#snowdrift at bleath gill

[feigeroman]

Saturday Movie Night: Snowdrift At Bleath Gill (1955)

On February 24th 1955, while hauling a goods train between Bishop Auckland and Kirkby Stephen, BR Standard 2 #78018 found herself stuck in heavy drifts of snow just below Stainmore Summit. Engines with snowploughs were dispatched to dig her out, but the snow turned out to be so bad that they found themselves stuck. So began five arduous days and nights of digging, ploughing and thawing - compressed for our benefit into just ten minutes, in what has become one of BTF's most iconic productions

[meanscarletdeceiver]

78018 and 78019: 2MT Twins

"78018 was built in 1953 at Darlington North Road Works at a cost of £14,809. It entered traffic in March 1954, at West Auckland Shed (County Durham). This was soon followed by a move to Kirkby Stephen, where it worked trains from Tebay to Barnard Castle on the Stainmore Railway. It was while on this line that 78018 became famous by getting stuck in a snow drift during February, 1955, which resulted in the film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. (This film is shown at Locomotion which is the National Railway Museum at Shildon.) At the time it was hauling a Kirkby Stephen to West Auckland goods across the bleak and steeply graded line when it became stuck in the snowdrift. It was not reached by the snowplough until two days later by which time it had become frozen solid.

The engine which rescued 78018 was 78019 which was also based at Kirkby Stephen and both locomotives have since been preserved. [...]

78018 was withdrawn from service in November 1966 and sold for scrap. It arrived at the Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry in June 1967 (along with 78019) and remained there until October 1978 when it was purchased and moved to the Market Bosworth Railway at Shackertone in Leicestershire (now the Battlefield Line Railway)."

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[emotoothtiger]

Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955)

Happy Solstice.

I can vouchesafe that Tilley lamps in snow give excellent light and heat.

Ironically despite a sweltering 12 degrees C this Solstice, there are still no trains.

[km-steam]

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Great Central Railway  Leicestershire  UK Saturday 12 August 2017

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Built at Darlington North Road Works. Entered traffic on 3 March 1954 at West Auckland Shed (County Durham). Became famous for getting stuck in a snow drift during February 1955, which resulted in the film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. Transferred to Chester Midland in April 1960; Workington in 1962; Willesden in May 1963; Nuneaton in September 1965; Shrewsbury before withdrawal on 12 November 1966.

Spent 11 years at Barry scrapyard before being preserved at Shackerstone in November, 1978. Owned & rescued by the Darlington Railway Preservation Society in 1981 from Barry in Wales, after a 34-year restoration effort by the DRPS the locomotive was 85% complete, it was then transferred to the Great Central Railway in 2012 where the remainder of the work was carried out.

The locomotive went back into active service on the GCR on 6 October 2016. Boiler ticket expires in 2026.

[emotoothtiger]

Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955)