1506 writes:
They also employed snow cars which would run at night in open sections
with a very hard brush (imagine 2" nails as each bristle) and a grease
to sit on the rail making icing near impossible.

This would seem to be a solution. although I liked the idea, up
thread, of self warming rails (and overhead).

Wouldn't something involving a flamethrower be more entertaining
though...?

-miles

--
Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of
a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however,
is a most useful work.