Its Been Cold

[SteveO]

Ahhh proper locos. I read an account recently of how Western Region coped with the "big freeze" of 1962/3. Apart from snow on the line, freezing of the water was the big concern. Locos had  low fires maintained in their fireboxes at all times and, when not running, would be lined up alongside each other whenever possible. Keeping the water towers/cranes from freezing was a huge issue and freezing of the water hoses between the tender and the loco's boiler was a recurring problem, which was remedied stopping the engine periodically and the fireman taking a shovelful of burning coal from the firebox and holding it a judicious distance from the hoses.   Even with all these problems, the service was generally maintained during all but the most extreme weather, unlike now where a scant couple of inches of snow seems to bring the system to a halt.

All this, plus the lovely smell of steam, hot oil and coal and the beautiful sounds of locomotives working hard.

 

[TheQ]

That and the gangers and length men doing their job, My Grandfather (Mums side)  spent a lot of that winter digging out snow along the tracks and especially between the points to keep the line open.

Those men in the Blea Moor video I posted, would have been length men and gangers. I can remember granddad going out dressed like that...