# Tuahiwi Valley snow pics



## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Well, another 1 in 100 year snow for Christchurch this year – two in a row, who’d a thunk..

I was even less prepared this year, the call was for 6 to 12” to 200m, lesser amounts lower – we’re at sea level so just a bit of wet sleet right? Hah. Work closed and everyone was sent home at midday, there was about 4” already on the track. 










I didn’t even bother to attempt a proper plough – I just cleared about 100’ by shoving the plough around by hand. Plan was to complete the whole track by hand then run a train to keep the line clear.










Unfortunately I couldn’t even keep that much open. The Heisler was bogging down in the snow falling just shuttling back ‘n forth and needed full supervision. If I stopped to clear a bit more line I had to completely start again. Joy and frustration all in one. 

Ah well, here’s some more pics..


















































To finish, here’s a clip of the 1:1 boys clearing part of the line near Otira at the top of the pass over the Southern Alps after the storm passed through..




Cheers 

Neil


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice pictures Neil, now I know how it must feel when we post pictures of our winter and it's your summer time.









Kind of hard keeping up when it's coming down that quickly. The pictures sure are beautiful though, thanks for sharing.


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for posting that's some snow plowing.


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

Thanks for the pics Neil.

Might be better to shut down operations and wait for the snow to stop and then send out the snow removal crews.

Dont feel too bad, the "big guys" had to deal with it too.


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Thanks guys, I figured snow pics are a bit more interesting when someone else is doing the shovelling.. 

Nice pic Jake. I'm guessing that boiler would be frozen solid by the time they got it out. Snow melts pretty quickly around here - it was all gone within 48 hrs.. 

Cheers 
Neil


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## Robert (Jan 2, 2008)

Great video clip. How fun would that be to ride!


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice snow plowing!


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Great pics Neil 

You're a dedicated railroader for sure. 

 If it snows in Florida like that, I may call you for help.


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