SNOWDRIFT AT BLEATH GILL

[Music] there is still no break in the cold spell heavy snow shars in areas around York mbor and Darlington have affected rail traffic where a strong Southwest wind has swept ped snow off the surrounding hillsides into many rail cuttings blocking them completely some roads also have been made virtually impossible and one or two Villages are [Music] temporar it was about 5:00 a.m. On th to the 24th of February when the operating Department heard that the 420 a.m. Goods was stuck in a heavy drift in Bleach Gill Motive Power sent in two engines and two heavy plows but conditions were still bad and the plowers got stuck too then it was up to the civil engineers a plan was agreed with the other two departments and the local inspectors briefed their men men from Darlington West Oakland even from a alongside the line well we dug the plows out after a struggle and started all over again Motive Power ran the plows up and down to get one line clear then we could start thinking about the stock train so we embarked our men in the snow plows and ran them as close into blea kill as we could [Music] a [Music] [Music] when you get a job of this sort all the snow plows in the world can't do away with the need for good solid backbreaking digging once one line was clear it was handed back to the operating apartment digging went on throughout the night by the Light of the Silvery Moon helped out by pressure lamps of course very romantic but it didn't make the job any more convenient or comfortable the thing is to give the plows a reasonable chance of getting through a drift without getting stuck we have to cut the snow up into chunks like eating land ladyes cake the more it's divided the easier it is to get through [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] besides it's always a comfort to know if we still got a line down under neath the snow oh there you are and here we had good time as we kept the work going in shifts night and day changeovers and feeding had to be organized no restaurants on stain more Summit so the refreshment rooms at darned Castle found themselves cleaned out of sandwiches and [Music] tea driving an engine is one thing blinding a plow into a drift is another [Music] hey when you get a cab full of snow and steam and smoke and spume all you want is to stop but the diggers want loose snow to work on so you just have to keep going the train was reached at about 3:00 p.m. on the Monday 4 days after it was first stranded and that you might think was that but it wasn't when it decides to stick in a drift an engine is pretty hot and melts quite a lot of the snow that piles up over it but then it cools down after a bit and the whole lot gets Frozen as solid as an iceberg so that meant more digging [Applause] on this sort of job the district engineer and the operating superintendent are always popping up to see how the work's going they usually have a word of the chief Perman away inspector too to find out how much digging will have to be done before getting onto the next stage with a 40 mph wind blowing powdered snow back into your face you'd think the language would be enough to bring in a general cor what but language wasn't enough to P this engine [Music] [Applause] [Applause] out even when the drift Snow's cleared every joint every valve and piston is a solid block of ice so is the boiler by this time but we ignore that one we just throw out all the moving Parts with cotton weight suting paraffin and with steam Jets from the rescue [Applause] engine it looks a bit crude it is but when you on the M Toops with nothing but snow and bad language and whatever tools you've been able to drag with you it's the only thing to do and and the crude equipment does the job anyway after an hour or two the moving Parts ought to be free all right it's still Touch and Go whether she can move or not but we brought a couple of engines with us so we HED her up and have a go [Music] la now you would think you could pack up and go home but there are still the wagons to get out as well and that means more digging [Music] until at last they're all out five slogging days after the train first got stuck but when this sort of thing happens we get stuck into it and then dig ourselves goes out it's amazing how much faster nature can do the job for you when it wants to and then the 420 Goods comes back to normal again till the next time anyway [Music]