Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1918-01-17
STORM HITS TOWN HARD
Trolley Cars suspend Operations and
Trains fron An. Directions Many
Hours behisa T1me-liigh Wind
Makes Drifts.

Tho birrest snow storm Of the season
struck Burlington carly Tuesday morn
ing and continued until nine o'clock at
nieht, BY noon, no matter how frequently
mathis wore shoveilcd out. It was i'm
possible to keep them clean. BY three
O'Clock practically all traffic was blocked
and those who wefc brave enough to stir
out had to wade through snow up to their
knees. About a foot of snow fell and the
wind, increasing in the afternoon. piled It
high Just where It would make the most
trouble.
Practically all heavy trucking was sus-
pended for the day. At the Union station
the express mon who usually drag their
express across the platform on trucks
attached them to q sleigh drawn by a
horse a. It was impossible to Keep the
platform clear Of snow.
The storm hit the trolley system hard.
Most Of the day the men did not know
when they started out whether they
would get back and some Of the time
aA all. Several cars ran Oh the track
on the Lower road to Winooski and had
10 be pulled on again At noon the
cars In that section Of the city could
hardly run and as the afternoon prog.
ressed conditions steadily grew worse. At
three o'clock car service between Winoo-
ski and Burlington and Essex Junction
and Burlington was suspended alto
scther. Snow plows wcro kept running
all day. but at eight o'clock at night
one Of the plows got of the track at the
Queen City Cotton mill and made more
trouble. At that time the trouble toward
winooeki cleared a little and one car
ran more or less regularly to winooslsi
and Essex junction. The cars on the
North avenue line spent most Of the time
trying to get over the space between
!. North winooski avenue and North ave-
/ nue.. One Of them, bound for Ethan Allen
Park, spent half hour deciding whether
to pass Lafountain street. The men
worked hard to get the cars back on
schedule time and by ten o'clock at
night they were making very good time.
considering the way the snow was drift
Ing.
TRAIN SERVICE DEMoRALIzED
The train service also suffered from the
/ storm. The $50 train from Rutland
started the late schedule by coming in
four hours late. The train from Mont.
pelier due here at 1850 came in al
noon. The noon train from Montreal
over the Rutland was one-half hour late
while the train over the Central Yer.
mont was one and ons-half hours behind
schedule time. The 1:45 from Rutland
came in an hour late and In trying tc
back UP into the yard got blocked by the
snow and ice on the tracks. It was neces
sary to send up the switching engine
from the yard to pull the train down and
then the engine had to be thawed out
This made the train leave for RUTLAND
Just about three hours late. The New
York section Of the $50 although it wa:
late. got along very we'll until It strucl
New Haven Junction. There 1t wa,
snowbound and could not move for owe,
an hour. II finally reached Burlington a.
ten O'Clock. The Boston section arrived
at Bellows Falls four hours late ant
was 80 late IN reaching Rutland that +
was consolidated with train 50. due Il
arrive in Burlington at u:1o. and which
at II o'clock was reported three hours
late. The %:3o over the Rutland pulled II
at 1870 and the $685. due to leave Whit,
River Junction at 1:4o for Burlington, die
not leave there until nine o'clock and 81
was over seven hours late. The 6:55
which runs from Burlington to Esse,
Junction to make connections. was taker
or entirely and the TAO over the Contra
Vermont was four hours late. On tn,
Burlington & Lamoille division the trail
did not suffer quite so much. the u:0
; a. m. coming In one and one.half hour
late and the s:45 p. m. three hours. Al
the storm had abated somewhat later II
the evening the sleepers over the Rutlan,
road started within an hour and a hal
!. OF their schedule time, the ll:1o beinl
only an hour late.