Loading ...Wow! A stuck “Empire Builder”. At least they had enough fuel to keep the engines powered and the heat on. I bet the BNSF track crews caught hell for not keeping the line open, but when the wind howls up north in a dry snow, the drifts will close in right behind your plow.
In January 1952 the Union Pacific “City of San Francisco” got stuck in the deep drifts of Donner Pass over the Sierra Nevada mountains. They lost power to the train after awhile and passengers were huddled with blankets for three days before having to hike thru the snow to be rescued from a nearby highway that had to be cleared also.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_San_Francisco_(train)
The train was stuck for a total of six days, and even the plows were getting stuck while trying to free the train. This rotary snowblower was instrumental in digging out the train:
http://railpictures.net/photo/608449/
And now you know why they do all this work:
http://railpictures.net/photo/608146/