Denver & Rio Grande Western Flanger OF
Here's a close-up of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's former Denver & Rio Grande Western Flanger Car OF. This is one of 10 similar cars built by the D&RG back in the 1880s for the purpose of removing snow and ice from between the rails as well as pushing back snow from the right-of-way. A total of 7 of these cars survive, at least 2 of which are still operable, including this one, which is typically used multiple times every season. This particular car has two sets of plow blades, one of which cleans the snow from between the rails and the other which pushes the snow back from the track. Both are air-actuated and controlled from the cupola of the caboose, where the operator has a commanding view of the process. The railroad has placed signs beside the right-of-way, which alert the operators to the presence of obstacles, such as grade crossings, switches and guard rail. These signs are typically little up-arrows, which direct the operator to raise the flanger blades and/or retract the wing plows. As shown here, both sets of blades are fully retracted.
It should also be noted that Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) equipment on the D&RGW narrow-gauge was typically not numbered, but rather, received letter designations. The 7 extant flanger cars are lettered: OC, OD, OF, OG, OJ, OK and OL.
Denver & Rio Grande Western Flanger OF
Here's a close-up of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's former Denver & Rio Grande Western Flanger Car OF. This is one of 10 similar cars built by the D&RG back in the 1880s for the purpose of removing snow and ice from between the rails as well as pushing back snow from the right-of-way. A total of 7 of these cars survive, at least 2 of which are still operable, including this one, which is typically used multiple times every season. This particular car has two sets of plow blades, one of which cleans the snow from between the rails and the other which pushes the snow back from the track. Both are air-actuated and controlled from the cupola of the caboose, where the operator has a commanding view of the process. The railroad has placed signs beside the right-of-way, which alert the operators to the presence of obstacles, such as grade crossings, switches and guard rail. These signs are typically little up-arrows, which direct the operator to raise the flanger blades and/or retract the wing plows. As shown here, both sets of blades are fully retracted.
It should also be noted that Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) equipment on the D&RGW narrow-gauge was typically not numbered, but rather, received letter designations. The 7 extant flanger cars are lettered: OC, OD, OF, OG, OJ, OK and OL.