Caption: Plow Extra: During the Winter of 2007, strong relentless winds (Which cause drifts up to 3-4M high) and a couple months of white stuff on the ground caused the ordering of a rare Plow Extra on the Goderich subdivision. During the CN years, this line was well known to host a pair of F units in plow service and was frequented by photographers. With Goderich and Exeter having had recently transferred two covered wagons of their own from Lakeland and Waterways, the ingredients were ripe for a repeat of the covered wagon plow extra!
Plow extras such as this are becoming harder to find, mostly due to costs - it takes four crew members to operate a plow train: Two MOW employees in the Plow to operate left and right side appliances and horn - one of these will also radio instructions to/from the Conductor and Engineer themselves whom reside in the tail end engine managing progress over the road and train speed. In addition, the beating a plow takes requires constant maintenance in order to keep it operating - in summary a whole lot of money is spent to run these trains and a resultant amount of snow is required in order to call them.
A photo is best used to summarize, and in this scene, 1938 built GEXR 55413 (ex CN 55413), GP9 RLK 4001, F9A RLK 1400 and F9A RLK 1401 have found a small drift of snow and are busting it in the farmlands near Mitchell, Ontario.
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For additional shots, see:
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=6605
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=6604
and
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=1460
It was cold that day !