The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

SNOW-BOUND RAILWAY TRAINS IN MAY.

The incidents of railway transit this week on the lines
west and north-west of Sheffield are quite suggestive of
the published records of the famous marine adventures
in search of the north-passage. We append a few ex-
amples. The Huddersfield passenger train left Sheffield
as usual at 7.35 p.m on Monday evening, and having
the advantage of following in the wake of a powerful
goods engine, the train worked its way through the snow
without much difficulty as far as Penistone, a distance of
13 miles. Diverging at this point from the main line of
the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, and
proceeding on the Huddersfield and Penistone branch,
the further progress of the passengertrain was greatly im-
peded by the snow, which was very deep. When it had
travelled on the branch about a mile the train came to a
dead lock. The conductor alighted, and found that the
snow was about a yard in depth. All efforts at further•
progress proving futile, they conducted the passengers— ;
some 14 or 15 in number—back to Penistone, the guard,,
engine-drive; and fireman piloting the way with their
lamps. The passengers found solace at the inns, but the
sttherrnee
epeonosr fellows
eieusneeswho had
of
dntyletd the
rudgedvbanae,kactteintg uhendr
snow
bound train. The pitiless snow came down all the while
with blinding intensity, and so it continued till mid-
gone onrtahee of snow.nnluck Theyytriow wereoulilpr byob noably
as it was, for they were wet to the skin,
wleiit buried in a grave
with cold, and without a particle of food.
hmnbMaeieaganvhnuenstfulmb. ebsend culellyea 1
they stood by their colours till relief came
to hand. It seems that at daybreak on Tuesday morn-
ing the helpless position of the train was discovered from
the main line, and the tidings having been conveyed
to Sheffield a powerful pilot engine was sent to its
relief, and reached the spot at 5 a.m. The engine be-
longing to the train was then dug out of its white en-
closure walls' and having nearly exhausted its stock of
water, took advantage of the path opened by the pilot
engine to return to Penistone for a fresh supply of liquid
for the boiler and for its freight of passengers. The
pilot engine, meanwhile, was engaged in cutting open
the road ahead, and having partially cleared the line for
the distance of a mile or so it returned for the benighted
train, with which it succeeded •in ploughing its way
through the snow to its destination at Huddersfield, the
other engine following in the wake. By the aid of sti-
mulants and external warmth, procured as soon as
they reached Huddersfield, the three men who had
been exposed tall night to the storm were gradually
restored. The train was taken back to Sheffield by the
two engines with little or no difficulty, the bulk of
snow having considerably diminished under the
action of the sun. Perilous and difficult as the road to
Huddersfield evidently was, the transit per railway be-
tween Sheffield and Manchester was scarcely less adven-
turous. The 3 p.m. passenger train from Sheffield to
Manchester entirely failed to accomplish the journey.
It fought its way as far as Penistone, but the snow was
so deep that the engine was not of sufficient calibre to
continue the uphill journey, the line being on the rise for
at least six miles further. A debarcation of passengers
took place at Penistone, and an attempt was made to take
the empty train back to Sheffield, which place it
reached at half-past one o'clock in the morning. The
next train from Sheffield to Manchester, which starts
at 3.50 p.m., having the advantage of! a very large
ougine, was more successful than its predecessor. It
took in the westward passengers who had alighted at
Penistone, and, we suppose, succeeded in completing
the journey, tie snow in the worst places having
been partially cleared away by the persevering exertions
of a number of engine drivers and others with the aid of
locomotive engines belonging to the weather-bound goods
train. The circumstances attending the transit of pas-
senger trains in the opposite direction from Sheffield to
Manchester on that memorable 9th of May are equally
interesting and not less striking. The train due at
Sheffield at 4 p.m. arrived two hours too late, and as
the snow on the ground was rapidly increasing much
anxiety was felt with respect to the next arrival, which,
in the ordinary course, ought to have reached Sheffield
at half past 8. An hour after that time information was
received at Sheffield that the train and its animated
freight were firmly embedded in the snow at Oxspring, a
distance of about a dozen miles. Mr. Taylor, the sta-
tion master at the Victoria station, caused a pilot en-
gine to be got ready immediately, and with it set out in
search of the lost train with the intention of rendering
aid. Such was the state of the line, however, that the
pilot engine could not get within a mile of Oxspring.
Its crew, having sufficient reason to feel apprehensive
or their own safety—for the snow was falling so thick
and fast as almost to blind them—then made an effort
to return on the same line to the place whence they had
come ; but lo the engine was motionless as a rock. By
the application of levers to the wheels, however, and
making desperate exertions, they succeeded ultimately in
gaining a start, and when they had retraced their steps
three miles and reached Wortley station (nine miles from
Sheffield) they were overtaken by the train of which they
had been in quest. It appears that three of the goods
train engines that had suspended operations at Penistone
had come to the relief' of the paralysed passenger train,
and with this accession of motive power, having now
four engines, its load of passengers reached Sheffield,
after much tribulation, at a quarter past one on Tuesday
morning.

SASI SLICK'S "WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES."
2 vols.—Sam Slick has always been amusing—perhaps
the most amusing of modern humorists—but in his
" Wise Saws and Modern instances" his humour rises
to wit, and his shrewd common sense is elevated into
philosophy. No one can read the work without being
satisfied that the author (Judge Haliburton) has taken
higher ground. He indulges in sentiment as well as fun,
his anecdotes are as full of wisdom as of pleasantry, and
his characters have something to recommend -them be-
sides their tendency to raise a laugh. While there has
been published nothing of late years so droll as the ad-
ventures recorded in his narrative, there has been
nothing so instructive as the experience which has given
to the clockmaker's new publication its appropriate
title.
THE NEW ACT FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE NATIONAL
DEBT.—The new act to reduce the National Debt which
received the Royal assent a few days back, has just been
printed. It extends to 42 provisions, and is entitled
"An Act for redeeming or commuting the annuity pay-
able to the South Sea Company and certain annuities of
three pounds per centum per annum, and for creating
new annuities of three pounds ten shillings per centum
per annum, and issuing Exchequer Bonds." After a
very long preamble it is enacted that the annuity on
the capital stock of the South Sea Company, con-
tinued under the 6th George 111., chap. 28, and
certain Three per Cent. Stocks—viz., the Old and
New South Sea Annuities, the Bank Annuities, 1726,
created by the 12th George 1., chap. 2, and the Three
per Cent. Annuities, 1751, created by the 24th Geo. 11.,
chap. 2., "shall be paid off and redeemed or com-
muted as hereinafter mentioned." On or before Friday
the 3d of June next parties are to give notice of their
assent to receive other stock instead of money. Pro-
prietors of the said Three per Cents. may for 1001. of
their stock receive 821. 10s. New Three-and-a-Half per
Cent., or 1001. exchequer bond, carrying interest at
21. 15s. per cent., not later than the let of September,
1864, and after at 21. 10s. per cent. Certain South Sea
Annuities, &c., are to case from the sth of January,
1854, and dividends on Old South Sea Annuities are to
cease from the sth of 'April next. Persons not assent-
ing are to receive on the sth of January, 1854, 1001. for
1001. stock. There are a number of provisions in the
act to carry it into force. Exchequer bonds are limited
to 30,000,0001.
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