Why does the country grind to halt at the mention of snow

[parker1158]

OK, tomorrow (Thursday) we are told there might be a couple of inches of snow and already the country is closing down in preparation and I guess if any snow comes tomorrow it will close down completely at a cost of several billions of pounds one way or another.

Now when I was working for the Audi rally team I worked in some extremes of weather in some far flung countries-Deep snow in Sweden, Canada even Iceland.Heat and desert in Africa and the Middle East. (I have even shot at out there!)

In many of the countries close to us(Sweden springs to mind) we are openly derided for our inability to cope (In a nice way)

So the question is why can this country not cope with the variable weather we experience year in year out?

 

[BigAl1]

We in this country will never again be able to cope with a bit of snow or a layer of ice.

Why....What chance has the country got when schools shut at the slightest snap of bad weather......Kids are growing up with the belief that bad weather equals stay in bed.

Local radio stations (in Birmingham) have been telling people to tune in tomarrow to find out which schools are shut and what roads are blocked.....Are we not able to cope or arec we getting lazy....

I am damm sure that this attitude was not around during the wars.

 

[Oldfogey]

I have friends in both Canada and Scandinavia, so I am well aware of the difference between them and us in respect of snow is.

In these countries, which we are always told cope better, snow arrives every year, and lasts for months.

Everybody has a spare set of wheels for their car, fitted with snow, or even studded, tyres.

Roads are not gritted, but drifts are kept clear with the extensive use of purpose made snow ploughs. Railways use similar techniques.

All this equipment costs a great deal of money - how much would a spare set of wheels for your car, with special tyres, cost?

Despite all this preparation and expenditure, when the snow does arrive, the country shuts down for a couple of days while it "beds in" and everybody swops over to winter mode.

In this country, we no longer get significant snow on a regular basis, and it doesn't hang about for very long. Consequently the most economical method of coping with what is an uncommon event is to simply wait till it goes away.

 

[MikeP]

"In this country, we no longer get significant snow on a regular basis, and it doesn't hang about for very long. Consequently the most economical method of coping with what is an uncommon event is to simply wait till it goes away".

I think that is the key. The problem is that, when there is snow etc, people expect to be able to make their normal journeys and get upset when they are inevitably delayed.

I know that some jobs - e.g. nursing, teaching, manufacturing, shops etc to name just a very few - can only be done at a particular location. But I'm sure there must be many people who, although their journeys tomorrow will fall into the category of non-essential, will nevertheless attempt to travel as normal.

I'm cycling to work tomorrow, as usual. Virgin snow and mountain bike tyres are great fun together.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I believe they have announced that schools in Herefordshire will be closed tomorrow. I was just talking about this same subject with my wife. At no time during my childhood do I recall our school closing and neither did transport grind to a halt. Hardly any families had cars and teachers/pupils travelled to school by bus or walked. I can remember the crates of milk stacked up and the milk frozen and sticking out of the bottle neck by about 2 inches with the silver top froze to the top.

Fast forward to the winter of 62/63 and I was a fireman on British Railways. Again I don't recall trains being cancelled although there was a lot of late running due to points freezing, certainly no trains that I worked were cancelled due to the weather. Conditions were unpleasant on the footplate due to the cold, I would stand in front of the firebox door and be burning one side of my body but freezing on the other.

One day we worked a train from Cardiff and had relief at Hereford and when I got off the footplate the perspiration on my face froze my eyelashes together. I also remember working a train to Crewe and when we were near Church Stretton seeing two horses in a field froze stiff where they stood.

If the injectors froze up we would get some cotton waste soaked in oil and shove it up the injector waste pipes to thaw them out and it worked with one exception. My driver and I relieved Bristol men on a parcels train at Hereford and the injectors froze while waiting for the porters/post office workers to load/unload the mail. We couldn't thaw them out and had to leave our train in the station and make a dash for Hereford MPD where we dropped the fire before the fusible plugs in the boiler melted. That was a firemans gravest sin, to drop the plugs, and I only knew of it happening once to a Hereford crew.

My most knackering time was again working a train from Cardiff consisting of oil tankers for Rowley Regis, Birmingham. I even recall the engine, it was 92220 Evening Star, the last steam loco built for British Railways. From Abergavenny to Llanvihangel theres a steep climb and some trains stopped for a banker to give assistance at the rear of the train. My driver said we would be ok due to the weight of our train so we took a run at the bank. About 3 miles outside Abergavenny we came to a stop due to the icey rails. It was my job then to protect the rear of the train by placing detonators at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 miles. Then I had to walk back to Abergavenny signal box to inform the signalman. After the 3 mile walk I was chilled to the bone and entering the signalbox the signalman burst out laughing at me. He said I looked like the Abominable Snowman. At least I didn't have to walk back to our train, they detached the locomotive off the following goods to give us a push over the top.

They are memories that will always stay with me and there was a great camaraderie among footplate staff. Even now, every October, we have reunions at the Hereford BRSA club. Sadly with each year the numbers are getting fewer though :O(

It always was my ambition to be a driver but Dr. Beeching put paid to my dreams but I don't regret my time on there because not many can actually have the experience of working on one of mans greatest creations, the steam locomotive.

p.s. Sorry to ramble but once I start I get all nostalgic ;O)

 

[MikeP]

Don't worry about rambling LB - it's better than reading the latest episode in the braking distance saga. It reminds me of Galton & Simpson's "Impasse".

That's the one where two cars meet on a single track road, and it ends up with the AA and RAC men measuring who is closest to the respective passing places. I can't remember exactly how it finishes, but the irony is that they both have to reverse.

 

[CarolineSimon]

Blimey Lord B!

That sounds all very exciting, I wasn't quite about that early in the sixties, (I'm a summer of 69 child)but I do remember milk freezing out of the tops of bottles at school and still having to try to drink it.Schools never seemed to be closed nearly as much as nowadays and you are the proof that our Railways used to run whatever the weather, so why they can't now is beyond me, so it begs the question are we becoming softer in our politically correct, European & President Blair governed internet age or do we all have rose tinted memories of winters when we were growing up/working?

 

[MikeP]

This might be gross generalisation, but I think another issue is the improvements to roads - better and faster - and more comfortable and reliable cars.

We live in Horsham, and Mrs P works in Rottingdean, about 35 miles away. I currently work in Horsham, but I have commuted to Woking, Brighton, Worthing - all 25 miles - and Portsmouth, which is 50 miles. My parents' generation certainly didn't travel such distances to work by road.

It is common knowledge that the southern stretch of the M25 is most busy clockwise in the mornings, and anticlockwise in the evenings. You hear of people commuting from Sevenoaks/Maidstone/Medway Towns to places like Heathrow and Reading. Someone I know locally used to commute from Horsham to St Albans every day. 1

 

[milliesdad]

Just heard that Virgin trains are running a reduced service today. Now i know i am the countrys biggest cynic and i always look at an altenative reason for everything, but what a great way for the train companies to save a few quid.

The vast majority of people using the trains for their commute have season tickets - ie already paid for = money already in the bank for the train operators. Now if they can run fewer trains to an "emergency timetable" and blame the weather / climate change /leaves on the line...

I know i may be wrong and the train operators could be running a service for the benefit of the public as best they can and this money saved is just a coincidental benefit for the shareholders but it makes you think, doesn't it?

 

[JeremyClarksson]

Millies Dad

Not cynical at all.

They were caught out a while back cancelling trains because they were late and then running them as the next on time train.

This was partly because a cancelled train incurred less penalties than a late train and also because less trains running that day means more cash in their pockets.

(Last trains are rarely anywhere near full)

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

In my neck of the woods passenger power sometimes counts for a lot. Very often if the Birmingham - Hereford train is running late they will terminate the train at Ledbury so it wont be late on its return journey. They then cancel the Birmingham departure from Hereford. Passengers who are dumped at Ledbury are then bussed to Hereford. There have been a few occasions when the passengers have refused to get off and have forced the train to carry on its journey to Hereford. Before privatisation there were spare rolling stock for these emergencies but now if anything goes wrong, like late running,traction failure or a driver not reporting for duty the train is cancelled and tough sh*t on the travelling public.

 

[Alan Partridge]

I believe they have announced that schools in Herefordshire will be closed tomorrow. I was just talking about this same subject with my wife. At no time during my childhood do I recall our school closing and neither did transport grind to a halt. Hardly any families had cars and teachers/pupils travelled to school by bus or walked. I can remember the crates of milk stacked up and the milk frozen and sticking out of the bottle neck by about 2 inches with the silver top froze to the top.

Fast forward to the winter of 62/63 and I was a fireman on British Railways. Again I don't recall trains being cancelled although there was a lot of late running due to points freezing, certainly no trains that I worked were cancelled due to the weather. Conditions were unpleasant on the footplate due to the cold, I would stand in front of the firebox door and be burning one side of my body but freezing on the other.

One day we worked a train from Cardiff and had relief at Hereford and when I got off the footplate the perspiration on my face froze my eyelashes together. I also remember working a train to Crewe and when we were near Church Stretton seeing two horses in a field froze stiff where they stood.

If the injectors froze up we would get some cotton waste soaked in oil and shove it up the injector waste pipes to thaw them out and it worked with one exception. My driver and I relieved Bristol men on a parcels train at Hereford and the injectors froze while waiting for the porters/post office workers to load/unload the mail. We couldn't thaw them out and had to leave our train in the station and make a dash for Hereford MPD where we dropped the fire before the fusible plugs in the boiler melted. That was a firemans gravest sin, to drop the plugs, and I only knew of it happening once to a Hereford crew.

My most knackering time was again working a train from Cardiff consisting of oil tankers for Rowley Regis, Birmingham. I even recall the engine, it was 92220 Evening Star, the last steam loco built for British Railways. From Abergavenny to Llanvihangel theres a steep climb and some trains stopped for a banker to give assistance at the rear of the train. My driver said we would be ok due to the weight of our train so we took a run at the bank. About 3 miles outside Abergavenny we came to a stop due to the icey rails. It was my job then to protect the rear of the train by placing detonators at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 miles. Then I had to walk back to Abergavenny signal box to inform the signalman. After the 3 mile walk I was chilled to the bone and entering the signalbox the signalman burst out laughing at me. He said I looked like the Abominable Snowman. At least I didn't have to walk back to our train, they detached the locomotive off the following goods to give us a push over the top.

They are memories that will always stay with me and there was a great camaraderie among footplate staff. Even now, every October, we have reunions at the Hereford BRSA club. Sadly with each year the numbers are getting fewer though :O(

It always was my ambition to be a driver but Dr. Beeching put paid to my dreams but I don't regret my time on there because not many can actually have the experience of working on one of mans greatest creations, the steam locomotive.

p.s. Sorry to ramble but once I start I get all nostalgic ;O)

Terrific stuff - no apology required. Eyewitness history!