Friday, February 5, 2010

Road Photo Friday: Snowblower Train

This episode of Road Photo Friday features a series of photos taken by a buddy's family member, who works for the BNSF Railroad. They were taken near Seward, Nebraska in early January. The midwest has been ransacked by crappy winter weather this year, and we're in the midst of yet another snowstorm as I write this -- so I thought these images were particularly fitting today.

I guess I've always kind of wondered what happens when train tracks are drifted over with snow, and now I know. You bring in the snowblower car!

Apparently, this miles-long freight train got stuck in drifts up to 12-feet deep along the rail line, which is hard to imagine in and of itself -- truly a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

The "rotary snow blower" is dispatched to come in from the opposite end -- clearing a path by blowing the snow over 100 feet into the air. Beats the hell out of shoveling, eh?

Once its job is done, the freight train can smash through the last few feet of snow and start moving down a trench that looks like something from the Ice Planet Hoth.

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