Snow on the tracks

[eastwestdivide]

We used to put gurt great bin bags over the buckeyes on units in my days in this kind of weather. (Otherwise, you just could not get the bu88ers to open). Is that still done with Delners etc?

I've seen yellow 'binbags' on Pacer couplings in recent years here in S Yorks in snowy weather.

[Trev52A]

Seen from the ramp leading down to the opposite platform at Monkseaton, Tyne&Wear metrocar No 4041 is at the rear of a train to St.James (Newcastle) on 15th January 2013

 

Trevor

[Derekl]

I've seen yellow 'binbags' on Pacer couplings in recent years here in S Yorks in snowy weather.

 

I recall seeing bags on the couplers on Voyagers and 185s in some very cold weather at York a few years back - a good few years back in 2005

[60091]

60009 departing from Garsdale - November 1991.

 

Edited December 11, 2017 by 60091

[eastwestdivide]

I've seen yellow 'binbags' on Pacer couplings in recent years here in S Yorks in snowy weather.

Quoting myself, now I found the photo, from 2010:

 

Also from 2010, the snow got too much for Rotherham Central:

 

so they closed it and diverted stuff past the closed Masborough:

 

And powdery stuff on the ECML:

(I was the public side of the fence)

[Phil Bullock]

No snow in SW Hampshire, so a couple from 'the archives'!

 

You cant go wrong with Vigo and Blackwell Andy!

 

That 47 just needs these on the back....

 

 

Phil

[Unicorn1]

This may have appeared on RM web before so apologies if it has.

 

RHDR No7 near Pilot Crossing, Dungeness.

 

 

 

 

 

[eastglosmog]

Charlbury station this evening:

 

And the 20:40 about to set off for Worcester:

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by eastglosmog
Restore photos

[Trev52A]

This Q6 has been in the wars, by the look of it...

 

63456 at Sunderland shed in January 1965

 

Trevor

[Andy Louch]

You cant go wrong with Vigo and Blackwell Andy!

 

That 47 just needs these on the back....

 

2013 railway Xmas card.jpg

 

Phil

 

Thanks Phil, Happy days!!

[chris-shay]

Back in 1997 I took a trip up to Prince George on the Cariboo Prospector. Picking up a hire car, I went in search of the Tumbler branch and was lucky enough to catch three of the GF6C electrics.

[Clydebridge]

Mossend Yard in a blizzard.

 

 

 

 

Mossend Down Yard

 

 

[Rugd1022]

DIRFT yesterday...

 

[Southof1E top tmd]

 

67004 at a snow free Fort William with 1S25 sleeper from Euston on 220113. The snow was thick over Rannoch and Corrour with one large drift being relocated to Fort William!

[SED Freightman]

33058 hauling an unidentified 4CEP at Waterloo East forming the 0831 Ashford to Charing Cross on 15/01/87, back in the days when the railway could still usually be relied upon in the event of bad weather.

 

 

[Gareth 73]

Network rails 97s leave shrewsbury after the end of rhtt duties. Photo by signalman Baker

[60091]

2nd Feb 1991.

777 crossing Arten Gill Viaduct.

...and approaching Dent. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by 60091

[Swindon 123]

Some more shots I took whilst driving in snow. The two at Dorrington show how hard it becomes to spot signals, especially semaphores, when snow is falling. all pics taken working the afternoon Dee Marsh service on 9th February 2007.

 

Approaching the site of Fords Bridge SB and level crossing. Road traffic on the A49 not having much fun either.

 

Approaching Dorrington. The green light in the gloom is Dorringtons Up colour light distant signal.

 

Dorrington again, this time Dorringtons Up home semaphore section signal is out there in the gloom.

 

Paul J.

[Rivercider]

Penistone Station between trains, less than 6 months before the closure of the Woodhead Route. 26/2/81

 

cheers

[unravelled]

Two from Oxford in 1966

 

 

Brockley Bank, looking towards New Cross Gate in 2009

 

[Mike Storey]

33058 hauling an unidentified 4CEP at Waterloo East forming the 0831 Ashford to Charing Cross on 15/01/87, back in the days when the railway could still usually be relied upon in the event of bad weather.

 

Lovely picture, but I am not sure about the comment! I was still SM at Brighton that winter, which was a bad one, and little moved there for days. P/Way were doing everything they could, but the drifts and the freezing temperatures simply overwhelmed them and the point heaters. I went out with a venerable colleague, carrying what I can only describe as flame-throwers (goodness knows where he got them from) in an attempt to clear the points on the western side. How we didn't die I don't know (the juice was still on but you could hardly see the con rail anywhere) and it was all a complete waste of time. As soon as we released one point and tested it with the box, and moved on to the next, the previous one would have frozen up again by the time we finished the next one. So we tried setting routes manually, by winding and blocking, but there was virtually no track detection and we just did not have anywhere near enough flagmen. We moved one train from Hove in four hours, and that had about six people on it.

 

Great determination, but little to show for it.

[The Border Reiver]

On 2nd April 1966 a few of us that lived in Carlisle, despite severe blizzard conditions ovenight, decided to go to to Carleton (2.5 miles south of the station) on a local bus to photo 4472 Flying Scotsman on the 'Stephenson Locomotive Society / Manchester Locomotive Society Lakes & Fells Rail Tour'. The train was coming up the Settle line then down the WCML to Penrith, then on to Keswick hauled by 2 Ivatt 2-6-0 locos.

After we got off the bus. we struggled along a footpath through two foot snow drifts to the railway line and waited. Unknown to us the train was delayed waiting for a snowplough to reach Hellifield resulting in departure from Hellifield 54mins late. Meanwhile we were all freezing while standing in snow at the entrance to the cutting at the end of the embankment.

Eventually, 79 mins late, we saw a plume of smoke approaching. My friends had decided to go to the cutting a couple of hundered yards from where I was standing by the embankment. As the train approached I fired off a couple of shots, the latter one resulted in the photo below. However, immediately as I clicked the shutter, a class 40 on a long down freight hurtled past. Needless to say my friends never got any decent photos due the the freight. To say they were annoyed is an understatement and they expressed their annoyance very verbally indeed!

 

[The Stationmaster]

Some more shots I took whilst driving in snow. The two at Dorrington show how hard it becomes to spot signals, especially semaphores, when snow is falling. all pics taken working the afternoon Dee Marsh service on 9th February 2007.

 

Approaching the site of Fords Bridge SB and level crossing. Road traffic on the A49 not having much fun either.

Fords Bridge. 09-02-2007..jpg

 

 

Paul J.

 

Ford Bridge was the station and signalbox name.  Not Fords

[The Stationmaster]

Lovely picture, but I am not sure about the comment! I was still SM at Brighton that winter, which was a bad one, and little moved there for days. P/Way were doing everything they could, but the drifts and the freezing temperatures simply overwhelmed them and the point heaters. I went out with a venerable colleague, carrying what I can only describe as flame-throwers (goodness knows where he got them from) in an attempt to clear the points on the western side. How we didn't die I don't know (the juice was still on but you could hardly see the con rail anywhere) and it was all a complete waste of time. As soon as we released one point and tested it with the box, and moved on to the next, the previous one would have frozen up again by the time we finished the next one. So we tried setting routes manually, by winding and blocking, but there was virtually no track detection and we just did not have anywhere near enough flagmen. We moved one train from Hove in four hours, and that had about six people on it.

 

Great determination, but little to show for it.

The problem always was that if you melted the snow the melted snow and water would quickly freeze (steam lances were probably safer to the user than flame guns although you obviously needed either a steam engine or a diesel with a boiler to use a steam lance) .  the trick was therefore to get salt down on the slide chairs as soon as they were cleared and ideally to slosh it with oil to avoid rust on the slides.  But it was always a battle against nature if the snow was still falling and especially if ground temperature was below freezing - I spent several hours of New Year's Night 1978/79 desperately trying to clear and keep clear both ends of a long double slip and it was re-freezing almost as quickly as I managed to clear it.

 

Provided you could keep them clear it was usually the simplest to clear and keep clear points in deep settled snow but you had to take care to clear out any icing between the switch and stock rails when they were moved or you were back to square one (hence the old hands would have a special scraper ready for use in such circumstances).  A long way from  'silly soft stuff' is snow.

[Rugd1022]

Cliffe Hill between Bardon Hill and Bagworth Junction...