to the people who have walthers rotary snow plows

[HOplasserem80c]

i bought one from a hobby shop and walthers was sold out at the time so i never got it.i was wondering does it have a motor in it. And does it run well

[Craig]

The Walthers rotary snowplow I have is driven by a rubber band attached to an axle. When the locomotive moves the plow the rotor turns. It works very poorly. Plastic wheels slip quite easily on metal track so it almost never turns. You could add 5 ounces of weight and it would still slip.

[r0bert]

It's the Athearn old version plow that uses a rubber band to turn the blade connected to a wheel axle, not the walthers version.
yes,  the walthers rotary has a motor to turn the plow blade, but like the prototype, the plow has to be moved by pusher locos.  the motor has no drive connection to the wheels, only the electrical pickups.
the new release athearn plow is now also motor driven.

[Craig]

Thanks for correcting my error, Robert. I had always assumed this was a Walthers item.

[HOplasserem80c]

wait so now te athearn plows run without a pusher loco

[r0bert]

NO, the motor ONLY operates the plow blade, the plow, like the prototype is NOT self-propeled, and is moved by pusher locos.

[Stephen D. Richards]

I've got one of the Athearn snow plows and it  (new one) works very well.  Good rail contact and lots of room inside bothe the plow and the tender for some new and neat ideas!

[HOplasserem80c]

ok do the walthers snow plows run by them selves?

[jschmid]

no plassmer, the rotary plow has a motor inside it to turn the blade, not to propell it,.To make it move, couple a locomotive or 2 or 3 behind it.

(hence a railroad car cannot move itself)

[gearman]

The new Athern Plow blade turns from track power and rus great but with DCC it's running all the time. No switch to turn it off

[Guilford Guy]

Gear man- I would only think it would turn all the time if it was hooked up to the light output on the decoder.

[HOplasserem80c]

or if the transformer is in netral. Now that i think about it i need a transformer with netral on it

[Guilford Guy]

or if the transformer is in netral. Now that i think about it i need a transformer with netral on it

we are taking about DCC...