The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-10 00:00:00

culty he got all the passengers out of the two trains, and
putting as many of them as was possible upon the en-
gines, conveyed .them to Manchester, leavinc, the car-
riages as they stood, the snow rapidly accumulating upon
and around them. At this time the wind was blowing a
peifict gale, and the snow was drifting about so fiercely
that it was impossible to see for more than a few yards.
After landing the passengers from the two trains, Mr.
Blackmore returned to the Newton cutting with a large
number of men, who were set to work to clear the lines.
The two powerful goods engines were repeatedly taken
back some distance, and then run into the snow at full
speed ; but so great was the resistance offered by the mass,
now more than five feet deep, that sometimes only a yard
or two was cleared. When one line had been opened
throughthis•drift, Mr. Blackmore proceeded to the drift
on the Oldham branch, a little beyond Middleton, and
there the same kind of operation was resumed; in one
run the engines were almost brought to a dead stand as
soon as they struck the snow, which was nearly seven feet
deep. On the Bury, Bolton, and Liverpool branch, (which
runs out of the- main line at Blue Pits,) a train from
Liverpool got fast on Wednesday evening, about 400 yards
from the Heywood station. The passengers remained in
the carriages for some time : but then most of them
scrambled out and sought lodgings at inns, at the station,
or private houses, while others made themselves as com-
fortable as they could in the carriages. Between Hey-
wood and Blue Pits the snow (according to the report of
the Heywood station master) was from 15 feet to 20 feet

deep on Wednesday evening. The passengers by one of
the Yorkshire trains, from Manchester, remained in the
carriages for about three hours after they got embedded, a
short distance from Middleton. Then they got out and
made their way to some cottages, where they were most
kindly treated, good fires being made, the cottagers readily
producing everything they could in the way of food.
In the Macclesfield and Bolton division, the deepest drift
was between Moses Gate and Bolton. The snow accumu-
lated to a depth of nearly five feet for several hundred
yards, and there was a complete stoppage of the traffic
from Wednesday evening until about half-past one on
Thursday afternoon. The passengers by the north express,
includingseveral magistrateswho had attended the County
Sessions at Preston, were, like many others, compelled to
spend the night on chairs, sofas, tables, and even on the
floor, at the principal inns, or at the station. There was
a deep drift near Chapletown, on the Bolton and Black-
burn line, into which a train ran and got almost buried,
as soon as it emerged from a tunnel, and it was with diffi-
culty extricated. The line was cleared for traffic by half-
past seven on Thursday evening. On the Liverpool
branch of this company's lines there was a stoppage from
Wednesday night to Thursday forenoon ; but on Friday
afternoon all the drifts had been sufficiently cleared to
alloW a resumption of the traffic. On the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line, the traffic, though im-
peded, was kept open ; but not without very great exer-
tions. The traffic has also been maintained with compa-
ratively only slight deviations from regularity on the
Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction line.
If railway traffic has been beset with such difficulties in
this district, and on the main lines communicating with it
in different directions, we receive such negative consolation
as that consideration can afford, in learning that we have
not been alone in our difficulties and privations, but have
had numerous participators in the widely extended com-
munity of such sorrow. The metropolis has alsb expe-
rienced the inconvenience of a suspended traffic, and we
now learn, through the resumed intercourse, that the great
trunk-lines, terminating in London, have all been, less, or
more, blocked up. On the Eastern Counties line, it was
intimated by telegraph, on Thursday night, in London, that
this line, with the exception of its loops, was entirely
cleared for traffic, and on Friday morning the mail train
from Norwich and Cambridge, due at 4.15 a.m., arrived
about an hour and-a-half behind its time. The mail train
referred to passed through a cutting about five miles in
length, extending from Thetford to Harling, at-12 o'clock
on Thursday night, leaving all clear behind it ; but shortly
after its passage another storm of snow came on, falling
to an average depth of four or five inches—the wind drift-
ing it rapidly into this cutting so as once more completely
to block it. Up to Friday night the most strenuous exer-
tions were made to remove this new obstruction, but it
was found necessary altogether to suspend the traffic on
that portion of the Norfolk line, and the trains went no
further than Ely ; access to Norwich and Yarmouth
throughout the day from the metropolis being obtained by
the Eastern Union line, via Ipswich. The Newmarket
branch was still closed, although hopes were entertained
of reopening it on Saturday morning ; and the same was
the case with regard to the St. Ives and Huntingdon
branch lines, the traffic to and from Wisbeach being
carried on through March. On the East Anglian Branch
traffic was unimpeded' between Ely and Lynn and Lynn
and Wisbeach, there being no cuttings in that direction ;
but between Lynn and Dereham, where deiip- cuttings
exist, the traffic up to Friday night was entirely suspended.
The Peterborough line remained perfectly free. Guards
arriving at Shoreditch during the course of the day re-
ported frost, but no snow as far as Cambridge. At and
below Ely, however, snow was falling fast. The number
of men employed in clearing out the various snow drifts
on this line on Tuesday has amounted to about 1,000, paid
at the rate of 3s. per day. The through traffic on the
Great Northern remained impracticable on the main line
up to Friday night, although great progress had been made
in clearing the block to admit the passage of trains be-
tween Peterborough and Grantham on Friday after-
noon. At the same time operations were advancing between
Grantham and Newark so as to encourage a hope that the
through traffic upon the main line might be resumed on
Saturday morning. About seven hundred men had been
employed day and night in removing the snow. The
through traffic to York was on Thursday and Friday car-
ried on by means of the Lincolnshire loop line, the Edin-
burgh fast train, due at King's-cross at 9.30 a.m., arriving
three hours behind its time. The other up-trains were
pretty punctual, and the down trains started as usual, but
carrying much fewer passengers than ordinarily. The
guards of trains arriving in the earlier part of the day
reported thaw and sloppiness along the line, but after
twelve o'clock they brought in accounts of frost. It was
also snowing fast within a few miles of London to and
beyond Peterborough. The entire coal traffic of the line
has been suspended, but the company hope shortly to
resume it. On Friday, shortly after twelve, the north
mail train via the London and North-western arrived in
London, having been detained two nights at Lancaster,
where the post-office clerks had to sleep in the mail tender,
suffering acutely from cold. After leaving Lancaster, the
greatest difficulty was experienced in forcing a passage
along the line to the junction at Warrington. The
Holyhead line was made so far clear as to admit of the
passage of trains. On the Midland line traffic also pro-
ceeded both ways, but tickets for this line were only issued
at Euston-square conditionally. The same precaution
was also taken with the Northern traffic, passengers for
Carlisle and Scotland being only booked to the Warring-
ton Junction. Guards on arrival reported no snow, but
frost prevailing down the line. The number of men em-
ployed in clearing the various snow drifts, under the super-
intendence of Captain Huish and other officials of the line
is said to have amounted to upwards of 1,600, entailing,
of course, a serious expenditure on the part of the company.
The traffic operations of the Great Western remain but
very little impeded, the trains on Friday arriving and ,
departing without any material deviation from the time-
table. No snow was reported down the line during the
day, and the quantity which has fallen during the week
appears much less than in the northern and eastern dis-
tricts of the kingdom. Thaw was reported along the line
in the early part of the day, but as evening drew on the
engines and tenders came in with icicles attached. By
the employment of several hundreds of labourers, and
other exertions, the Southeastern line has been kept free
from material bstruction ; but this has been effected at a
heavy cost, the labourers being paid 3s. each per day, with
an allowance of bread and cheese and beer. The London,.
Brighton, and South Coast, and the Southwestern lines,.
have been enabled to maintain their traffic with consider-
able regularity.
In the far north the weather has likewise been of a very
stormy and wild kind. In the North Highlands the snow
commenced early in the week before we were visited by it.
The Inverness Courier of the 29th ult., informs us that,
even then, " on the Aberdeen-road, the storm had been seri-
ously felt. Yesterday, the mail due at five a.m. did not
arrive till more than twelve hours after the time, and then
the bags were carrid on horseback from Forres. All the
coaches plying on this road have been stopped. The mail
going to Aberdeen yesterday could get no further than
Nairn ; the Star coach stuck in the snow at Auldearn ;
and the Defiance, which left here as usual this morning,
turned back after going three miles. From Aberdeen the
mail passed freely through the Foundland Hills, and got
as far as Newmills, near Forres. Here the guard was,
obliged to leave it. All trace of the road was in many
places lost, and it was everywhere impassable for a vehicle.
He succeeded, by dint of perseverance and good manage-
ment, in carrying the niails safely on horseback to Inver-
ness. The wind was northerly, and blew strong, and the
snow consequently drifted about very much. About 100
men are engaged at various points clearing the road, and
it is hoped, if the storm does not increase, that the coaches
may be able to resume the communication in a short time.
The north mail came in last night very little behind the
usual hour, but it brought only the bags from Tain, from
which we may infer that the Ord of Caithness and other
points on the North-road are impassable. The steamers
arrived about the usual time "

While it would thus appear that the storm, which
has been one of unusual severity, has extended from
the extreme north, almost to the southern limits of our
island ; it has also included its breadth from shore to
shore, and we also learn that our continental neighbours
have not been exempted from its ravages. In France,
we are informed, the frost has been of great intensity—
sufficient, it is said, in some instances, to snap the tele-
graphic wires, and interrupt communication. The De-
bate records a very singular impediment to the transmis-
sion of messages on some of the lines :—" The snow
accumulates on the wires, and, when slowly melted by
the sun, forms icicles which connect one wire with ano-
ther. These icicles serve as conductors, and blend
separate despatches in inextricable confusion." Such
impediments to telegraphic communication have, fortu-
nately, not been experienced on any of our lines • and we
have reason to believe that, throughout the telegraphic
system of Great Britain, communications once entrusted
to the wires have been transmitted with the usual fidelity
and celerityalong all the lines—an advantage of inestimable
magnitude in a country whose commercial and pecuniary
transactions are of so intricate, so delicate, and so gi-
gantic a nature. _

Severely as the storm and its concomitants have been
felt on land, we regret to add that its effects have been
still more disastrously experienced at sea. Accounts of
numerous fatalities will, no doubt, yet be received to aug.
ment the number of the following