The following video was taken the morning after the first major snowstorm of the winter hit the Canadian Rockies. Hundreds of trees had fallen on the tracks overnight and crews worked feverishly to clear the line but as a growing number of trains began to get backed up at the station, the decision came down to “just go.”
Jake Daly was the engineer behind the windshield of the two mile long train made up of empty grain hopper cars that was tasked with being the first to go. The locomotive he operated wasn’t designed to be a snowplow but did have a regular cowcatcher that proved sufficient to blast through the downed trees. Some questioned whether Jake had in fact gone rouge on this faithful day but he was following orders from his superiors:
“We were under direction to give’r and give’r we did.” -Jake Daly
All told the locomotive did suffer some damage after this wild ride including a bent cowcatcher, bent handrails, and a smashed headlight. The saying goes, if you love your job you will never work a day in your life. Not sure if Jake Daley is this blissful everyday but when it snows it doesn’t seem like a paycheck is required to keep this guy in a locomotive cab.