HEAVY SNOW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23887, 15 August 1939, Page 10

HEAVY SNOW

CENTRAL LINE! BLOCKED DERAILMENT NEAR HYDE NORMAL CONDITIONS IN CITY A BRIEF VISITATION Any danger of another snow storm of the magnitude of the visitation of last month disappeared yesterday whe:n bright sunshine quickly melted the soft carpet which covered the city early in the morning, but the particularly heavy fall in Central Otago caused a serious dislocation of railway traffic on the line between Dunedin and Cromwell. A goods train was completely snowed in near Hyde, and when an endeavour was made to free it from the large drifts, the engine and a van were derailed, preventing the running of the two Central Otago trains. The goods train left Dunedin at 9, o'clock on Sunday night, but in the early hours of yesterday morning was; forced to a standstill about a mile past the Hyde station, and further progress was found impossible. Engfines were despatched from Dunedin to assist in its release, but while efforts were being made to free the stranded goods train, the engine and one of the vans became derailed. Expresses Forced to Return The van was put back on the line during the afternoon, but it was late last night before the engine was finsilly got back on to the rails. In the meantime, however, the two expresses from Dunedin and Cromwell were sent away yesterday morning in the hope that the line would be cleared in time to allow them to proceed, but the train from Dunedin was held at Middlemarch, while the express from Cromwell wau n6t taken any further than Ranfurly. Im effort was made to have the passengers of both trains sent on to their destinations by cars, but it was not found possible to obtain sufficient vehicles so the trains eventually returned with their passengers. The express which had left Dunedin early in the morning arrived back at about 10 o'clock last night. It is anticipated that the service will be resumed to-day, but there are still heavy drifts on the line in the vicinity of Hyde. j Snow Thaws Quickly Vehicular traffic in the city early yesterday morning had to proceed with care, but the sun soon caused a thaw to set in and the streets were quickly cleared of snow. Trams were run during the night to prevent the lines .from becoming blocked and this action, together with the use of a snow plough, allowed the electric trams to run to schedule. Cars were also run on the cable lines during the night, enabling a nonrjal service to be run. Bus services were affected only slightly by the snow on the streets in the morning. Sand and grit were used freely on slippery surfaces, and as the sun shone throughout the day, there was soon little indication of the fall of the previous night. Last night was fine, with a cold southerly wind and early in the evening it began to freeze hard, indications being that the streets and footpaths will be in a dangerous condition this morning. Conditions of Roads Both the north and south roads were clear of snow yesterday, but the surface on Mount Cargill last night was frozen and very slippery and motorists will have to exercise care to-day. The Milton-Roxburgh-Alexandra highway is negotiable, but there is still snow lying and motorists are advised to use chains, The route from Palmerston to Ranfurly over the Pigroot is still impassable, but the secretary of the Automobile Association (Otago) stated last night that it was anticipated that the road would be cleared by 2 o'clock this afternoon. The Outram-Middlemarch road is also blocked with heavy drifts. The roads at the back of Ranfurly, with the exception of the RanfurlyHyde and the Hyde-Middlemarch roads, are negotiable* but care is necessary owing to the slippery surfaces. The Macraes-Middlemarch and Macraes-Hyde routes are as yet impassable, but the road from Dunback to Macraes is open, although chains are necessary. Reports from Central Otago districts last night indicate that the worst of the storm is over. No snow fell at Ranfurly yesterday, and a heavy thaw set in during the day, but there were occasional intermittent falls at Roxburgh, although there, too, it was beginning to thaw, i Heavy Fall at Tapanui The Tapanui district appears to have been struck by a storm of particular severity. Snow began to fall on Saturday, and did not cease entirely until 6 p.m. yesterday. By that time there wa» a depth of 9in on the flat, with drifts up to sft and 6i:t in cuttings and on exposed faces. A report from that district last night stated that it was freezing hard. The outlet to Central Otago is blocked by heavy snow at Ed'evale. and a grader which went out on Sunday in an endeavour to clear the road became snowed up itself. The schools have been closed for two weeks, and mails got through to Tapanui yesterday only with difficulty. Stock losses are known to have been severe after the storm last month, and it is feared by runholders that they will be even greater after the snow over the week-end. SNOW IN NORTH ISLAND TRAIN TRAFFIC DELAYED (Per United Press Association; WELLING J ON, Aug. 14. Snow on the tr-v.k between Ohakune and Taumarunui. and cold s<< intense that it froze the pipes of the water supply tanks delayed last night's south-bound limited express. It arrived at Wcllingtr.u to-day nearly half an hour late. Th«j trail 1 lost seven minutes at Ohakune because of frozen water pipes, and fourteen minutes between Ohakune and Taumarunui because of greasv rails. The passengers on the train were v more than compensated for the loss of time by the beauty of the scene in the National Park area. The north-bound limited was delayed for eight minutes at Erua through the points being frozen, and lost six minutes through having to travel at reduced speed to Taumarunui.