Through the earlier winter, an operating pattern developed. After midnight the railroad would slowly be buried in snow without a steady stream of traffic. At dawn flangers and spreaders set to work digging out and maintenance-of-way forces then released the railroad back to DS 74, the dispatcher desk in charge of the line. Usually Amtrak’s California Zephyrs had entered the picture and were waiting, No. 5 at Truckee and No. 6 at Fulda.
With the line cleared, flangers would run to the balloon tracks at Truckee and Fulda, turn, and escort the passenger trains — the first traffic of the day — over The Hill. Freights would then follow. This scenario was repeated after most storms. At one point, an avalanche warning was issued. A rotary set was moved up to Colfax from Roseville to step in if needed, but was waved off and returned the next day.
In February, however, the storms got colder, and the snow line was accordingly lower. Snow was now higher than the top of the rail on the line west of the balloon track at Fulda. This is outside the territory of normal flanger operations. The routine established in January, allowing the line to close in the early hours and reopen mid-day, was quickly overwhelmed. It was taking the snow removal forces much longer to reopen The Hill. Things were deteriorating. On Feb. 26, a rotary set was brought up to Colfax. That same day both Zephyrs were annulled. By this time derailments of flangers and spreaders started occurring. At the same time DS 74 was still trying to weave revenue freights through the openings as best he or she could.
That all came to a grinding halt on Feb. 27.
There were seven freight trains scattered across The Hill with crews beginning to die on hours of service. Two flangers were on the ground, and a 200-foot snow slide was reported at milepost 182. It was time to bring in the rotary from Colfax, but first the railroad had to get those trains off the line. Light engines were sent from Sparks to pull some trains back to Truckee; the others made it out on their own. Late that night the rotary was cleared to move east, but by the time it reached Emigrant Gap a flanger had derailed blocking the way. The rotary held at Emigrant Gap while maintenance-of-way crews struggled to re-rail the flanger.
On the morning of Feb. 28, with the grounded flanger removed, spreaders moved east on Track 1 shoving snow onto Track 2. The rotary would follow on Track 2 and toss that snow up and over the rim of the shelf the railroad runs on.
The leading rotary was SPMW 222, fresh from its recent rebuild. This was to be its maiden run. The unthinkable struck immediately: after plowing barely 2 miles, the bearings on the main shaft of the spinning rotor failed, disabling No. 222. This was just west of Cisco.
Crewmembers decided not to retreat. They could not, anyway. Track 2 had been buried in preparation for the rotaries and was now out of service. The two rotaries were separated so that the west-facing SPMW 207 could run back and turn on the balloon at Fulda. But by the time it arrived, a flanger had derailed on the balloon track.
Options had been exhausted. No. 207 returned East to retrieve No. 222, and both ran the 75 miles back to Roseville. No. 222 was set out and a fresh crew was called. After midnight on March 1, No. 207 ran alone back up Donner to open Track 2.
Saturday morning another, much warmer storm started passing over the Sierras, dropping snow at higher elevations than previous systems. On Sunday Amtrak restored California Zephyr service over Donner Pass. Train No. 5 ran about nine hours late with delays incurred to the east. Train No. 6 ran on time from Emeryville.
The next storm is due Tuesday, which will last into Thursday and is predicted to be much colder. Monday, rotary SPMW 207 has gone up the hill by itself and will likely run through to Roseville in the evening. Meanwhile SPMW 209 and 211 are in Roseville and ready for service if needed.
Regarding the disabled rotary, Union Pacific spokesman Tim McMahan tells Trains News Wire that “the SPMW 222 was tested but is not being used.” No further information on its status is available at this time.
Railroading is not one of the exact sciences, ask any of the hard-working crews, of all crafts, that work The Hill.
Rotary #222 was fresh from overhaul, but suffered bearing failure? Ouch! Not a good thing to have happen when the rotaries are needed most. (I feel bad for the crew who had to deal with that issue.)
Does the ex-WP Feather River route stay in operation when Donner Pass gets debilitating snowfall?
For the record, I was still making some updates to the story as the first readers started to comment, which accounts for the discrepancy in “DS 74” information.
Daniel Kelly–quoting the articlw: ” At dawn flangers and spreaders set to work digging out and maintenance-of-way forces then released the railroad back to DS 74, the dispatcher desk in charge of the line.”
# Year of the Rotary
What a great narrative. I was shivering just sitting in front of my computer screen in my warm home. Sometimes we don’t fully appreciate what it takes to keep the railroad open.
wow it’s another railroads battle with old man winter
If we are headed for an ice age as I think we are, the only way Donner Pass will be open in the coming years will be if UP covers the entire route with snowsheds.
Are we to assume DS 74 is a dispatcher? I am not familiar with the term. Thanks
Very nice write up, thank you!
I was in Roseville on Saturday in the rain and saw two sets of rotaries in the service tracks. One was the 211, but I couldn’t make out the number on the second.
It was thankfully warm (but wet) for outdoor railfanning, but that meant the super long MNPRV or the dirty dirt empties I observed coming off The Hill had no traces of snow left on the rolling stock which was a wee bit unfortunate for the mobile phone pics I took.