The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-02 00:00:00

The snow which fell so heavily in the metropolis and
throughout the country during Wednesday. until 10
o'clock the same night has caused far greater inconve-
nience than was at first anticipated, not merely in Lon-
don, but in many provincial towns—so much so as to
prevent the bags containing the Post-office letters from
eight towns reaching their destioretion in St. Martin's-le-
Grand at nearly seven o'clock last evening, although five
of the mails were due at half-past four in the morning.
The frost continued throughout the night of Wednes-
day with great intensity, the th trinemeter being as low
as 28 deg., but in some exposed situations along the
Great Northern Railway it was one or two degrees
lower. This caused the snow which lad fallen upon the
lines, and that which had been drifted by the strong
winds from the high lands into the cuttings, to assume
a solidity that has rarely been witnessed of late years,
and which could hot-in-many-places be cleared by the
ploughs in front of the locomotives' and in Berne cases
the snow had accumulated to such a depth on the rails
that when the trains attempted, even with the aid .of
pilot engines, to cut through the snow, it came in con-
tact with the furnaces and extinguished the firms, thereby
bringing the trains to a standrstill. This was the case
on the South-Western Railway, for en the Wednesday
morning down mail train reaching Bishopatoke station,
or very near it, the snow completely put the re in the
furnace out. The train in consequence was delayed
some time. Tie down express train from London was
upwards of an hour late before it arrived at the ter-
minus.
The officials of the South-Western. Railway, upon learn-
ing the state of their lines, at once made the most vigo-
rous attempts to clear the rails of the obstructions, and
in those places where the snow had drifted men were
placed at about 10 or 12 to the mile, and the accumu-
were need
afterwards in
accumu-
lated deposit was piled up on the sides of the line, and
where it was pracetniocab, pilotanledthe rails enginesils were
ploughing up the snow,
sanded te enable the wheels of the engines and carriages
to bite when they were required to stop.
e nthe
y time
removed they
The Windsor and Richmond line has sustained very
little inconvenience by the snow, the trains, generally
speaking, arrivingwithinw
minutesaasfyewosterday
itrhe
fromwere theu metals,e.Theyand an
the trains can now travel without
ow
any inconvenience.
T he
arecross-csoeivienrtaryi
feetro deepadsleain endingotw.o many parts of the
railways
The Kentish roads are, if possibl,e, in a still worse
condition, for, owing te the hilly state of the country the
valleys beneath the hills are several feet deep with snow,
which has been drifted there by the high easterly wind
of 'Wednesday. In some places it is quite impossible
for either man or beast to pass along without previously
cutting an opening.
The two French mails, one due at the General Post-
office at 5 o'clock a.m., and the other at 8 o'clock, were
delayed by the weather several hours, as neither reached
the Post-office till half-past 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
when they arrived together.
The Great Northern, Eastern Counties, the North.
Western, and the Great Western Railways were some
feet under snow, but, owing to the exertions made by
the respective companies, they were enabled to continue
their traffic, but although many of the trains were some
time behind the advertised hours of arriving, they were
with pilot engines forced through the obstructions, and
the mails were brought in from the towns along these
railways, and very near their proper times.
The various Royal parks, in spite of the inclemency
of the weather and the slippery state of the banks
alongside the frozen waters, were visited by many thou-
sand persons, and a great many ventured upon the ice,
but although some trifling accide Its took place, they
were of such a character as not b i merit a lengthened
report.
The different thoroughfares of the metropolis wore in
such a state that extra horses were obliged to be em-
ployed to draw omnibuses and other vehicles, and the
proprietors in some instances had printed papers posted
on their conveyances to the effect that, owing to the in-
clemency of the weather, the fares would for the present
be doubled.