<P><br> <br>




upacific@copland.udel.edu

<P>I just had to get a plug in for our museum.<br>




Elgin County Railway Museum's Jordan Speader
rsterne@hotmail.com

<P>There may still be a GTW Jordan spreader derelict at Durand, Michigan. This was an extremely old model with a wooden cab, a bit busted up. We'll see if it's still there when PM 1225 is there for display during the Durand Railroad Days festival on May 20th. This spreader would probbly be available to any museum that wanted it.<p>There was another very old spreader on the former Michigan Northern at Cadillac, Michigan, but it may have been removed or scrapped by now.<p>Aarne H. Frobom<br>Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, Inc.<br>P. O. Box 665<br>Owosso, MI 48867-0665<br>




froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

<P>Actually, Michigan Northern had two Jordans, one had its back broken in a derailment when leased to the TSBY. I don't know what happened to the other one. The GTW spreader was for sale (and over priced in my opinion) It had an interesting homemade wooden cab which extended all the way around the air tank and a second coal stove to keep any section men warm who were riding the car.<p>Jordans are still used, they make excellent snowplows, I have seen several on the SP, at least one was painted in Daylight colors! The big advantage in snow plowing is that you can plow slowly on bad track and still get the snow away from the track, rather than depending on speed to throw snow with a wedge plow.<p>Quoting Mr. Robert Ahlf, at a recent short course on track at Madison, Wis, "The Jordan Spreader is most useful in open terrain, and is an enormously productive machine under these conditions". This statement was in regard to contouring shoulders of a railroad roadbed.<p>The June 1969 issue of Trains (you must have a copy if you have read this far)has an article on the O. F. Jordan company and its products.<p>In the small world department, one of our two spreaders is the rebuilt MP X-238, purchased at a Union Pacific auction. It is pictured in the Trains article, both before and after its factory rebuild. Its S/N is #713, shipped from the plant 11/12/28. It is a Type A.<p>Our second spreader is ex-NP, S/N #1033, shipped 8/21/37. It is a Model 2-180. We bought that one out of a scrap yard after BN retired it due to "air leaks".<p>We did have a third spreader ex-WP #13, S/N 1122, shipped 1/31/52, a Model 2-220. That one was resold to the Dakota, Minnesota Valley & Western in North Dakota after they knocked the horn off a locomotive hitting drifts without a plow. Photographs of this particular spreader, on the WP, were used to illustrate Overland Models ads for an HO model.<p>For you Jordan connoisseurs, of which I am obviously one, a Model 2-150 has only a straight spreader wing, no bank sloper. It's a spreader. A Model 2-180 has a pivoting bank sloper on the end of the main wing, it is a spreader/ditcher. A Model 2-200 adds a high front plow that angles back to the cab, a spreader/ditcher/snowplow. A Model 2-220 has the later snowplow with a vertical wedge nose with prominent "bat wings". The larger Jordans are Type A's, succeeded by Type J's, which are hydraulic rather than air operated.<p>The Jordan company is still around, it became part of Jackson-Jordan, then Pandrol Jackson, still headquartered at Ludington, MI. They still support spreaders, and they have a record file on each one. (Which is where I got the shipping dates above) <p>Due to Class I's refusal to move equipment that has friction bearings, some serviceable spreaders have gone to scrap when offered for sale.<p>There were competitors. I have seen one, a Bucyrus at Port Inland, MI several years ago and am told that a few others still exist at iron ore pits.<p>I will close with a shameless plug. We made it a policy to buy spreader parts whenever they came up for sale at auction. If you need repair parts, hinges, air locks, etc, you may e-mail me off list.<p>Alex Huff <br>Dakota Southern Railway<br><br>




dsrc512@sd.cybernex.net