LRT Specialty Equipment
Snow Removal Equipment #3590-3594?, 3860-3861
Snow removal started of quite simple on the LRT. The Kal Trac had some sort of snow remover attachment. Next up was first Typhoon, #3860, in 1986. The Typhoon is often seeing clearing the DLM yards during the day, but at night it will venture onto the mainline to remove snow where needed. This is usually around switches. Although there are cold air blowers, the Typhoon will remove snow that's been packed in by passing trains. Next up are a pair of RPM Tech cold air blower. #3590 is a HR-700 and 3591 is AF1 "Air Forced One". Both are mounted on hi rail truck chassis, with movable and positionable blowers. I've never seen 3590 out. 3591 I've seen used to clear tracks in stations, tail tracks, and an assortment of other uses. With more mileage added with the SLRT and NLRT under construction, ETS added a second Typhoon which was rebuilt in house. This ex Union Pacific unit became #3861. A pair of Cameleon flangeway clearers were added to the fleet. These units meant that less manual work was required to clean snow and ice buildup from grade crossing flangeways and other areas, as well as general snow removal with their booms. With the completion of the NLRT extension, which features embedded track, the second Cameleon was added to the fleet. Dump trucks were added to the fleet, as well as a RPM Tech LM220 snowblower attachment for a loader. In addition there's a few other piece of equipment included on this page.
(Sources: Personal observations, Edmonton's Electric Transit, Various Editions of the Canadian Trackside Guide)
| 3590 and 3591 RPM Tech Air Forced One- These two snow removal vehicles have a movable nozzle used to blow snow from the right of way. They are also hi-rail equipped. So far I have only encountered 3591 in use. I have seen it used down on south line, I've seen it used to clear "E Track", the Clareview tail track, and 1 time in particular illustrating the versatility of the machines, clearing switches from the side of the track while train service continued. | |||
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3590 | June 12, 2009 | #3590 inside at the DLM ROW building. |
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3590 | June 12, 2009 | #3590 inside at the DLM ROW building. |
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3590 | June 12, 2009 | #3590 inside at the DLM ROW building. |
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3590 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3590 on display during the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3591 | March 5, 2009 | My first encounter with 3591. I didn't realize this beast existed until this day. Down south of Health Sciences Station to clear turnouts and track before the first powered test runs of the line to South Campus. |
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3591 | March 5, 2009 | #3591 clearing the turnouts south of HSS for the first powered runs on the SLRT to South Campus. |
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3591 | March 5, 2009 | #3591 clearing the turnouts south of HSS for the first powered runs on the SLRT to South Campus. |
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3591 | June 12, 2009 | #3591 inside DLM, waiting to do battle with the next seasons snow. |
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3591 | December 13, 2010 | #3591 at 112 Ave. I don't recall the exact issue now, but, LRT was single tracking. This was before the NE Signal upgrades, so, the signal system wasn't bi-directional. As a result a LRT employee had driven this unit here so that they could manually operate the crossing gates. |
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3591 | January 15, 2012 | ETS #3591 clearning a Coliseum turnout from trackside after a snowfall. |
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3591 | February 12, 2016 | ETS #3591 clearing the Clareview tailtrack. |
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3591 | February 12, 2016 | ETS #3591 clearing the Clareview tailtrack. |
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3591 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3591on display during the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house, new in the new livery. |
| 3592,3594? RPM Tech Cameleon- These two piece of equipment first | |||
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3592 | January 9, 2013 | My first encounter with a Cameleon was watching ETS #3592 pass through Coliseum after the last southbound train and then catch up to it as it went to work clearing the flanges at the 82 St crossing. |
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3592 | January 9, 2013 | ETS #3592 clearning flangeways at the 82 St crossing. |
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3592 | January 9, 2013 | ETS #3592 clearning flangeways at the 82 St crossing. |
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3592 | January 9, 2013 | ETS #3592 now at 112 Ave on flangeway clearing duty. |
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3592 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3592 on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3592 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3592 on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3592 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3592 on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3594? | November 25, 2015 | ETS #3594? working on the southbound mainline at 105 St on the NLRT after the last service train has gone through. This both Cameleon's were out in this instance, and the second one has no fleet number. |
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3594? | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3594? on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3594? | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3594? on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3594? | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3594? on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
| 3593 Bobcat T110- This piece of equipment fits right in with the existing snow removal equipment, and that's where I've seen it in use before. I've seen it used to clear around pedestrian crossings in the South, and at DLM along the concrete aprons outside of the doors at DLM. | |||
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3593 | November 14, 2012 | #3593 at Century Park. |
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3593 | November 14, 2012 | #3593 at Century Park. |
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3593 | January 4, 2017 | ETS #3593 heading south on 111 St outside of Southgate Station as recall, while on pedestrian crossing snow clearing duty. |
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3593 | January 4, 2017 | ETS #3593 heading south on 111 St outside of Southgate Station as recall, while on pedestrian crossing snow clearing duty. |
| 3860-3861 Portec RMC Typhoon Snow Blowers | |||
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3860 | April 26, 2003 | ETS #3860 on display inside of D.L. McDonald. |
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3860 | April 26, 2003 | ETS #3860 on display inside of D.L. McDonald. |
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3860 | September 20, 2008 | ETS #3860 inside of the shop building at the D.L. McDonald Transit Yards. |
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3860 | November 11, 2006 | ETS #3860 in the DLM north yard. No operator present, so perhaps on a break at the time. |
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3860 | October 14, 2016 | ETS #3860 clearing a switch in the DLM north yard. |
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3861 | June 12, 2008 | 3861 inside of the RoW Building at D.L. McDonald, undergoing rebuilding. Originally this was Union Pacific 173273 |
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3861 | January 9, 2013 | ETS #3861 clearing track in the north yard at DLM. |
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3861 | January 9, 2013 | ETS #3861 clearing track in the north yard at DLM. |
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3861 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3861 on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
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3861 | June 16, 2018 | ETS #3861 on display at the 40th Anniversary of LRT open house. |
This page last updated in June 13, 2021