CN 55365 Snow Plow

CN #55365 SNOWPLOW

This plow was built by Eastern Car Company in Trenton, Nova Scotia. It served the CNR for over 60 years before it was retired and purchased by the West Coast Railway Association.

Two men operated the plow when it was in service. In the days of steam it was not uncommon to have to use 2 or more locomotives to push the plow through drifts as high as the plow itself. Before the days of radio telephones the only means the snowplow crew had to communicate with the engines was by the snowplow whistle. Being a snowplow operator was considered to be one of the most dangerous jobs in railroading. Each drift could hide any number of obstacles under its white cover . Rock slides obscured by snow have sent many railroaders to a horrible death on the canyon floor hundreds of feet below.

Being on the crew of the pusher engines was no fun either. The snow thrown up by the plow would swirl back into the cab and melt on the sweating enginemen, soaking them to the skin. When they had to leave their warm locomotive cab their clothes would freeze as stiff as boards.

Fewer snowplows are needed now as the powerful Diesel locomotives are fitted with plows and can push through all but the deepest snow. This, coupled with the rationalization of redundant trackage has led to the scrapping of many plows.

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