Bad weather in the first few weeks of 1940 added to the difficulties caused by the war.
Although air attacks would not begin until the summer, the LNER and other companies were required to carry special wartime traffics, including exceptional amounts of coal.
A long cold spell worsened in mid-January. The LNER Magazine reported that bllizzards affected many areas and snow drifts blocked the line at Hadfield on the former Great Central Woodhead Tunnel route for two weeks.
Further north, the line between Darlington, Penrith and Tebay was closed for ten days. The West Highland Line was blocked at Whistlefield, between Helensburgh and Ardlui.
The Magazine added: ‘The problem of carrying supplies of fuel in sufficient volume from the Yorkshire and Notts and Derby collieries was perhaps the hardest nut to crack. The demand for both industrial and household coal was insistent: it could not be met in full, but no effort was spared … In all areas extra freight services were arranged at weekends.’
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