Can a Hornby O Gauge Snowplough actually move snow? We set out to find out when producing the Christmas image below. Scroll down to see how it was captured...
The snowplough and No. 2 Tank locomotive are both circa 1929 - the snowplough has rounded handles on the sliding doors and vents to the left, whereas earlier models (as shown in the 1927-28 Hornby Book of Trains) had rectangular door handles and vented to the right. As you can see below, the front axle of the snowplough was lifted slightly off the rails using a frame constructed from Lego blocks. A Lego motor was connected to the front axle of the snowplough using a piece of heat-shrink sleeve and the setup was tested. After adjusting the polarity the fan spun freely in the right direction.
The 'snow' is a mix of ice shavings from the freezer and flour. The images were taken with a Canon EOS X4 at f/5.6, 1/125 sec and 34mm focal length. The colour balance and contrast were adjusted to blend the flour and ice colours. Then the background and the motor shaft were removed and replaced with some winter trees from https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-leafless-tree-surrounded-by-snow-774531/. The snowplough was gently washed and dried to clean off the flour!
