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I remember in the 60's most towns had the V plows they used on rural roads around where I grew up in central NY. I also remember my dad talking about in the 40's men helping snow plows get through really drifted roads and him and his bothers more than once was part of the shoveling crew. I know sometimes the drifts were bad enough when I was growing up that pay loaders were needed to get through some of the drifts. Don't seem like winters most of the time are anywhere near as bad as when I was growing up.
Bruce from Can.
Well-known Member
- Location
- Woodville, Ontario, Canada
I had just watched these two videos a few days ago. When I was a kid, the county roads were plowed with trucks , but trucks didnt work so well on the secondary Township side roads. The Townships always had road graders, all decked out with big Vee plows and wings. And if there came a big thaw and ice storm in the middle of January, something that almost always happened, the road graders would be chained up on all 6 wheels, to keep them on the road. And the graders could scarify the gravel road surface and break that slick coating of ice. Nowadays they try to put down brine before an ice storm on county roads and rely on salt also. Our secondary roads get plowed out with a truck with a sander, but if the going gets too tough, out come the Road graders, they are still invisible.
kcm.MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- NW Minnesota
Great videos. I never get tired of 'em. Thanks!
Yes, they used the graders by us also. One year there was six to eight inches of ice on the road and three wheel tracks down to pavement. If two cars met they tried to climb away from each other. Seven cars at different times ended up in the brush (that I saw) before it warmed enough for the grader to scrape it down.
johnofnewhaven
Well-known Member
Great videos. Thanks for posting!
Sometime in the 60's and part of the 70's there were a couple of old patrol/grader
operators in Richland County MT. They ran Cat #12 and later Cat #14 patrols.
They always ran together, especially plowing snow. The lead patrol had a V blade,
second one had a right-hand snow blade. No wings at that time.
When they came to a particular long or deep drift, they would hook a long log chain
between them, the V-plow in the lead. Then the lead plow would go as hard as he could
into the drift, usually getting stuck. The rear plow was already hooked up to pull
lead plow out. By the way, they had all four drivers on the patrols chained up.
operators in Richland County MT. They ran Cat #12 and later Cat #14 patrols.
They always ran together, especially plowing snow. The lead patrol had a V blade,
second one had a right-hand snow blade. No wings at that time.
When they came to a particular long or deep drift, they would hook a long log chain
between them, the V-plow in the lead. Then the lead plow would go as hard as he could
into the drift, usually getting stuck. The rear plow was already hooked up to pull
lead plow out. By the way, they had all four drivers on the patrols chained up.
years ago a pond was leaking water across a road and we had ice 6 inches thick on the road. The county come out with a big road and tried to scrap the ice off the road. They could not do it and left. I took my Oliver 880 with a 7 foot back blade and went out and cleaned off the ice. They didn't know how to use their equipment.
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
I was just thinking that!
Those had to be some really tough trucks all around to withstand that!
Wonder how long a clutch lasted?
And how would they retrieve a broken down truck?
Those had to be some really tough trucks all around to withstand that!
Wonder how long a clutch lasted?
And how would they retrieve a broken down truck?
gtractorfan
Well-known Member
Reminds me of the song about the billy goat ramming the dam, for he had high hopes- finally oops there goes a million kilowatt dam. Ramming the hard pack snow all day long would be a LOT of wear and tear on a truck.
years ago a pond was leaking water across a road and we had ice 6 inches thick on the road. The county come out with a big road grader and tried to scrap the ice off the road. They could not do it and left. I took my Oliver 880 with a 7 foot back blade and went out and cleaned off the ice. They didn't know how to use their equipment.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Bashing through those drifts seems like a one-time deal.
What do you do when the road drifts in again? There's nowhere to push the snow. The drifts are already 15' high and solid as stone.
What do you do when the road drifts in again? There's nowhere to push the snow. The drifts are already 15' high and solid as stone.
Tramway Guy
Well-known Member
The Frink Company (the one that made the V-plow) went out of business abruptly in the 1990s.
I have driven over the roads in the movies a lot of times.
I have driven over the roads in the movies a lot of times.
timcasbolt
Well-known Member
Not to mention the wear and tear on a guy's back doing that all day.
Bob N.Y.
Well-known Member
- Location
- Norway, N.Y.
I grew up about 18 miles north of Watertown, NY and about 20 miles inland from Clayton, NY where the Frink Snowplow Co. was. The railroad tracks to Clayton went right past the corner of our farm. I remember seeing the flat cars going by loaded with new Frink plows. I also remember the Walters and Oshkosh 4 wheel drive trucks with the big V-plows.
I read through the comments and will add my own: Dad told me of a friend of his that ran plow trucks like this in the '40's and '50's. He said they would often hit the clutch as they hit the snow in order to protect the driveline and rely on momentum to do the work. A friend of mine ran grader (one of the best operators I have ever seen). He said in powdery snow you really had to watch that you did not run out of power or spin out because you risked that bow wave of snow falling back behind the plow. Then you shovelled. We had similar conditions to what the video shows here in the lee of Lake Huron through the '70's and '80's. The amount of snow was one thing but the wind would drift it in and the process would restart
The last real blizzard we saw in Ontario Co, NY, was in March,1993.
I was living on a dirt road up a steep slope in the Bristol hills. I was working in Rochester, about a 35 mile ride. The roads in Ontario county were closed for a couple of days, and it was a couple of more before the first equipment came up our road.
It was a grader.
I was living on a dirt road up a steep slope in the Bristol hills. I was working in Rochester, about a 35 mile ride. The roads in Ontario county were closed for a couple of days, and it was a couple of more before the first equipment came up our road.
It was a grader.
We have lived 80+ years in WNY, just south of the snow belt. I am a retired Rural Carrier. Our Town crews had Oshkosh and FWD Trucks and a vee plow grader. The trucks had a right-hand plow and a wing. Everything was chained up, all the way around. Now they use 10 wheelers, they haul a bigger payload in the summer. Still right-hand plows with wing and a sand spreader. If there is ice, they back up the hill so the truck is on spread sand but if the sander plugs up, they can take a frightful ride. Use a payloader for the drifted roads.
Bob Collins
Well-known Member
Growing up in the '50s East of Syracuse, I was always fascinated and amazed at what those Walters Sno-fiters would go through. Our town had a big Oshgosh plow but it was no match for the county's Walters with chains on all four wheels and some even had a rotary wing to push banks back. They would spend the good days laying against the snow banks along Route 20 pushing back snow to make room for the next onslaught. Visibility from the cab is very limited.
Back around that era the county road meandered through our farm here in Minnesota, and had a cut through a ridge. They used the dirt they hauled out of the cut to build road bed so that is why they didnt move over a 1000 feet.... like it is now on more level ground. My field still has the depression where they leveled in the old cut.
Anyhow, back around then that cut would drift in with snow at least that bad. Dad said they would get a dozer to open it, but often used hired men to shovel the snow up the sides and out to level ground. He said it took 3 men to shovel, bottom would throw it up 5-6 feet, next higher would scout and shovel up 5-6 feet, and the 3rd one would throw it up to the ground level. Thats how deep the cut was.
Can you imagine hiring a crew of workers on a day or 3 pay to stand out in winter and shovel snow like that? In todays world?
Paul
Anyhow, back around then that cut would drift in with snow at least that bad. Dad said they would get a dozer to open it, but often used hired men to shovel the snow up the sides and out to level ground. He said it took 3 men to shovel, bottom would throw it up 5-6 feet, next higher would scout and shovel up 5-6 feet, and the 3rd one would throw it up to the ground level. Thats how deep the cut was.
Can you imagine hiring a crew of workers on a day or 3 pay to stand out in winter and shovel snow like that? In todays world?
Paul
oliverplow
Member
All the township graders used to run around with a V plow on the front of them in SEMN all winter. I remember watching them do the same thing 40 years ago. Now we use the big front end loaders from the rock quarries to open the roads. I am township chairperson and had the big loaders out last week. When it gets really bad, we put a huge snow blower on a front end loader. I am already dreading our December snow removal bill! We will probably be out of money by March.
showcrop
Well-known Member
Barnyard, they had a procedure for that. If you look at the start of the video, from around :15 to :27 you can see where they have winged the snow back. When I was a kid they did that all the time. They just went along with the wing plow a foot to three feet off the ground. If it got high they used the grader which had a much longer plow and could raise it higher. They don't know how to high wing anymore. They think that the wing can be run only on the ground.
one posted about them hitting the clutch right before they plow hit the snow. but i would still think that was hard on the plow and attachments and truck frame.
alot of clutch use and shifting going back and forth like that.
I presume the guy riding in the dump box was guiding the driver???
alot of clutch use and shifting going back and forth like that.
I presume the guy riding in the dump box was guiding the driver???
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
They're not winging anything back in those deep trenches where the snow is deeper than the truck is tall on either side of the road.
I have lived in the Buffalo snow belt for over half my life. I'm well familiar with significant snowfall and winging back snowbanks. We've never had snow as deep as they show in that movie in my lifetime that I've witnessed. According to Dad, it was like that in the 50's and 60's around here.
Tramway Guy
Well-known Member
Im in Central NY. I remember the old Walters plows opening up our road during the blizzard of 66. We were snowed in at least a week. Looked very familiar to these videos. I recall a big crowd watching as they hammered through a big drifted area on the other side of town. We stood on the banks and the Walters plow was several feet below us. They had to chain a a couple more to the rear and pull it out after every time it slammed into the drifts. Sometimes they only gained inches at a time. Took them days to open up that road.
They still used some of those old Walters double wing V plows in the 90's in a couple bad storms. You could here those babies coming up our hill a mile or more away. Sure was a welcome sight.
They still used some of those old Walters double wing V plows in the 90's in a couple bad storms. You could here those babies coming up our hill a mile or more away. Sure was a welcome sight.
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