Vintage Trains Deployed In Sweden To Handle Snow

In an effort to keep its public transit running during inclement winter weather, Sweden has turned back the clocks over half a century by deploying vintage trains.

According to Sweden's English news site The Local, two old DA locomotives from the mid-1950s -- normally displayed at the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle -- have been put back into service to clear the tracks of snow between Mjölby and Alvesta in southern Sweden. Meanwhile, a 100-year-old snowplow is also in place alongside the tracks in nearby Nässjö, ready to be called into action if needed.

A harsher-than-usual Swedish winter, reportedly the nation's coldest in 110 years, is expected to result in staggering maintenance costs for both railways and roads. "We have not been able to battle the snow with salt as it has been colder than minus eight degrees Celsius in most parts of the country," Pär Gustafsson of Sweden's Transport Administration is quoted as saying. "We will not pinch on the winter -- it will cost what it costs."

Already, the use of the antique locomotives has kept transit operating at full capacity even during the holidays, particularly in southern Sweden. "These are made of stern stuff which can take the winter, and we are very happy to be able to help to keep the railways running," said Henrik Reuterdahl of the Swedish Railway Museum.

Comments

[sonoffestus]

08:16 PM on 12/30/2010

Sweden that hot bed of socialism keeps their society moving. NYC run like a business, nothing moves.

[DeSwiss]

07:08 PM on 01/01/2011

So eloquently put, I had to fan ya! :-)

[JNo]

11:35 AM on 01/02/2011

Fanned

[AZreb]

09:26 AM on 12/30/2010

Looks like some of the "old ways" are still the "best ways" - friends of mine took trains from WA state to CA and back. Going back to WA the train was stopped dead in its tracks with snow in OR. They ended up on a bus to get back home. This was just yesterday - Wednesday.

[realitytrumpsbull]

12:13 AM on 12/30/2010

Here's a design challenge, how can electricity be used to build a better, more effective snow-plowing, snow-removing locomotive? It takes a lot of 'juice' to turn the drivers on these electric trains, well, if the wires are still energized, then you can use that energy to run blowers, heaters, and so forth, mounted on the front of the machine. Combine that with a reverse-mounted kerosene APU off a passenger jet, and you've got yourself a snow-removing machine(Hearing protection required)

[Telemachus]

11:49 AM on 12/30/2010

That sounds good, but melting snow with heat takes a staggering amount of energy. I wonder if mechanical removal wouldn't be more efficient. Check out this other example of "old" technology, basically a tunneling snow-blower mounted on a locomotive:

http://www.funlogg.com/index.php/2010/09/26/amazing-photos-of-snow-blower-train-skagway-alaska

[29bela]

11:41 PM on 12/29/2010

I applaud them, what ever it takes to deal with the situation. That's what we should expect from people in charge: quick solution to a arising problem.

[realitytrumpsbull]

12:18 AM on 12/30/2010

How about some engineering? My post above has to do with clearing the tracks, why not do something similar to clear the roads? You wouldn't want a turbine engine on a street-clearing truck, but I think that as many people as have walked in and out the doors of SAAB over the years (they used to build jets), you could figure out how to use diesel or natural gas or something to run a large burner unit built into the truck frame with some kind of forced downdraft ventilation, pushing hot air out in all directions below the vehicle, mount that on 4 wheels and tow it behind the snowplow, and you might not even need sand, or salt. For that matter, if you really wanted to get eco-tarded about the situation, you could start with electricity from windmills or wave power, use that to distill and electrolyze water, separate out the hydrogen, and have a hydrogen-fired heater unit, or something. 
Or, park all the cars, and just have cheap ski rentals 'til nature melts the snow off herself, and save fuel.

[29bela]

01:50 AM on 12/30/2010

Maybe you have shot at new way how to clean the roads. There is always this new idea in the beginning of everything.

[ASEG]

04:24 AM on 12/30/2010

It works because it's not a political decision it's the civil servants that are in charge in Sweden

[Telemachus]

10:48 AM on 12/30/2010

Silly civil servants! They should be out there giving speeches and selling books talking about how government is the problem, and less regulation is the cure-all for everything. Of course the trains wouldn't run and the country rapidly would fall apart, but they'd get rich.

[MIKEinNYC]

09:45 PM on 12/29/2010

You know why the weather is harsher than usual, don't you? It's the cartoons my friend, the cartoons! Ask the Danish.

[ASEG]

04:26 AM on 12/30/2010

It's always the danes : )

[plaidsportcoat]

03:03 PM on 12/29/2010

In other words, the more recent models are crap?

[dresdengirl]

09:26 AM on 12/30/2010

They are made with lighter.

[Telemachus]

10:51 AM on 12/30/2010

More likely the older models are horribly inefficient (energy-wise) and not very fast, but unstoppable. You wouldn't want to use them every day.

[Valerio della Porta]

06:50 PM on 12/30/2010

That's right! Engineering is not a science, it's a series of judgment calls.

Better, Faster, Cheaper—Pick Two

[MajorKong]

09:39 AM on 12/29/2010

I've sat in traffic many times going from Arlanda Aiport to downtown Stockholm while watching the train go zipping by.

[VOTER]

01:35 PM on 12/29/2010

My husband and I prefer taking the train into Stockholm and then catching 
another train going north to Sundsvall.
Swedish trains are on-time, well kept and a good value.
Not many years ago, we had to travel by boat to get to Sundsvall 
unless we wanted to be on the train for many, many long hours.
Now the trains are very fast and get us there in only a few hours.

[dresdengirl]

09:27 AM on 12/30/2010

That's why, whenever I am in Europe, I take the train, once I have crossed the Atlantic.

[OldTulsan]

01:37 AM on 12/29/2010

Here's a photo of the Da class electric locomotive:

http://www.thelocal.se/31104/20101227/
Sweden deploys vintage trains to battle the snow - The Local

[Merckx]

02:58 AM on 12/29/2010

thanks

[MajorKong]

09:35 AM on 12/29/2010

We used to know how to build stuff like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OP-14473.jpg

[jayszip]

01:29 AM on 12/29/2010

OMG, they look better and newer than anything we have here in the U.S.A.

[worldtrav]

09:22 AM on 12/29/2010

Heard. The US made a choice (actually firestone and goodyear were convicted of a crime) to leave metal wheels and move to rubber; in an energy-constrained world, such a decision is folly. The US economy is no longer globally competitive, and it is reasonably to suspect this single decision as /a/ root cause. Trains permit people to live well without the expense of a car, gas, and maintenance and it allows employers to hire people without carrying those costs in their products. US economy RIP.

[RobD407]

09:56 AM on 12/29/2010

The problem in the US with trains is that the government used to tax railroads by mile of track. I grew up in NJ. Back in the late 60's the railroads started taking out "unnecessary" track to save money, the Erie Lackawanna Railroad (near my home) went from double track to single. Now they only have "commuter" rail, toward Hoboken (for NYC) in the morning, away (to the suburbs) in the afternoon. Chicago has a much better system with double tracks, they run both directions all day and there's plenty of commuter parking in the areas I've been to. Cheaper, more efficient, saves gas, reduces city traffic congestion. Aside from the snow, I much prefer going to Chicago. Not to mention "Taste Of Chicago" every summer and great Blues bars.

[OldTulsan]

09:59 PM on 12/29/2010

For more info, search for "National City Lines", a company formed by GM, Firestone, Mack, and Standard Oil to replace trolleys with buses.

I vaguely remember Tulsa's trolleys.

[Bernique]

11:26 PM on 12/28/2010

The Swedes are using their noggin'. Good for them. Here we would have Chertoff-like & acolytes devise a very expensive Rube-Goldberg contraption, from scratch, from private, overly-paid contractors. The more expensive the better is the mantra. Ronald Reagan's dream to "starve the [government -funded anything!] beast" is coming true. With disastrous results.

You get this when you vote for Republicans today.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

08:50 AM on 12/29/2010

Here at least the new equipment is manufactured by summer time,thanks to good old fashioned Chinese know-how and it will arrive in time for spring.

[fairywhatnot]

01:27 PM on 12/29/2010

LOL! Thanks for the chuckle at reality!

[plaidsportcoat]

03:06 PM on 12/29/2010

Chinese know how. Look into that. Actually, now that they can feed their huge population the basic, they can look outward and copy the manufacturing know-how of the rest of the world. Since they aren't carrying out expensive wars all those billions of people can work on going forward. What a notion.

[realitytrumpsbull]

12:25 AM on 12/30/2010

Did someone say Rube Goldberg? I say do like this: You've got electricity, from that overhead line. Ok, so instead of trying to do things by brute force, use your sciencers. Put a Big Dang Electrical Heating Coil on a flatbed car, with a fan behind it, moving the air through the coil, and down and forward onto the track surface. Put the pusher locomotive behind it, barely moving at idle speed. Putt, putt, putt, and the snow will melt off PDQ.

And, and if you REALLY wanted to get high-tech, use the empty space under the rails to install heating coils. It's just snow, it's not granite, or something. 

Not all inventions work, or work as well as someone might have intended, and you never know 'til you try em out. But, those airplane-things sure were catchy....

[Bernique]

10:26 PM on 01/01/2011

reality -- I like your idea of using the empty space under the rails to install heating coils -- like, duh! Now how about that same idea to be used under airplanes' lifter parts ... Just sayin'. We ain't using our noggin' the way the Swedes and other Europeans do.

[engchina]

09:59 PM on 12/28/2010

Not only trains and a federal interstate projects would not be built today, but also dams and other hydro electric projects- As for a mobile phone communications in the US- How many dropped calls can you count in one day?
Gotta love that 1 trillion dollar per year and growing defense budget and with a republican congress - nothing will change except to turn the clock back further and further because that culture is all about sucking the remaining wealth out of the govt coffers to help their friends realize exorbitant wealth beyond their wildest dreams.
EngChina

[realitytrumpsbull]

12:30 AM on 12/30/2010

Well, if the public was interested in progress, progress would be happening. The public is more interested in generally maintaining the status quo, keeping food on the table, that kind of thing.  We've sort of been there, and done that. Other countries around the world are still kind of stuck in the 60's, 70's, and are industrializing and stuff. We've got our hydro, we've got our rail, we've got our freeways, we're pretty well established. We've got cellphones. We've got cars. And, we also have the attitude where we take it all for granted. What's it like to live in a town in some part of the world where they've never seen a TV, let alone a computer, or a cellphone, or a flush toilet? I say count your blessings, and quit your sniveling, and if you REALLY don't like it here in America, airport's that way --------->

[dresdengirl]

09:39 AM on 12/30/2010

Who is stuck in the 60th and 70th?

[Telemachus]

12:04 PM on 12/30/2010

I fan you for straightforward problem-solving, but I have to take issue with your statement that "if the public was interested in progress, progress would be happening." Polls consistently show overwhelming support for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, especially foreign oil, and finding environmentally friendly ways to maintain the "status quo", as you put it. The problem is that our political system is more responsive to money than to public opinion, and the money is still in old tech. Also, to the extent people think the status quo is preferable to progress, it's because they've been brainwashed by a pernicious and persistent campaign of disinformation, paid for by big business (mostly oil companies and banks) and spread more or less knowingly by the mainstream media. Among the lies being force-fed to us is the notion that there's some kind of inherent conflict between public benefits and individual freedom, or between environmental values and economic values.

[kenhamlett]

09:51 PM on 12/28/2010

Europe is having an unusually cold and snowy winter, yet I have not seen a single "Snowpocalypse" or "Snowmageddon" headline on the HuffPost in relation to their weather. Somewhere, an alarmist headline writer is falling down on the job, or perhaps we just seek to alarm our own population, being the self-absorbed folks that we often are. I live in NYC and despite the "Snowmageddon," "Snowpocalypse," and "East Coast Paralyzed" headlines, we have survived the first major snowstorm of the winter intact, and we will live to survive many more in the future.

[Grim Al]

10:43 PM on 12/28/2010

Indeed. Same here in Boston. Frenzied weather headlines have become the substitute for terror attacks!

[kenhamlett]

10:55 PM on 12/28/2010

Well, given that choice, I'll take "Snowmageddon" any day. We seem to have become addicted to hyperbole.

[Indigo River]

05:34 AM on 12/29/2010

You know, outside the US, this country is known for its fear mongering headlines, documentaries and what-not.

Someone once said to me: Only stu.pid people fear. The media must think we are stu.pid.

[kenhamlett]

09:29 AM on 12/29/2010

They must think we are stupid. Now, before shows go to their endless commercial breaks, they tell us what we will see when they return. Then, when they return, they recap what we saw three minutes earlier. Then, by the time they show the section that they have already given away in the preview, it is time for another commercial. I also agree that they try always and appeal to fear, and that is true on all the news shows. They exaggerate our differences, demonize those who might have another opinion, then urge us to keep watching for even more horrible stories about our neighbors and acquaintances. It's a shame, but I was relatively unaware that they same trend had made its move to the weather reporting until this week.

[Johnathan Plate]

09:26 PM on 12/28/2010

So they are braking out the old desiel electric trains. Those are state of the art in the US, I am sure we could lend them some.

[Rashaverak]

11:23 PM on 12/28/2010

The Class Da is an electric locomotive that is powered from overhead wire energized with high-voltage alternating current. The Class Da is not a diesel-electric locomotive.

Here is a picture of a model of the Class Da:
http://www.scandinaviangalleries.com/servlet/Detail?no=1334

[Dosadi]

12:03 AM on 12/29/2010

Thanks. That looks like a heavy and sturdy machine.

[worldtrav]

09:28 AM on 12/29/2010

Thanks (HP - note the article image is misleading).
Beautiful car, and I note with irony the vestigial wheel links, I presume this is a form of all wheel drive, and I can't help but imagine direct links are more efficient than gear driven wheels. Perhaps today they use a single motor per wheel? or is the difference between the modern and the DA the all-wheel drive?

[Bernique]

11:28 PM on 12/28/2010

chuckle, chuckle, Jonathan. Clever ...

[tacevad]

09:23 PM on 12/28/2010

Built to last is not "profitable"

[Laxsmi de Potrero]

09:03 PM on 12/28/2010

i wonder if santa's sleigh is now available too, it being off season and all.