Uploaded September 2007 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
Flangers, Spreaders, & Steam Rotary Snowplows
Volume II of the Southern Pacific Film Archives presents rare footage of snowfighting operations on Donner Pass, filmed by SP company photographers in the 1950s.
Flangers are the railroad's first line of defense when snow starts to fall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You'll climb aboard to watch the snow fly as the flangers are pulled by steam engines and by SD9 diesels in Black Widow colors.
As the snow deepens, Jordan spreaders are called into action. Then the real show begins as giant steam-powered rotary plows are called out to do battle with the deepening drifts. Both cab-forwards and F-units are seen providing the muscle to push the rotaries over the mountains. SP captured truly spectacular footage of these fascinating machines by running a camera train just a few hundred feet ahead of the spinning blades.
Freight and passenger trains run through a winter wonderland pulled by cab-forwards and F-units, and you'll see Alco PAs being rescued at Yuba Pass after being snowbound with the City of San Francisco streamliner. It's a collection of vintage film that every railfan will treasure!
Flangers, Spreaders, & Steam Rotary Snowplows
Volume II of the Southern Pacific Film Archives presents rare footage of snowfighting operations on Donner Pass, filmed by SP company photographers in the 1950s.
Flangers are the railroad's first line of defense when snow starts to fall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You'll climb aboard to watch the snow fly as the flangers are pulled by steam engines and by SD9 diesels in Black Widow colors.
As the snow deepens, Jordan spreaders are called into action. Then the real show begins as giant steam-powered rotary plows are called out to do battle with the deepening drifts. Both cab-forwards and F-units are seen providing the muscle to push the rotaries over the mountains. SP captured truly spectacular footage of these fascinating machines by running a camera train just a few hundred feet ahead of the spinning blades.
Freight and passenger trains run through a winter wonderland pulled by cab-forwards and F-units, and you'll see Alco PAs being rescued at Yuba Pass after being snowbound with the City of San Francisco streamliner. It's a collection of vintage film that every railfan will treasure!
