Snow clearing on railways: blower, plough or brush

Which one you need depends on how much snow there is, and where it is to go.

The second choice is what the implement will be mounted on: an attachment on a machine you already have, a pushed wagon, or a self-propelled vehicle.

Attachment: blower

Zaugg builds blower attachments to the customer's specification. Two examples from completed projects:

• SF 72-70 — milling drum Ø 720 mm, impeller Ø 700 mm, clearing width 3 150 mm retracted and 4 550 mm extended, clearing height 1 030 mm above top of rail, power requirement 170 kW, capacity approx. 1 940 tonnes per hour, weight approx. 2 500 kg with lifting device
• SF 115-125 — milling drum Ø 1 150 mm, impeller Ø 1 250 mm, clearing height 1 600 mm lowered and 2 100 mm raised, power requirement 300 kW, capacity approx. 3 000 tonnes per hour, weight approx. 4 500 kg with lifting device

Attachments: plough and brush

• Wedge plough K10-Vario — clearing width 2 920 mm, clearing height 1 020 mm at the front and 1 230 mm at the rear, weight 1 620 kg
• KM90 track sweeper — blade width 2 300 mm, brush diameter 910 mm, blade angle ± 26°. The working width is 2 265 mm with the blade straight, and 1 980 mm at full angle. Weight 1 350 kg

The power requirement is the figure to check first

A blower attachment needs drive power, and it has to come from somewhere. The SF 72-70 needs 170 kW, the SF 115-125 needs 300 kW. If the carrier machine does not have that to spare, a power pack is available as an attachment: MTU 4R1000C50 in Stage V / Tier 4f, 170 kW or 231 hp at 1 800 rpm, with 160 litres of diesel and 25 litres of AdBlue, a 72-litre hydraulic oil tank and working hydraulics of max. 300 bar and 150 l/min at 2 000 rpm. It measures 2 600 × 1 600 × 1 500 mm and weighs approx. 2 500 kg.

Pushed wagons

The next step up is an implement on its own wagon, pushed by a traction vehicle. Zaugg also builds the wagons to the customer's requirements, including for different track gauges, and the examples below are from completed projects.

• Snow blower SF 120-100 with cab — Cummins QSX15 at 447 kW, milling drum Ø 1 200 mm, impeller Ø 1 000 mm, clearing width 2 900 mm retracted and 5 900 mm extended, “cut 1” 3 500 mm, clearing height 1 600 mm, power requirement 400 kW, capacity approx. 3 800 tonnes per hour. Complete vehicle approx. 9 800 × 3 000 × 3 900 mm, wheelbase 4 000 mm, approx. 23 000 kg
• Snow plough wagon K20-Vario — clearing width 3 300 mm, clearing height 1 500 mm, plough lifting height 360 mm, track gauge 1 000 mm, wheelbase 3 500 mm. Complete wagon 9 180 × 2 200 × 2 600 mm, approx. 11 350 kg

Self-propelled

At the top of the range is the ZRR10000M, also known as SF 120-125: two Caterpillar C18 engines in Stage V at 470 kW each, milling drum Ø 1 200 mm and impeller Ø 1 250 mm. The clearing width is 3 000 mm retracted and 5 800 mm extended, “cut 1” 3 600 mm, clearing height 1 800 mm. The power requirement is 800 kW and the capacity approx. 8 000 tonnes per hour. The blower unit with lifting device weighs approx. 6 500 kg; the whole vehicle measures approx. 16 500 × 3 100 × 4 300 mm and weighs approx. 71 100 kg.

Capacity follows power

Put the figures side by side: 170 kW gives approx. 1 940 tonnes per hour, 300 kW gives approx. 3 000, 400 kW gives approx. 3 800, and 800 kW gives approx. 8 000. There is no way around it — snow that has to be thrown clear takes power, and a blower that does not have it works more slowly.

Clearing height is the other limit. It is measured above the top of the rail, and for the blowers in this guide it ranges from 1 030 mm on the SF 72-70 to 2 100 mm on the SF 115-125 with the unit raised. If the snow is deeper than the implement is tall, it has to be cleared in several passes.

Retracted and extended width

The blowers have two clearing widths. The retracted width is the profile the implement has when it passes platforms, masts and other things close to the track. The extended width is what it clears when the way is free: the SF 72-70 goes from 3 150 to 4 550 mm, the ZRR10000M from 3 000 to 5 800 mm. On sections with a lot of fixed installations, it is the retracted width that applies in practice.