A collection of Southern Pacific RR snow clearing equipment, used in the California Sierra Nevada's and the Oregon Cascade Mountains. Some of the equipment shown here has been scrapped or donated to Museums. All of the equipment was modified from the as-delivered condition to meet the specific tasks.

The wood sided Flangers are no longer in use and can be found in Museums in the Western States. Recently, some of the four window metal sided Flangers are reported to be operational in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and is shown at La Grande during October 2010. A number of tall narrow SP rebuilt Flanger with steel sides and small windows is shown in SP MoW Orange. The present owner has changed some of the window and side door configurations and repainted into a bright yellow. Although labeled for SPMW and technically no longer 'SP' a few photos are included for reference.

The large Type A Spreaders may be operating on the CORP in the Medford Oregon area. A Rotary and a Spreader are on display at Train Mountain in Chiloquin Oregon. Except for the CORP Type A Jordan Spreader the typical Western US Jordan spreaders in operation are the type J, hydraulic, with a forward cab. However, there are compressed air-powered Jordan spreaders showing up in numerous places. For example, a vintage ex-SP Roadmaster Spreader is shown in Dunsmuir during the summer of 2010. The most obvious spotting feature for an air-powered system is the significantly larger pistons relative to a hydraulic assembly in similar locations on the blade support arms. An excellent source of information on Jordan spreaders is at http://www.trainweb.org/JordanSpreader/

The Jordan Spreader forward cab was a factory option that became popular for snow service. The Southern Pacific Railroad installed an additional crew cab behind the forward cab after the delivery of the modern, Donner Pass style, 70 ton Jordan Spreaders. Another SP spotting feature is the flat nose plows as compared to the fixed contoured factory nose plow. The flat nose plow is mounted on hinges to push all the snow to the left or right. SP also installed locomotive controls in the forward cab of specific units that control the trailing locomotive through standard MU cables and connectors. Not all spreaders have these controls in the cab, making this a significant upgrade in Jordan Spreader capabilities.

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