Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

[Waldbahner]

Hello railroaders,

next week, I'll go steaming with my Forney for the last time in 2009 and I was thinking about the consist fort his last operation day. Suddenly, I came across with the idea of a snowplow train. Well, I guess I'll never will need this snowplow for plowing snow, but it's a great model and I think the whole consist will look very good.

So I dismantled the trucks from my log loader and checked the wheel sets. The axles have been very poor, so I made new ones from ½" round steel. Now they roll very smooth.

The final design of my snowplow was quite clear for a long time... I really like the West Side Lumber Co. =)

The frame was made from 40x50mm bars, screwed together with 6mm truss rods. The bolsters are set into slots just like the prototype.


Click on thumbs for large pictures.

The columns for the plow shield are made the same way as the frame. They plow shield will set to a 45° angle. The read platform will hold a ballast tank. This tanks rests on a ring of wooden bars, screwed to the deck. The tank itself was made from a wooden cage, covered with thin aluminum sheets. The nails represent the rivet detail.

The basic plow shield was made the same way as all other wooden parts before, by setting some bars side by side and hold them together with truss rods. Next I do the details on top of the shield and added two steel girders (one on each side) to support the lip of the plow.


Click on thumbs for large pictures.

One difficult part was the sheet covering of the shield, especially the rounded part. I used to pieces of sheet metal (thin aluminum) and nailed them in place. In this last photo, you can also see the painted ballast tank on the rear, fixed in place with some truss rods. This tank will hold some lead bars once the plow is ready to run.

Still missing are a lot of details like the cover for the tank, girders and supports on the rounded plow part, hand rails, the final plow lip and so on...

But the first step has been gone for my new snowplow =)

Cheers, Gerd

[LLOYD]

Hello Compadre,

your little big snow plow, WSL style look very nice!
Great work as always !
And your Shay Nothing news???

LLOYD

[marc_reusser]

Very cool. You are really fast at building these things....I noticed elsewhere you had also built a BVM type speeder recently.


I look forward to seeing photos of the plow in use.


Marc

[Waldbahner]

Thank you Marc =)

I was left by my girlfriend some weeks ago and it's sooo boring at home...
So I spend most of my spare time in the workshops or in my favorite Irish Pub

Maybe I'll add some more details to the plow this evening. The first "teat run" will be held next weekend. But I guess we'll have no snow.
But I'll lay some snap tracks in my backyard so when we'll get some snow, I'll make a few pictures and maybe a small video.

You're also right with the BVM Boxcab. I think I'll post this loco in a new theme.

Bye, Gerd