Truly a beast of a machine... a mechanical battering ram... These communities would have been snowed in for weeks, and isolated, without the help of these massive vehicles... My dad said it would be up to a week before a snow fighter would come thru and open up the roads near Bayfield, Wisconsin, where he lived, right on the shore of Lake Superior, in the 20's and 30's, when he was a kid... Look at that film... that goes back to a time when men were men, and machines were machines...
Great video. My grandfather worked for a highway dept. in upstate NY around that time, and these sights were familiar to him. Nice to see something from the past.
Tell you what it's amazing how tough those trucks are! Constant pounding they took and just kept on going. It amazes me how the did so much more with so much less back then. And love the citizens riding in back for weight. Try that today! Lol! Great vid bro, plz keep them coming if you can! Thanks
Rob Steves , the driver was as important as the truck..., took knowledge and skill to , "foot Off the gas,hit the clutch", just before the blade impacted the snow... so the engine and drivetrain were spared the shock...
My Dad ,George Drove one of these in the winter of 1953-52 for the Town of Bar Harbor. He and Purse Harding his Walters wingman would work long hours keeping the main roads clear in and out of Bar Harbor and to the Hospital. I remember riding one Saturday off school in middle of the front seat of that 1936 Walters Plow . Dad disliked chains and only used them on the rear. The Walters was all wheel drive with locked rear ends for plow work . It was all noise and engine !....I believe Dad said her top speed was about 40 . Once after all roads were pretty much clear someone wanted the Town cematary main drive clear....Dad pulled up to the gate..and remarked to Purse "Do you remember where and how the road runs so we don't hit any stones ?" They didn't hit any...lol.
Those old Walters were purpose built for one job...and when they went to work, the job got done come hell or high water ! Not like the "multi purpose" rigs of today which are usually just a 10 wheel dump truck that they hang a plow on come the 1st of November.
Notice all the snow blew out of the fields on either side and into the cut. Elimniating deep cuts, using snow fence and so much farmlands going back to forests since then are reasons that make this a rare sight today.
when I was a kid I can remember almost every able bodied person coming out and shoveling in front of the plow to help it out, back then they had one old Mack, now we have six ten wheelers, a grader, a payloader and backhoe and the people expect the plows out if they think it's going to snow.
Can only have respect for these guys and the plough designers, first rate effort with relatively low under powered trucks, the Camera Man is just Great ! Nowadays the local council men would take one look at this and go home or on strike !
And I thought we had a lot of snow up in Northern Minnesnowta! Amazing film clip of old-fashioned snow removal. I was amused as to the use of human cargo for additional weight/traction. As a babyboomer,I recall the city had a fleet of Austin-western FWD road graders with "V"plow and wing plow attachments. There were also various Oshkosh snowplows and at least one Walter.
Man, those old gals definitely earned their keep back then. Nowadays, even on Tug Hill, if the plows arent out constantly the highway superintendants will catch hell.
Given the year and the (then) technology this machine was revolutionary for its ability. Notice the rather light-pack snow on the surrounding fields, yet the roadways were drifted-in heavy with encrusted snow-pack. The ramming maneuver was obviously an effective practice in the 30s. One of the observers from that time got the idea for an eventual 'snowblower' no doubt which meant less shoveling.
What powered these behemoth trucks? Waukesha, Hall-Scott Gasoline Engines? I like the part when the driver allows the bystanders to stand up in the bed for additional mass/traction
I know this was the middle of the depression so men had a lot of free rime, but there must have been at least 20 people following that plow at some points. I guess if you are snowed in out in the countryside, that would also be classed as entertainment. Great video.
the walters truck is a four wheel drive...with outriggers...a v blade that throughs the snow up, path of least resistance & wings on both sides to push back the banks...
I wonder where on the hill this was filmed. We've got a place between Osceola & Redfield...and I remember an ald walters coming through as a little kid (late 70's-early 80's) but for the longest time they've been running Oshkosh.
Never understood why they didn't run two Walter trucks in tandem with the front driver having control over throttle linkage, clutch, and shifting of truck attached in back. That would have added enormous traction and eliminated the jack rabbit start and stops that wrecks the entire drive train, unless of course they were trying to keep the labor party afloat.
Almost 30yrs of plowing snow the only thing I can see he's doing wrong or could change and that's backing up and getting as much speed possible and use that momentum to drive into the snow and pushing it further because anyone who knows plowing knows to keep the momentum going and sometimes getting a run at it will keep you moving a little more.
Oh yes, there are even better trucks today. A modern Oshkosh plow truck would make that old Walter look like a toy. However, it seems that there is much less need for dedicated plow trucks in most regions now due to the combination of better roads and fleets of high-speed plows keeping the roads open. Still, Walter trucks were amazing in their day, even almost up until modern times when their production came to an end.
And now if we have a inch of snow on the roads we are getting called in to plow people are so spoiled today.. I would love to leave the roads like this just once
Standard Trucks of then through the 60's and 70's compares to today: Then: 2 axle, 4x4 Today: 2 axle, 4 axle, 2x4, sometimes 4x4, 4x6 Then: Box loaded with cement for weight, sometimes up to 50 tons Today;3 tons of salt Then: cruised through 6ft of snow with ease Today: struggle with 2 ft Then: werent no BMW, but got shit done Today: turned into BMWs that try to get shit done but fail
Cat 60 would have been outclassed! RD8 was just being introduced, maybe some competition around 30,000 lbs. But probably not against your fully ballasted biggest Walter, FWD, or Oshkosh back then. They could outweigh and have more horsepower!
@247Countryboy1 Lots more main companies than you listed bub. You listed your main companies, so be fair. BTW, Walters became FWD, Oshkosh is the only survivor, the rest as they were are sadly gone. I miss those days of good competition when everyone was the winner and foreign wasn't an issue.
Late reply here, but to clarify for anyone else, Walter and FWD always were separate companies. In fact, FWD was probably the first of the major heavy-duty 4x4 brands. If I'm not mistaken, though FWD and Oshkosh had common ancestry in terms of the people behind the companies, and FWD was first. Oshkosh came along later (still a long time ago).
here in south jersey they declare a state of emergency if they see more than two snowflakes... at least we had some actual snow this year... i hope next year is even "worse" (I mean better, but most people around here don't like it)
