# Accucraft GS4 pushing Rotary Snow Plow



## Michael (Jan 6, 2008)

Hello,

yesterday in my garden, enjoy as I did..


Michael


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## topshed (Jan 20, 2008)

Very nice! Just what winter is for!


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Michael on 10 Jan 2010 02:16 AM 
Hello,

yesterday in my garden, enjoy as I did..


Michael 

More please.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike
Is the rotary running on track power or battery setup?


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## Steve S. (Jan 2, 2008)

Now thats cool !!!!!!!!!


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

Worlds fastest rotary. Thanks for posting that Michael.


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Charles, I would guess the plow was battery, thinking the wheels on the GS4 are not insulated?


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## Jim Overland (Jan 3, 2008)

Must be up in the Sierras 
Not much snow on the GS4 Daylight California coastal route.... 


jim


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By JEFF RUNGE on 10 Jan 2010 07:57 AM 
Charles, I would guess the plow was battery, thinking the wheels on the GS4 are not insulated? 
Jeff - admittedly I've only seen four GS4 in my life, but they all had insulated wheels.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

The output on the USA snowplow cannot be stock, would like to see the upgrades done to it.


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

I could not remember, which is why I made it a question. I would worry about movement on the axle allowing them to go out of square, but I don't recall ever hearing of one with a problem from that. I wonder what material is used to insulate it?


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## Michael (Jan 6, 2008)

Hello,

Glad you like it.
My USA Rotary runs on battery power since my track is all-metal.
The modifications I made were described in a short article for Bert Wettenschwiler's NZ newsletter (I think it appeared in the April 2008 issue).
Anyway, here's the text:

_Putting a USA Trains Rotary Snowplow to work_ 






_About 10 years ago I hit upon a ‘G-scale model’ of a rotary snowplow at a local hobby shop. It was made by a company called USA Trains – a brand that I hadn’t known before. The rotary was fitted with electrical pick-up on both trucks. An electronic voltage regulator supplied power for the motor of the cutting wheel, the smoke unit, and the headlight. The body resembled a narrow-gauge boxcar and was painted a uniform gray color._ 





_The first modifications were purely cosmetic: I removed the roof walkway and cut off the eaves. All prototype steam rotaries have a non-symmetrical wheel base - the rear truck is moved towards the middle so as to make room for the firebox of the boiler. Representing this on the model involved some cutting and reassembling of the underframe at the rear end. While I was at it, I also cut a pocket for a Kadee # 820 coupler. I painted the body black, and the cutting wheel and housing red with spray cans from a hardware store. Finally, light weathering was applied with an airbrush._ 





_Next came some operational modifications. Since my track outdoors is all metal, track power cannot be used. Thus, the pick-up shoes and the voltage regulator were removed, and batteries installed with a simple on-off switch._ 





_Two sets of 8 AAA size NiMH cells wired in parallel (9.6 Volts in total) drive motor and headlight, the smoke unit is cut off. Actually, one set would be sufficient with today’s batteries, however, 10 years ago I had to make do with less powerful NiCad cells. Anyway, the second set provides added weight which is not unwelcome in operation._ 





_And operation is where the fun comes in:_ 





_As on the prototype the cutting wheel is fitted with reversible knives. The cutting blades are hinged so that regardless of the cutting wheel’s direction of rotation the knives adjust themselves automatically through the combined action of centrifugal forces and the pressure of the snow. While this works perfectly on the prototype, the model seems to suffer from down-scaling effects. Centrifugal forces are much lower with a scale model. On the other hand, the snow remains the same. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as ‘scale-snow’ in nature._ 





_Initial test runs suggested that the knives took sort of a ‘neutral’ position when the (model) plow was pushed against the snow, which rendered them ineffective. The snow wasn’t cut and thrown out, just compacted and pushed along in front of the plow until the locomotive stalled._ 





_To overcome this, I concluded that the knives should be locked in one position._ 





_I decided on one direction of rotation, and glued the cutting edges open in that direction._ 





_The cutting wheel rides slightly above the rail heads. On the prototype, additional flangers and ice cutters make sure that all snow underneath is removed, too. Otherwise, it could accumulate and derail the plow or the locomotive. No such devices are fitted on the model, while the basic effects remain the same. After initial tests, I found that a short length of a felt-type sealing strip (as used on e.g. doors) worked best to sweep the rails clean. I just screwed it to the bottom part of the wheel housing._ 





_I live in one of the warmest regions in Germany, and while snow is not uncommon here, the rotary has actually been on duty for approx. 10 minutes in 10 years. No real railroad would afford a rotary under these circumstances. That’s also why I cannot (yet) report on performance tests with different kinds of snow – it does work fairly well with powder snow (as in the video), but I have no clue what an impact e.g. snow crust would have. If global warming really comes along, the rotary will spend the rest of its life on the shelf. As one can see from the photos, I haven’t got down to making a tender for the rotary, and probably never will. It has been a lot of fun anyway!_ 





_Michael Fueg_


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow, well the blade appears stock, but the trick of fixing the blades seems to be the way to go. 

I was under the impression that the USAT motor was pretty weak, but the video shows that at least under light loads it seems ok. 

Regards, Greg


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like it worked well in the fluffy snow. may have a problem if you have the wet snow tho. I remember when these where available from USAT. I would have bought one but in the part of the country I live in, the chance of measurable snow is slight. Management however did pop for a Aristo plow and in the 10 years I've had it I've used it twice. CEO almost lost his job over that purchase. Later RJD


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow! I'm not really fond of snow, but that was pretty cool


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## GrizzlyFlatsFan (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks for posting the video, Michael. I have an Accucraft GS-4 Daylight, but, alas, no snow. I would love to set up a rotary snow plow in front of the GS-4, but we don't get more than a few snow flurries every few years here in the Northern California Bay area. Could you post a longer video some time please?


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