--Photo by Ryan Martin--
Here's the same area, six months later. A small group of dedicated railroad photographers snowshoed up to this area to get some pictures of a rotary snow plow working uphill toward the Andover tunnels. The winter of 2011 saw an unusually heavy snowfall; four feet in one night alone. It had been fifteen years since the rotaries were last called out; normally they are mothballed in Roseville, like battleships during peacetime. But when nature throws more precipitation at the pass than the Cats, flangers and spreaders can handle, the railroad is forced to call out its last, and most expensive, line of defense. Truly awesome machines to witness in action.
A rotary in action can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9pu98ePUVU
(photographer unknown, sorry about the snow on the lens!)