the 4-200, which was equipped with a straight wing with a low nose blade,
the 4-150, which was of broken wing design with a low front blade, and
the 4-100 which was broken wing design and had a high snow plow.
In 1955, Jordan introduced two of there largest developments to date. The front cab, and the Type J Spreader. The Type J was the new, all hydraulic
powered model. The Type J was completely self contained, meaning that no longer did a locomotive have to provide compressed air to operate it. The Type J featured
an onboard hydraulic pump and generator. The Type J spreader essentially took the Type A model and made it Hydraulic. The Type J Spreader was 50' long, and weighed
in at around 70 Tons. Type J Spreaders were offered from 1955 (along side Type A and Road Master pneumatic machines until the mid 1960's) until major production
ended in the mid 1980's.
The Type J Spreader, like all other models had numerous options, however, several of these were specific to the Type J. Typical options were the
removable ice cutting teeth, sliding ditch castings mounted inside the wing, nose blade and wing options amongst others. The Wings on Type J machines were either
straight, or broken wing. Broken wing machines could be either long or short wing, both of which had the carrier wing option. Instead of the carrier wing having a
large brace going back to the vertical post, it now utilized the hydraulic cylinder from the bank sloper, which was moved down to a bracket on the wing itself and
used to control the carrier wing angle. Type J machines had the option of either the low, reversible blade, a medium “heavy duty” reversible blade (used in
conjucntion with heavier plow sides, and a larger, solid frame behind the plow), or a high snowplow (with reversible lower portion). The front cab allowed for
a smaller operating manifold for the various functions, thus freeing up massive amounts of space in the cab. Many railroads choose to add a locomotive control
stand in the cab. In the earliest known photo of a Type J (ATSF 199246), the diagonal brace had a round tube with the hydraulic cylinder built into it, this
later being revised to a telescopic square tube assemble with the cylinder mounted behind it (changed on above mentioned ATSF machine). Wing brace locks were a
new design which used a sliding key to operate the gear rack, or on some select machines, the older hydraulic friction locks were used. All of these parts are
explained more on the “parts” page.
The Jordan Type J Spreader proved to be one of the most popular machines. Jordan produced many between the mid 1960's until the early 1980's when
production wound down. 1982, the last Jordan Spreader was built in the East Chicago plant before the plant was sold and production moved to other Jackson plants.
The last “mass” produced Spreader was built in 1985. In 2000, things changed. The Alaska Railroad contracted Harsco Rail (current owners) to produce them a new
spreader. Alaksa Spreader #9, looks to be a standard high blade, straight wing machine, which it is, abit with many new upgrades. This new Spreader featured a
modern day generator/pump assembly, a locomotive control stand in the cab, as well as modern wing controls, which are now done with the use of a joy stick on each
side. A photo of this machine appears on the photos page.
Canadian Pacific 402894, a typical Jordan model 4-200 Spreader. Philip Goldstein Photo.
SPMW #4034: This is a Jordan "Heavy Duty" Spreader, which was used by SP for Snow Service. Len Murray photo
In late 2012, Harsco Rail announced the production of Spreaders again. What it now refereed to as the “Spreader-Ditcher” (The Jordan name is now
officially dropped), is a Type J Spreader at heart, but with countless upgrades. The new machine is slightly longer (53') but has many of the same options offered
since 1955. Machines could be equiped with either a high or low, reversible plow blade (optional power angle adjustment), straight or broken wing, sliding ditch castings, long or short wings, etc.
These new machines have a newly designed cab, optional enclosed walkway, modern power and hydraulic units and optional locomotive controls. So far, 4 machines have
been built as listed below.
BNSF X5002683/939800, Built 12/2012. High blade, broken wing, fully enclosed walkway, locomotive controls.
LIRR 4230, Built 3/2013. High blade, short broken wing, no enclosed walkway, no locomtoive controls.
BNSF X5002684/939801. Built 12/2013. High blade, broken wing, fully enclosed walkway, locomotive controls.
BNSF X5002685. Built 4/2014. High blade, broken wing, fully enclosed walkway, locomotive controls.
LIRR 4230 Ditching the Port Jefferson Branch. Photo by MTA/LIRR. Used under Creative Commons via MTAPhotos Flickr.
