Snow Remover, Railroad

a track machine used to remove, transport, and unload snow and trash from tracks and switches at railroad stations. A complete snow remover consists of a snow-removal machine equipped to remove and load the snow, one or several intermediate, specially constructed open cars, and an open unloading car at the end of the train. The equipment for removal, loading, and unloading of snow, that is, the working elements and the containers for snow storage, are all located in a single high-capacity open car.

A widely used type of snow remover consists of several cars and has a snow-removal machine at the head of the train. Rotary brushes or an undercutting blade are installed in the front end of the machine at an angle transverse to the track. The snow collected by the rotary brush or scooped up by the blade is delivered to a conveyor, which unloads the snow into open cars coupled to the engine, into cars on other tracks, or into a pile. An ice ripper is used to loosen ice and packed snow. In its operating position the ripper is lowered 80 mm below the railhead. Inclined conveyors are installed on the floor of the open cars. In cars with four axles the conveyors are driven electrically; in cars with two axles they are driven by a pair of wheels through a chain drive. At very low conveyors speeds (up to 0.06 m/sec), the snow on the conveyor belt forms a thick layer. The conveyors of adjacent open cars are arranged to provide some longitudinal overlap; thus, the snow is moved along the train and unloaded from the last car. The unloading equipment consists of a rotary belt conveyor and an ejection rotor or guide shield.

Snow removers have capacities ranging up to 1,200 m³/hr and operating speeds up to 10 km/hr. The layer of snow removed is up to 0.9 m thick and up to 5.3 m wide. The snow remover may be driven by a locomotive or by its own electric drive through paired wheels.