The Storm King had the Sierra under siege. The battle against the relentless snowstorm was lost on Sunday, January 13, when Southern Pacific's fine streamliner train rammed a deep snowslide east of Yuba Gap, high in the mountains. Pride of the fleet, this beautiful passenger train was known as the City of San Francisco . No one really expected to be there very long. The first crew to reach the train was aboard a rotary snowplow.
Rotary plows utilize rapidly spinning blades to chew their way through deep snow.
However, just as the rotary reached the last Pullman of the City of San Francisco, equipment failure thwarted the rescue effort. The rotary was now trapped and stranded too. Snow was falling at a rate of an inch per hour. Wind estimated between 80 and 90 mph was blowing sheets of snow down the canyon and onto the tracks. The situation had become much more serious.