Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Southern Pacific Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland

I originally posted information about Antique Powerland on my website in a PLACES page on November 23, 2007 and last updated it on December 18, 2009. I am posting the railroad-related information here, with pictures and information from the 2010 Great Oregon Steam-Up. All of my information about Antique Powerland can be found at PlacesPages.

IMG_4985 Southern Pacific 1945 Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland in Brooks, Oregon on July 31, 2010
Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland on July 31, 2010

This piece of railroad equipment is called a flanger. It is used to clear snow and ice from between the rails, using two large funnel-shaped blades mounted under the frame, one for each side. The blades can be raised and lowered individually as needed from inside the cab. The flags on the roof indicate the position of the blades to others. Like a snow plow, a flanger has no way of propelling itself and must be pulled or pushed by a locomotive, and it can only be used in one direction; the entire car must be turned on a turntable or wye to clear snow in the other direction. Flangers are typically used in conjunction with snow plows or Jordan Spreaders, following directly behind to pick up what the larger equipment cannot reach between the rails. This flanger was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad as #328, most likely in their Sacramento, California freight car shop. It was completed on November 6, 1945. It is 37.5 feet long and weighs 44,000 pounds. It was retired in 1981 and donated to the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. It may be the last wood-bodied flanger in existence.

IMG_8058 Southern Pacific 1945 Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland in Brooks, Oregon on August 4, 2007
Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland on August 4, 2007

Flanger #328 is currently under restoration; in 2007 the wooden cab was in white primer and the metal components were in red primer.

IMG_2465 Southern Pacific 1945 Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland in Brooks, Oregon on August 3, 2008
Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland on August 3, 2008

By the 2008 Great Oregon Steam Up, the wooden cab had been painted in its original bright orange color with correct Southern Pacific lettering.

IMG_4997 Southern Pacific 1945 Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland in Brooks, Oregon on July 31, 2010
Flanger #328 at Antique Powerland on July 31, 2010

By the 2010 Great Oregon Steam-Up new windows had been installed. With these windows the flanger looked quite good.

The PNWC-NRHS page about #328, including a pre-restoration photo.

Continue to Jordan Spreader #4057

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