Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
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Post by Oracle on Dec 23, 2009 9:25:55 GMT
I can only recall bits and pieces of that terrible winter...blizzards just before Christmas Day at Bedfont (just south of the A30 at Heathrow Airport Service Area), snowing on Christmas Day...but I suppose as my brother and I walked from out then home in Feltham about a mile to school and back, we did not notice the continuing cold weather. However, I have just finished adding captions to several photos taken by COMMERCIAL MOTOR in March 1963, and I am amazed at the sights! On Salisbury Plain snow was several feet deep, in Devon trucks slipped and slid into each other..but London seems to have been relatively clear.
I lived near the Southern Region Windsor Lines but we still had plenty of steam locos on freights into the Marshalling Yard. However I cannot recall anything about the effects on passenger train services..how was the Underground affected? I do recall the winter of 1981/2 though..I used to work for a time in Wealdstone and in the horrible snow in early '82 used to take the Picc from Hounslow West to Acton Town, then change, go to South Harrow and catch a bus via Harrow-on-the-Hill or walk if there was no bus! Trains did run though, despite the white stuff!
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SE13
In memoriam
RIP 23-Oct-2013
Glorious Gooner
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Post by SE13 on Dec 23, 2009 9:32:55 GMT
The winter of 81/82 was the worst I can remember, it got down to -26 one night, and I remember seeing pictures of the sea frozen at Margate. Buses failed because the diesel was freezing. Some cars in our street were frozen to the road!
I don't know whether LU was affected, it doesn't serve Lewisham, and we didn't leave the house for days.
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Post by Dmitri on Dec 23, 2009 9:57:06 GMT
it got down to -26 one night -26 F  ? We had it down to ca. -30 C in mid-January, 2006. There were much less than usual cars on the streets  . |
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SE13
In memoriam
RIP 23-Oct-2013
Glorious Gooner
Posts: 9,737
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Post by SE13 on Dec 23, 2009 10:02:22 GMT
it got down to -26 one night -26 F ? We had it down to ca. -30 C in mid-January, 2006. There were much less than usual cars on the streets . No -26C (About -15F)  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2009 17:35:18 GMT
The first winter I was on the railways (1986/7) I was asked to help out at Brockenhurst in the New Forest one Sunday to assist passengers on and off of terminating trains as the line was closed for engineering work between there and Totton. The Lymington branch train was happily running up and down its own bit of track until the time came to remove a ballast train from the sidings. A class 73 arrived from Bournemouth and the Driver had the devils own job getting the Diesel engine started. Eventually he succeeded, not only in starting the engine but also in smoking out the whole area! Once the loco was in the sidings the signalman tried to reverse the points to allow the Lymington shuttle to leave and the points froze MID-TRAVEL!!!! I have never known this before or since. The TV weather forecasters had predicted windchill down to -25!
The most remarkable thing about this time was that, while the Bournemouth electric service was a total shambles, the Diesel service between Southampton, Portsmouth and Eastleigh wasn't just running. It was running to time! Bring back the DEMUs.....
As for 62/3, I was only a few months old....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2009 17:55:03 GMT
Certainly remember the 1987 winter! Sent home from school because the oil fired heating packed up, or probably rather wasn't able to be filled up because the truck carrying said oil was stuck!
Alas, Kent was affected quite badly, but what trains ran, had extra coaches or were diesel hauled. In speaking to rail staff about at that time, one cutting close to Ashford in Kent, was completely blocked by snow... a locomotive sent to try and clear it became stuck, and the crew were rescued by helicopter. A few days later, the loco was found... by the engine noise and plume of exhaust gases... under the snow.
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Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
Posts: 3,234
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Post by Oracle on Dec 23, 2009 18:51:37 GMT
Speaking of Brockenhurst..the p/way sidings are still there I believe, with gpl signals. However, I have not seen anything in there. However Totton P/way Yard (Carillion?) seems to be fairly busy. I found this shot that I published in a past issue of VINTAGE ROADSCENE. It was taken in March 1963 at Andover Town, on the main road which has of course been bypassed! There was a sparse DEMU service at the time. gmhistory.chevytalk.org/aai649.jpg |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2009 7:09:32 GMT
The Loco stuck in Kent in 1987 had its rescue filmed! It was the first filming assignment for Railscene video that my friend undertook. From memory, the footage is on 'Railscene 10'. It was so bad that Network Southeast put out a call to Scotrail to borrow their snowblower. Three days later it arrived. It performed sterling work clearing the lines and made its way back north once the weather changed. Network Southeast were so impressed that they purchased their own. A year later it snowed heavily in Scotland. Scotrails own snowblower couldn't cope and they asked Network Southeast if they could borrow thiers. Network Southeasts reply was a firm 'No'! I don't think the NSE one was ever used in anger. It may still be lurking away in some forgotten corner of Stewarts Lane for all I know.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2009 9:00:46 GMT
Only born in '61 so slept through it;
However, for many years my late father had a photo of him and some colleagues trying to dig out a Glasgow Corporation Trolley-bus decker which had been buried to the roof line in snow!
He told me the story of how for a few days of the worst weather, he couldn't get home from the garage and a lot of them ended up sleeping in the canteen.
During lulls in the weather, teams went out to try and recover buses and trolley-buses which had been frozen in place by the snow. He seemed to recall that they were spectacularly unsuccessful and that some vehicles remained in place until a thaw in March.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,257
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Post by roythebus on Dec 24, 2009 22:00:49 GMT
Hmm, there was a bad winter in the early 80's, or at least a bit of snow which caused chaos. I was 0400 spare at Waterloo, left home in Streatham by car and snow had just started falling, a very light covering.
The foreman asked if i could cover the 0610 to Dorking. So off I set from Waterloo with a 4 car 508. All ok, but lots of sparks to Motspur Park, where the Chessington line branched off. I'd been following the first Chessington train, so he cleared the rails for me. After that, things got worse.
It was a case of 1 length forward, 2 lengths back to try and progress. I ended up using LT technology and scraped the juie rail with a paddle! i eventually got to Epsom at about 0830, admidst cheers from the waiting passengers.
The SM said there'd been a train to Leatherhead about an hour earlier, but I said that as I'd been on 4 and a half hours, it was tea time, and that if i had an 8-car, I might have tried to go further. So after a cuppa, tried to cross over and head back to Waterloo. Crossing over took about 40 minutes, and i evetually got back to Waterloo at about 11.30! An epic journey, but at least I made it.
Problems we had that year were things like 508 doors freezing in their runners, couplers freezing and so on. The old stock soldiered on as it was designed to!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2009 1:02:53 GMT
It would be interesting to know which LT stock coped best in 62/3?
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metman
Global Moderator
5056 05/12/1961-23/04/2012 RIP
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Post by metman on Dec 25, 2009 1:12:06 GMT
A leading question? A60 stock?
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,257
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Post by roythebus on Dec 26, 2009 20:25:54 GMT
I would hasten a guess at Q stock, standard stock and the East London Line Tanks. Why? Because they were 2car" stock with a through bus line jumper for the 650volt traction suppy, so less arcing and cutting out you get with unit stock, which only has the 650v bus line within the unit.
Hence on the SR, the old 4SUB units were less prone to agpping and arcing for the same reason.
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