Removing winter debris

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NP317
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Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Removing winter debris

Post by NP317 »

Oh Man! That SUCKS!!!
I've raked pine needles at Train Mountain, and your new system looks like a huge relief to use.
Well done!
~RN
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chiloquinruss
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Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 1:39 am
Location: Chiloquin, Oregon

Re: Removing winter debris

Post by chiloquinruss »

Since several of you have 'been der, done dat', here's what the machine does to the debris. Pretty neat! Russ
mulched.JPG
Glenn Brooks
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Re: Removing winter debris

Post by Glenn Brooks »

I think you guys are really missing a bet here. You should post a ‘before’ picture, showing the parking lots and ROW knee deep in undisturbed acres of needles and millions of pine cone giganticuses. Would make the ‘After’ photos all the more impressive.

Great idea and great implementation to make these things work!

Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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Erskine Tramway
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Re: Removing winter debris

Post by Erskine Tramway »

I used to hand rake the length of the Riverside & Great Northern Ry. every spring. A machine like that would sure have come in handy.

The Erskine Tramway has about a 5 foot length of pine needles, where it goes next to the pine tree in the right foreground. That's the most scenic part of the line :D
4Q9ZVR5M.jpg
Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
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chiloquinruss
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Location: Chiloquin, Oregon

Re: Removing winter debris

Post by chiloquinruss »

I will get a better pix on Monday but this one sort of illustrates the issue. The big ones are a problem, but them little green suckers attack ya! :) Also remember there is 37 MILES of this gift from Mother Nature! Russ
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before01.JPG
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Fender
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Re: Removing winter debris

Post by Fender »

Here’s how we do it on the EPRR in Tennessee:
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
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chiloquinruss
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Location: Chiloquin, Oregon

Re: Removing winter debris

Post by chiloquinruss »

Dan, we have one of those as well. Charlie M has done a great job of adapting Sthil leaf blowers for just that purpose. However our winter debris is not leaves, its cones and needles, that accumulate to be a few inches thick in a mat. As such using the blower method cleans the track but fills up all of our drainage ditches almost completely. So the sequence is to remove the heavy stuff then use the Charlie mobile to do the mid term clearing. Thanks for posting. Russ
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Removing winter debris

Post by Dick_Morris »

Pretty slick!

Have you thought of using a rectangular nozzle ten to twelve inches wide and more closely coupled to the front of the car that could be swung to the left or right about ten to twelve inches? One pass down the middle of the track to get the needles off of the rail and most of the ties, another pass to clean one shoulder, another to clean the other shoulder. The only movement of the nozzle would be to clear switch stands and structures near the shoulders. Then swap to the hand held nozzle with the longer hose to get anything that isn't on or next to the track. A shorter, close coupled nozzle would increase air flow somewhat over the long hose and you might be able to use a wider nozzle that the hand held model. Most of the vacuuming would only take two people, or possibly only one to operate to operate a pusher locomotive and monitor the vacuuming.

Could you modify the hopper so there are compartments for a couple of 42 gallon bags with the same style of screen top to make unloading quicker and avoid a lot of returning to wherever you dump the debris. When one bag is full, shift the vacuum exhaust and "filter" to the second. When both are full, set the bags to the side for later pick up and put on a couple of new bags. Two adjacent sides for each bag compartment should be made to drop down so it would be easy to remove the bag.
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chiloquinruss
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Re: Removing winter debris

Post by chiloquinruss »

Hi Dick, how's things up in gods country? Yep we are evaluating all the possible ways to make the terrible task of removing this 'stuff' fun! We know from years of doing this if we can do it by train, the folks will come and do it, if we do it any other way, well . . . . Thanks for the very complete post, we appreciate it. Russ
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