed of 800 revolutions a minute, throwing off all particles of snow, ice or rain, and guaranteeing the driver a clear view of the track ahead.

Fnio.w ploughs and snow-fighting equipment have been improved.. The ploughs are equipped with electric head-lights switched to the locomotive, giving workers better, vision for their work at night. Wooden snow ploughs, their wings and points controlled by hand-operated levers, have been succeeded by ploughs operated by. coinpressed air. Pipes in locomotives have been relocated to avoid freezing. In the stream-lined engines, pipes have protecting jackets. There is lass frequent expansion or contraction of engine parts. Engines now run 700 miles without being cooled down. Long before the months of snow and ice, preparations for fighting them are made. Section crews are supplied with snow shovels, ice picks and chisels, •blow plough crews are specially trained. They are issued with weather reports twice a day.'The first line of attack is the air-operated combination plough, with Hanger and wings. Next is the spreader, which disperses the snow that blocks the tracks.

Snow-fencing is an important part of protection. Every railroader, and traveller is familiar with those fences, standing guard to , prevent, cuttings from drifting full of fine snow. On some portions' of the Canadian National system live snow fences are us&ij; evergreen trees, planted in hedgerows along the right-of-way, prevent the snow dr.iftjng ,over the track; In ether sections,,; lath/Mid 'wire, have dig-i bared the.Leavyiitrbstlei typ'e.'of snow fence. In. Western Canada.,; ; slab fences have imVde their appearance, nailed or wired', to . suppprts. T - Some- of .the fiailrpgd’s competitors—buses and' lorries—suspend operations \vhen the snowfall becomes, intense, but the railway system must continue the battle, against the elements.