Jordan Spreader Video

Jeff Keddy took some really impressive video of Jordan Spreader #50938 with CN engine 2133 plowing the Letellier subdivision between Winnipeg and Emerson, Manitoba last week.

I encourage you to watch this video in its entirety. It shows the plow doing its thing, both with wings deployed and without. You can see how the wings work and how adjustable they are. At some points they have the wings out and down to plow the banks, then up and in to clear obstacles. At one grain elevator they brought one wing in to clear a post, then put it back out again afterward. You really have to pay attention to operate those things!

Here's some information on Jordan spreaders. They really are the Swiss army knife of railway maintenance, capable of snow plowing in the winter and ballast spreading in the summer.

Spreaders are unpowered, so they have to be pushed by a locomotive or two. In this case ex-UP CN 2133 did the job. You'll see in the video that there is a stencil on the spreader limiting it to 60 MPH, which is not a problem since the maximum speed on the Letellier subdivision is 25 MPH and there are no special instructions for spreaders on that sub.

The wings can be deployed full-out, partially in, or folded up against the unit, and each is independent of the other. They can also be raised or lowered vertically depending on the slope away from the track. You can see in the photo above that they have "tips" that can also be adjusted.

Here's a short video I found with a UP spreader, showing the wing going in and out.


I've posted about spreaders before.

Enjoy the video!