Dashing Thru the Snow
February 5, 2015 1:01 PM Subscribe
Awesome. Of all the niche videos you can find on the internet, "trains plowing snow" is up there on my list.
posted by MillMan at 1:14 PM on February 5, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by MillMan at 1:14 PM on February 5, 2015 [12 favorites]
It's cool and all, but once the snow is cleared from the camera and you can read the labels on the tanker cars, it's clear that this is another rolling bomb full of Bakken condensate like the one that destroyed Lac Megantic. I would be very nervous about being anywhere near it as it plows through deep snowdrifts completely blind.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:19 PM on February 5, 2015 [14 favorites]
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:19 PM on February 5, 2015 [14 favorites]
Best inadvertent humour ever courtesy of Youtubes ad roll, "Become an addiction counsellor" which I find amusing being engineers stereotype of being on speed .
Okay, on re-reading I see it's more wryly ironic that the originally sold hilarious. Still, get your laughs where you can.
posted by Keith Talent at 1:20 PM on February 5, 2015
Okay, on re-reading I see it's more wryly ironic that the originally sold hilarious. Still, get your laughs where you can.
posted by Keith Talent at 1:20 PM on February 5, 2015
Hahah. If you had asked me if someone could possibly shit on the "train plows through snow" video I probably would have thought it wasn't possible, or maybe only slightly easier than shitting on a puppy live cam.
Ladies and gentlemen, The Internet!
posted by bondcliff at 1:22 PM on February 5, 2015 [15 favorites]
Ladies and gentlemen, The Internet!
posted by bondcliff at 1:22 PM on February 5, 2015 [15 favorites]
Ok, Jack, today you're going to drive the train at a pretty good clip, while completely blind. Go to it.
posted by Melismata at 1:23 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 1:23 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
I wish I'd saved that onboard cellphone video some engineer posted a few yeas back of driving the Canadian Pacific Spiral Tunnels in deep snowy winter. It was spectacular, and popular enough that CP's lawyers noticed. :(
posted by anthill at 1:24 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by anthill at 1:24 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
...it's clear that this is another rolling bomb full of Bakken condensate
Oh come on, those tankers could be filled with nothing but harmless maple syrup.
posted by Flashman at 1:29 PM on February 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Oh come on, those tankers could be filled with nothing but harmless maple syrup.
posted by Flashman at 1:29 PM on February 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's west-bound, so that's very likely an oil "unit train", empty, on its way back to ND.
posted by bonehead at 1:29 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bonehead at 1:29 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
You can actually read the labels on some of the cars if you pause at the right point. All of the black ones said "liquefied petroleum gas".
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:30 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:30 PM on February 5, 2015
It's west-bound, so that's very likely an oil "unit train", empty, on its way back to ND.
Good point, bonehead. Some of those cars are probably filled with refined products from Irving, but 90%+ are probably empty. Also, it's not a unit train, because there are a few other cars interspersed. One boxcar, one lumber, some smaller tank cars, etc.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:33 PM on February 5, 2015
Good point, bonehead. Some of those cars are probably filled with refined products from Irving, but 90%+ are probably empty. Also, it's not a unit train, because there are a few other cars interspersed. One boxcar, one lumber, some smaller tank cars, etc.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:33 PM on February 5, 2015
I want to see a video from the engineer's perspective. That was so cool.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:36 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 1:36 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Excuse me, snow, I'm the Snowpiercer. Would it be OK if I came through?
posted by zippy at 1:38 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by zippy at 1:38 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Railroads have been dealing with deep snow since the beginning. They have some interesting equipment for dealing with it. (video, more info)
posted by tommasz at 1:42 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by tommasz at 1:42 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Even cooler starting from 0:32. It's like.. WHAT IS THAT SNOW MONSTER COMING???? Oh.. it's a train... TAKE COVER!
posted by yeti at 1:44 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by yeti at 1:44 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
still not convinced the title isn't a pun on the model of locomotive it appears it might be.
I'm not the train nerd/foamer I was as a kid though, so I can't tell if that's a dash 9 or an evo.
posted by emptythought at 1:45 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm not the train nerd/foamer I was as a kid though, so I can't tell if that's a dash 9 or an evo.
posted by emptythought at 1:45 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good point, bonehead
My mouse actually shot over to the ! so I could report this - "hey, this is metafilter, we don't use that kind of language - oh. Wait."
In retrospect I missed a great opportunity to make my username "That Jew over there."
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:47 PM on February 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
My mouse actually shot over to the ! so I could report this - "hey, this is metafilter, we don't use that kind of language - oh. Wait."
In retrospect I missed a great opportunity to make my username "That Jew over there."
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:47 PM on February 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
I've been a bonehead for a very long time.
posted by bonehead at 1:48 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bonehead at 1:48 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's west-bound, so that's very likely an oil "unit train", empty, on its way back to ND.
But there'd be no reason for empty cars to be westbound anywhere east of the refinery in Saint John, would there? It's perhaps more likely to be Norwegian oil on its way up from the terminal (formerly a refinery) in Dartmouth.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:52 PM on February 5, 2015
But there'd be no reason for empty cars to be westbound anywhere east of the refinery in Saint John, would there? It's perhaps more likely to be Norwegian oil on its way up from the terminal (formerly a refinery) in Dartmouth.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:52 PM on February 5, 2015
That sound. Beautiful.
I've found MY sleepy-time music for a while.
posted by surplus at 1:52 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've found MY sleepy-time music for a while.
posted by surplus at 1:52 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Good point, bonehead
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:58 PM on February 5, 2015 [24 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:58 PM on February 5, 2015 [24 favorites]
Given the findings from the Megantic explosion, I'd be more concerned if the train was parked.
posted by Lemurrhea at 1:58 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Lemurrhea at 1:58 PM on February 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's hard to tell from the video since the snow obscures all the good spotting features, but if you look up the road number CN 2304 is a ES44DC. (also known as a GEvo if you're not into the whole confusing alphanumeric sequence thing)
posted by ckape at 2:04 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ckape at 2:04 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Does the camera person turn on the mic at 0.36 or is that really when the warning bells/lights came on? The train gets there 22s later. That seems like a really short warning, especially given what must be zero visibility for the driver.
posted by biffa at 2:10 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by biffa at 2:10 PM on February 5, 2015
Oh man this reminds me of one specific winter morning in upstate NY, teen me had trudged to the end of the driveway to wait for the bus. There had been heavy snowfall the night before and it was still coming down pretty hard. The driving snow dampened the sound and visibility wasn't great, but I could make out the headlights of cars as they crested the slight hill about 500 feet from where I was standing. One set of lights, though, was accompanied by a muffled roar...I realized too late that I hadn't seen headlights 500 feet away, I had seen the upper lights of a county plow 50 feet away. Let's just say I know how it feels to be that person holding the camera.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 2:13 PM on February 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by everybody had matching towels at 2:13 PM on February 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
Through, through, through, he'll get that train through.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:18 PM on February 5, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by MartinWisse at 2:18 PM on February 5, 2015 [9 favorites]
biffa, the bells and crossing signals aren't for the train engineer, they're for the cars on the road. 22s seems a decent enough warning for a level crossing in my experience.
posted by sauril at 3:20 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by sauril at 3:20 PM on February 5, 2015
I was just rereading The Long Winter, and a significant problem throughout is that the trains can't get through so they run out of food and coal and have to haul hay from the Big Slough (which is difficult because the horses fall through the snow into the grass) and then twist it into hay sticks to burn, and they grind Almanzo's seed wheat to make brown bread, and everyone is starving, and a locomotive tries to plow through one of the cuts with more than 20 feet of snow and melts some of the snow around it, which then gets refrozen. It is dramatic. I think Pa would be impressed by this train.
posted by ChuraChura at 3:21 PM on February 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 3:21 PM on February 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
I loved this; trains are awesome. I stopped just after the Doppler shift. May there never be another horrific tragedy anything like Lac Megantic.
posted by theora55 at 4:06 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by theora55 at 4:06 PM on February 5, 2015
It's a good thing an engineer doesn't have to see in order to steer, because just before it crosses the road his windows are completely covered with snow.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:23 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:23 PM on February 5, 2015
This is great, thanks for posting it. Hell of a bow wave. I assume they put some kind of special snow-handling front on the trains for these conditions?
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:59 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:59 PM on February 5, 2015
Ok, looked at tommasz's links, which show that railroad tracks are cleared by Dune sandworms with whirling metal mouths?
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:01 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:01 PM on February 5, 2015
I have the perfect YouTubeDoubler for this.
Synchronization approximate, alas. Turn the left down and the right up to 11.
posted by dhartung at 5:21 PM on February 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
Synchronization approximate, alas. Turn the left down and the right up to 11.
posted by dhartung at 5:21 PM on February 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
Dhartung, that is FANTASTIC. The bell is even in key with the music. AMAZING.
posted by aloiv2 at 5:51 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by aloiv2 at 5:51 PM on February 5, 2015
I was thinking about this earlier today: presumably there is some limit on how much snow a train can plow through, but what sets that limit? Like, is there a derailment risk if the snow is X deep or Y compacted or the train only weighs Z tons? Or is it a pure momentum issue.
Clearly a lack of visibility isn't the limiting factor, in this case.
posted by kiltedtaco at 6:28 PM on February 5, 2015
Clearly a lack of visibility isn't the limiting factor, in this case.
posted by kiltedtaco at 6:28 PM on February 5, 2015
if you do some looking on youtube, there are some videos of train cars with really big V plows on the front for drift busting as well.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:59 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:59 PM on February 5, 2015
choo choo motherfucker!
posted by lalochezia at 7:26 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by lalochezia at 7:26 PM on February 5, 2015
I was thinking about this earlier today: presumably there is some limit on how much snow a train can plow through, but what sets that limit? Like, is there a derailment risk if the snow is X deep or Y compacted or the train only weighs Z tons? Or is it a pure momentum issue.
I used to run freight trains in Florida, usually in the vicinity of 9000 tons all up. Some of our locomotives had plow pilots ("In Florida?" I hear you cry.) We would occasionally blast through small sand dunes after storms and the little plows down by the rails did just fine. (Of course, the shop guys had to repaint them a lot!)
The math geeks can figure the mass*momentum vs. the fracture density of packed snow in various quantities, but all I can tell you is that there is a lot of railroad lore about snow and snow plowing and derailments in 14 feet of snow and asphyxiation in snowsheds, etc, etc, etc. The railroads, in the days of steam locomotives, found a variety of strange and often bizarre methods of dealing with.
Unrelated to all this, but fun, is this little video I found, of Amtrak stopping in a possibly recognizable location.
posted by pjern at 7:36 PM on February 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
I used to run freight trains in Florida, usually in the vicinity of 9000 tons all up. Some of our locomotives had plow pilots ("In Florida?" I hear you cry.) We would occasionally blast through small sand dunes after storms and the little plows down by the rails did just fine. (Of course, the shop guys had to repaint them a lot!)
The math geeks can figure the mass*momentum vs. the fracture density of packed snow in various quantities, but all I can tell you is that there is a lot of railroad lore about snow and snow plowing and derailments in 14 feet of snow and asphyxiation in snowsheds, etc, etc, etc. The railroads, in the days of steam locomotives, found a variety of strange and often bizarre methods of dealing with.
Unrelated to all this, but fun, is this little video I found, of Amtrak stopping in a possibly recognizable location.
posted by pjern at 7:36 PM on February 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
Damn yo, that train gives absolutely no fucks.
posted by dry white toast at 8:22 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by dry white toast at 8:22 PM on February 5, 2015
Damn, those Canadians know how to drive in wintery weather.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 8:51 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 8:51 PM on February 5, 2015
Oh come on, those tankers could be filled with nothing but harmless maple syrup.
NB. Irving.
Walking the tracks in the bush near my grandparent's camp, located on this lake, my brother and I encountered this...smell. We got a little farther, and there was the fly-blown front half of a moose.
"Oh, holy shit!"
We kept walking. Just a little ahead, maybe three or four minutes of walking, was the back half.
Life lesson learned: even if that train sounds far off, stay the fuck off the tracks.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:46 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
NB. Irving.
Walking the tracks in the bush near my grandparent's camp, located on this lake, my brother and I encountered this...smell. We got a little farther, and there was the fly-blown front half of a moose.
"Oh, holy shit!"
We kept walking. Just a little ahead, maybe three or four minutes of walking, was the back half.
Life lesson learned: even if that train sounds far off, stay the fuck off the tracks.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:46 PM on February 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
This brought back a vivid memory.
In the late 60s my family moved to the upstate New York snow belt from eastern Pennsylvania, where snow removal coonsisted of a Jeep with a blade and six inches meant multiple days off from school.
Shortly after the move eight inches of fell. My sister and I were awake at 5am, grinning out the window since clearly we'd be having a snow day. Suddenly there was an explosion of snow and flashing lights at the base of our street, and with a jarring rumble a municipal plow went by--an enormous thing with wiing blades that blasted the road clear and set back the drifts. We were terrified, the thing was like a UFO coming up our street. Needless to say, the bus was right on time that morning while we were thoroughly rattled.
These days there's a village sidewalk plow that goes by every morning, and after a fresh snow it looks just like a miniature version of the train.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:23 AM on February 6, 2015
In the late 60s my family moved to the upstate New York snow belt from eastern Pennsylvania, where snow removal coonsisted of a Jeep with a blade and six inches meant multiple days off from school.
Shortly after the move eight inches of fell. My sister and I were awake at 5am, grinning out the window since clearly we'd be having a snow day. Suddenly there was an explosion of snow and flashing lights at the base of our street, and with a jarring rumble a municipal plow went by--an enormous thing with wiing blades that blasted the road clear and set back the drifts. We were terrified, the thing was like a UFO coming up our street. Needless to say, the bus was right on time that morning while we were thoroughly rattled.
These days there's a village sidewalk plow that goes by every morning, and after a fresh snow it looks just like a miniature version of the train.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:23 AM on February 6, 2015
It's the Keystone Pipeline on wheels! Looks cold.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:34 AM on February 6, 2015
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:34 AM on February 6, 2015
I'm not sure what all the fuss over visibility is. Let say a couple hundred meters out the engineer could see something. What do you think he could do about it? That kinda of train doesn't exactly stop on a dime. I'm sure he fixed up his visibility issue soon enough.
posted by Bovine Love at 8:36 AM on February 6, 2015
posted by Bovine Love at 8:36 AM on February 6, 2015
Damn, those Canadians know how to drive in wintery weather.
Not so much. Here's a representative, but incomplete, survey of five months in 2013 — the months without snow and ice on the tracks.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:26 AM on February 6, 2015
Not so much. Here's a representative, but incomplete, survey of five months in 2013 — the months without snow and ice on the tracks.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:26 AM on February 6, 2015
The finger that flicks away the snow from the lens: v. cute.
The rest: v. impressive.
posted by seyirci at 9:31 AM on February 6, 2015
The rest: v. impressive.
posted by seyirci at 9:31 AM on February 6, 2015
"Does the camera person turn on the mic at 0.36 or is that really when the warning bells/lights came on? The train gets there 22s later. That seems like a really short warning, especially given what must be zero visibility for the driver.
posted by biffa at 2:10 PM on February 5"
20 seconds warning for the bells & whistle is the minimum requirement by law. Most places it's a little more than that (say 25 seconds). One of the problem facing legislators is that people say they want long warning times and loud whistles for safety reasons and at the same time are constantly petitioning railways and the government for the removal of the whistle due to noise pollution. *shrug*
posted by Vindaloo at 1:38 PM on February 6, 2015
posted by biffa at 2:10 PM on February 5"
20 seconds warning for the bells & whistle is the minimum requirement by law. Most places it's a little more than that (say 25 seconds). One of the problem facing legislators is that people say they want long warning times and loud whistles for safety reasons and at the same time are constantly petitioning railways and the government for the removal of the whistle due to noise pollution. *shrug*
posted by Vindaloo at 1:38 PM on February 6, 2015
I can imagine if you made the length of warning too long, people might get blase about it - i.e. learn that the warning doesn't mean the train is coming *right now*, but rather that it'll be here soon so if you hurry, you'll have time to scootch through before it gets here.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:55 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:55 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
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