The Coudersport & Port Allegany Railroad Snowplow
Winter could stop a railroad as surely as a damaged bridge. Snow buried the rails, ice collected where train wheels needed to run, and a blocked line interrupted both passengers and freight. Railroads needed to clear the track before ordinary trains could pass. At the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, the Coudersport & Port Allegany Railroad snowplow tells the story of that demanding work.
Built in 1897, the plow was designed to be pushed by a locomotive. Its broad, wedge-shaped front forced snow outward as it advanced along a single track. High above the blade, a crew member could watch from the small pilot house for fallen trees or other obstacles hidden by the snow. The heavy timber frame gave the plow the strength to withstand difficult conditions.
Clearing the snow on top of the track was only part of the job. A device called a flanger extended beneath the plow to remove snow and ice from the space inside the rails. It could be raised at switches and road crossings, where leaving it down might cause damage. Together, the wedge and flanger cleared a path for the trains that followed.
The plow served the Coudersport & Port Allegany Railroad until 1945. Its survival preserves a side of railroad history that is easy to overlook: before a train could carry people or goods through a Pennsylvania winter, another crew sometimes had to go ahead and open the line. The museum considers this plow possibly the oldest surviving example of its kind.
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