Steam-powered snowplow

[Jon]

This Xrot 9213 steam-powered snowplow is operated by the Rhaetian Railway, a large Swiss transport company. The Rhaetian Railway claims that this is the only steam-powered snowplow in the world.



In action at 1:17 below.

Previously:

Steam shovel GIF
Scale model working Lombard Steam Log Hauler build
Lombard steam log hauler
Steam-powered submarine
1901 steam-powered lawnmower
Hornsby mammoth steam crawler tractor
1900 restored Fowler steam traction engine
Steam-powered tanks
Steam locomotive drag racing
Steam-powered machine shop

[kangadrill]

There is at least one or maybe two in Skagway, AK. See photo.

[Okapi]

Hi Kanga, it seems that's the same construction, the biggest difference between the two is the altitude of function, Skagway is near the sea level, the Rhätisches Bahn is at the high about 2'000 meters over the sea, for the curiosity on the 350km. total length they are not less than 144 bridges and 42 tunnels…
This train is clasified at the UNESCO inheritance for the lanscapes and those architectural constructions, it functions since about 130 years.

[EdSlc]

There are two narrow gauge (3-ft gauge) steam rotary snowplows at Chama, New Mexico, USA. At least one is operational and is used to clear the line from Chama east to Antonito, CO, each Spring. Search YouTube for "Cumbres and Toltec rotary snow plow" for videos of the action. They are ex-D&RG machines.

[Jon]

Snowplow train clears a drift with a Jordan spreader. 3:33 video:

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreader_(railroad)

[Jon]

[mklotz]

The big red wheel is powered by an onboard steam engine but that same engine doesn't propel the plow. The plow can't move itself; the diesels behind it are pushing it along the track.

Just watched an Humongous Moves episode about trailoring one of those monster plows up Train Mountain in Oregon where it will be put on display. That's where I learned the above.

[Jon]

Look at this little guy! Also, I guess because of the synchronization of the framerate and the snowblower, we get to see it shoot out the snow (that's real snow, right?) like little cotton balls.

[mklotz]

I've seen a lot of impressive model train layouts but never anything like that.

Do you have any information on where it is located, internet presence, etc.. ? I'd love to learn more about it.

[Jon]

I've seen a lot of impressive model train layouts but never anything like that.

Do you have any information on where it is located, internet presence, etc.. ? I'd love to learn more about it.

Short answer: no.

I found it on reddit, in a cool GIFs/memes sort of community, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisf...tle_choo_choo/

I see it came to reddit from imgur, here: https://imgur.com/ji5gnxT . From the edited caption on the video there, my guess is that whoever posted it is getting slammed with questions. And also, it looks like comments were disabled?

On reddit threads, you can often search the thread page for the word "source", to find the original YT video from which the GIF was made, or "youtu", which will find youtube.com urls, as well as youtu.be versions. However, in this case, the only mention of a source I could find there was someone asking for the source, and another person saying that they couldn't find the source.

Another trick is to search for duplicate postings, and repeat the same searches there. Here's that link: https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisf...tle_choo_choo/ . But I still didn't find a source there.

Looks like it's only been rising on social media for two days, so it's probably reasonable to recheck in a few days. If the source does come out, you'll probably see it posted somewhere on imgur or reddit.