Significance of upside-down brooms?

Hi,

Just got off a railroad excursion - our train was backing up on a wye when I noticed an upside-down broom mounted on a pole. I ended up seeing four of these over the course of the trip - any special significance to these?

thanks

Reply to
CowGoesMoo
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If you're in snow country, it may be just a convenient way of storing switch brooms so they can be found after a snowfall.

Glen

Reply to
Glen Smith

In WW2, it meant "clean sweep", usually in reference to a submarine patrol.

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

Yes, very secret. If you pass this on, we'll have to kill you.

The brooms are probably there to clear the points of snow during the winter. Mount 'em on a pole, upside down, so in the winter's snow, you can find 'em.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

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Reply to
Roger T.

CowGoesMoo wrote: Just got off a railroad excursion - our train was backing up on a wye when I noticed an upside-down broom mounted on a pole. I ended up seeing four of these over the course of the trip - any special significance to these?

----------------------------------------------------- Did you see any witches nearby?

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Reply to
Bill

They'd given them the brush-off.

Reply to
Christopher A. Lee

CowGoesMoo wrote: Just got off a railroad excursion - our train was backing up on a wye when I noticed an upside-down broom mounted on a pole. I ended up seeing four of these over the course of the trip - any special significance to these?

---------------------------------------------- I bet they're for the switch witches!

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Reply to
Bill

Or their male offspring?

Reply to
Steve Caple

In snow country they are used to clean switches. They are mounted upside down so the crews can remove the broom from the pole. If the broom head is down the chance of snow/ice making it hard to remove the broom without the head is high. It is hard to sweep a switch out with the broom head on the handle. Also it is cheaper to make the pole holder. Just a pole with a piece of pipe (wider than the broom handle) welded to it, instead of a fancy bracket to hold the broom handle.

Donald

Reply to
Donald Kinney

Which switch for Ipswich?

Reply to
Christopher A. Lee

Hi,a

This was in Minnesota. Thanks for the speedy responses and the.. uh... humor.

Reply to
CowGoesMoo

The brooms would be for snow. Many of the lead engines for the local trains have shovels stuck on them somewhere too. You have to get the snow out or else it builds up and makes it impossible to throw the switch. When yard switches get really clogged most yards up here have either a giant roller brush machine or a giant hair dryer (runs on propane) to clear out the switches after snow storms. I was in Fargo on Thursday and they still have the brooms and shovels on the switchers.

Kent in SD

Reply to
Two23

If you are talking about Ipswich, South Dakota, there are only three swtiches. Two for the grain elevator and one for the siding the lumber yard used to be on. BNSF still runs trains through there regularly.

Kent in SD

Reply to
Two23

Yes! Or brooms for that matter. Note the broom on C&NW 6701 at Escanaba, Mich.

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my memory is correct, this loco is one of the ex-N&W Alco C628s which went to the C&NW for ore hauling service.

In this case the broom was also used to clean taconite pellets out of switch points. It's a nice little detail that can be added to a model.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

On 04 Jul 2004 17:47:58 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.comSPAMnot (Two23) shared this with the world:

Or, when it gets really bad, they bring out a jet powered snow blower (

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). Yes, that's a jet engine in there. Real noisy when they're running.

Kent

Reply to
Kent Ashton

You know, that could be a good prototypical disguise for a track vacuum. Probably not workable in N scale -- vacuum bags too small :-) but maybe at O scale?? Or a garden guage leaf blower?

Reply to
Dave Curtis

Any possibility they were spares for a quiddich match? Gene ABV61-1043.001.HCB

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"Skinny Dipping and Other Stories" On the web at
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and look for "Into Joy From Sadness" soon.

Reply to
STEAM GENE

We'll have to wait for an 0-ga Harry Potter train to come out to know that. Details on HO are so tiny you'd never see a broom.

Kent in SD

Reply to
Two23

Years ago the NYC tried using jet engines to clear track along the Hudson one bad winter. They were ^very* noisy !

Reply to
Greg Pavlov

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