In getting photos of Big Boy in Wyoming I noticed that in one photo there was an unexpected object next to the tracks - an inverted broom resting in a bit larger metal pipe. See photo.
Having never seen this before I was curious as to why it was there. Why would a train have need of a broom...a rather small one at that?
Turns out the train doesn't...but the switch just to the left of the broom does, especially in the winter. This broom likely has a metal spike on the other end (so I'm told) to help break up ice, while the broom is used to sweep snow out of the switch.
Once again 4014 helped me learn something new today.
fredpnm wrote:
In getting photos of Big Boy in Wyoming I noticed that in one photo there was an unexpected object next to the tracks - an inverted broom resting in a bit larger metal pipe. See photo.
Having never seen this before I was curious as to why it was there. Why would a train have need of a broom...a rather small one at that?
Turns out the train doesn't...but the switch just to the left of the broom does, especially in the winter. This broom likely has a metal spike on the other end (so I'm told) to help break up ice, while the broom is used to sweep snow out of the switch.
Once again 4014 helped me learn something new today.
In getting photos of Big Boy in Wyoming I noticed ... (
show quote)
Thank you for that interesting bit of education!
Man that sucker is huge! Nice photo.
They still have brooms on the engines, but sometimes those get lost. So to insure that there is a broom at the switch, the RR placed brooms at the switches. In the winter sometimes two brooms are better than one.
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