From the Archives: The Highland Railway's battle against snow
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The Highland Railway, based in Inverness, was formed in 1865 and gradually expanded to include the Far North Line, reaching through Sutherland to Wick and Thurso.
One of the major challenges faced by the railway’s managers was keeping the trains running during heavy winter snowfalls, which were common in those days but are less so now due to climate change.
Measures were taken to protect the lines from drifting snow by erecting snow fences, quite often made from old sleepers. However, these proved inadequate to deal with large volumes of snow and in later year were replaced by snow blowers.
The author H A Vallance gives a good description of snow blowers in his book The Highland Railway.
He wrote: “North of Inverness, on the borders of Sutherland and Caithness, a special type of fencing, known as a ‘blower’, the invention of a Lancashire man named Howie, was tried with some success.
“Close boarded fences, very similar to long wooden tables, were erected on both sides of the track, much closer to the rails than the ordinary snow fences. The inner edges of the blowers almost touched the ground, but the outer edges were raised some eight to ten feet. These artificial troughs deflected the wind currents away from the railway, causing the snow to be swept up and deposited on the far side, out of harm’s way.”
In the 1860s, the Lochgorm Works in Inverness designed and built snowploughs that could move snowdrifts of up to 12 feet. The Highland Railway had three different sizes of snowploughs.
In the event of blockages on the lines, up to four engines would be coupled together and the plough would “charge” at the snowdrift from about half a mile away. Hinged side flaps could be folded up when not in use.
Snow gradually became less of a problem for the Highland Railway as staff became more experienced in dealing with severe weather conditions and as Highland winters became milder.
On January 1, 1923, the Highland Railway became a part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), passing on 494 miles of line.
British railways were nationalised on January 1, 1948 and the former Highland Railway lines came under the control of the Scottish Region of British Railways. Currently the Highland Railway’s main lines out of Inverness are used by ScotRail services.
The Highland Railway had three different sizes of snow ploughs which were used to clear blockages on the lines. During particularly severe winters, as many as four train engines were joined together and a snow plough fitted to them.
Snow blocks on the line have decreased since the 1900s owing to a combination of experience in dealing with severe conditions and milder Highland winters.
The term ‘snow wreath’ comes from the Scots language and is defined as ‘a bank or drift of snow’. All railway lines in the Highlands are vulnerable to severe winter conditions and this was especially so in the second half of the 19th century, when the lines were relatively new. Fences were put up but at the time they were inadequate to deal with the volume of snow. During the 1860s snowploughs were designed and built at the Lochgorm works in Inverness until 1906, which would later only carry out repairs on engines. They could shift drifts of up to 12 feet deep. Up to four engines would be coupled together and the plough would ‘charge’ at the snowdrift from about half a mile away. Hinged side flaps could be folded up when not in use.
Thankfully, snow blockages are no longer as common as they were during the early years of the Highland Railway, due to the development of better procedures for dealing with the extreme conditions and a general trend of milder Highland winters, although the winters of 2009 and 2010 appear to defy this trend.
