@collectifission I love this!

@collectifission @andrew This is how I feel like when I’m #running through fresh snow.

@collectifission best argument for mass transit

@collectifission
can't have any stolen resource extractivism going being delayed now...

(' will leave any factual comments on passenger rail delays to the knowledgeable enthusiasts)

@collectifission

And when that won't do the trick, there's always this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPc3ceGIleg

Though I don't know where that one is, I've seen videos of them used in Canada - lake-effect snow is crazy sometimes.

@collectifission Difference is that Dutch rail is mostly electric, maybe 3rd rail or overhead.
Diesel power in Canada is brute force without need for a good electrical connection

@collectifission so nice too watch, thanks

@cazabon @collectifission it monch

@collectifission

Also, the trans-siberian railway exists.

@Susan60 @collectifission splinter shower!

@collectifission Snowpiercer is just a random December Thursday in Edmonton, isn't it?

@collectifission

I took Amtrak through the Sierras, and the folks working on the train said the previous winter they had been driving the train through snowbanks higher than the top of the train

@collectifission Never saw any shutdowns in Moscow even when blizzards

@NilaJones @collectifission

@collectifission@greennuclear.online Last time I was on a Canadian train was awhile back but once over the US border and transferred to their trains the cars were clean and the HORRIBLE STINK OF PEE magically disappeared!! +1 for Canada -1 for the stinky US of A

@Sorchus

The younger engineer on that run followed up with a Q&A more recently.

Apparently there *were* a lot of trees down in central BC after the first big snow that year. This video is an empty grain car train that was sent through to clear the track for others. It just had the regular *cow catcher* on the front, not even the plow.

https://youtu.be/IxeEoiFTK6M

@Susan60 @collectifission

@Susan60

The Q&A video with the younger driver who was on the track-clearing run says it all.

It’s Canada, they can’t wait for perfection so they just sent an empty train on a bright clear day to clear it. They let the cow catcher force the trunks down under the wheels of the train. Only branches less than 10 cm could get through and the windshield wipers kept the view clear.

The image of a locomotive pushing forward through the snow is classic, one that stays with you having seen it since childhood.

@collectifission

@AlsoPaisleyCat @Susan60 @collectifission
Tree on tracks and snow aren't inherently related, a tree can be there for any reason. Snow load is one reason, btw.

I guess it wouldn't matter in this situation, the train is going pretty fast, so I bet it would hit the tree even if it was seen well in advance.

I'm sure a good sized tree strike would go unnoticed while plowing the snow like this. A follow-up question would be; when is a tree too big for a locomotive?

@Jourei
In the second video, where the train is clearing trees with just a cow catcher on the front of the locomotive, not even a snowplough, they go rightfully through some very large trunks. The locomotive is very heavy, it would take a large rockfall or damage to the tracks to derail it.

@Susan60 @collectifission

@collectifission and that's not even a special plow. But, it's all what you're used to and set up for.