Finally, what happened to the Irish rail system in 1947 & 1963 when the UK suffered 2 severe winters, did things just grind to a halt or did the worst of the weather miss Ireland?
Mike C
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217 RIVER FLESK |
Snow ploughs |
Lead | |
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At the weekend, I came across a model of a UK snow plough & it started me thinking if such things had ever operated in Ireland. OK, I know the climate is
such that Ireland generally gets little snow, other than perhaps right up in the north, but have there ever been purpose built propelled ploughs built or
perhaps were there smaller ploughs that could be bolted to the front of steam locos? Again in the UK, a number of the now 'classic' diesel classes
could carry 3 piece small ploughs, were the Metro-Vics ever fitted with similar?
Finally, what happened to the Irish rail system in 1947 & 1963 when the UK suffered 2 severe winters, did things just grind to a halt or did the worst of the weather miss Ireland? Mike C |
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bangor1968 |
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There is a picture in Mark Kennedy's book "The LMS in Ireland" of an NCC 0-6-0 (No 13) fitted with a snow plough at York Rd in 1939. As for the
winters of 1947 and 1963, there was significant amount of disruption on both occasions. There are pictures of NCC No 41 stuck in a snow drift between
Ballymoney and Ballycastle in 1947. The line was blocked from March 12 to March 16. I seem to remember that Mac Arnold's "NCC Saga" contained
details of the problems experienced on that line. As for 1963, I had to travel to Dublin from Belfast on the day following the worst of the blizzard. The worst
of the snow was north of the border, and the 10.30 was heavily delayed. This was not helped by the fact that the previous evenings 18.15 Dublin train had
managed to run into a dmu at Lisburn, thanks to the heavy snow having caused the Lisburn up distant to give a false sighting. We ran out of the snow by Dundalk
and the rest of the trip was fine. I imagine that the entire line would close completely if the was a similar snowfall today!
Ian |
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MGH2 |
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There's a reminisence of a snowplough working over the Burma Rd following the 1947 blizzard to be found at http://www.westontrack.com/history12.htm
Mark |
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Mayner |
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CIE had a small snow plough made up for use with the 071 following the blizzard in 1980, I am not sure if it was ever used
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3BG |
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Jack O'Neill refers to 184 being fitted with a snowplough and used to clear
blocked lines around Waterford, also in February 1947.
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217 RIVER FLESK |
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Thanks for the above replies.
Wonder if anyone has got a pic of the '071' plough or even better, one of it actually fitted to a loco! Cheers, Mike C |
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mountaintrain |
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I can't remember now where I got these pics, or who the photographer was, but they clearly show a very snowy scene at Ballymena. The interesting bit is
the jeep with snow plough.
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