Rotary Snowplow Run and Cab Ride at Portola WPRM 02/25/23

Here's a special treat - Western Pacific Railroad Museum's rotary snowplow clearing snow on the balloon line as well as a cab ride in the rotary and glimpse into the machinery hall powering the blades. Huge thank you to the crew at WPRM for inviting me to this rare event. This one was retired by UP a number of years ago and was originally steam-powered with a tender and boiler. Following conversion to diesel-electric in 1970, it now has four traction motors connected to a helical gearbox providing rotation of the blades. The F7B unit, nicknamed the snail, has a 567 prime mover and generator but no traction motors in the trucks. The snail prime mover-generator provides power to the traction motors in the rotary unit, but still needs to be pushed by conventional helper locomotives as neither the rotary nor snail have powered trucks.