I had the pleasure of starting my first job (a railway Signal & Telegraph Dept. as it was called then, trainee engineer) at Bletchley, Bucks, in the big freeze Feb 1963.

One of my first jobs which I got paid extra money for (snowing duties it was called), was clearing out the points (switches in USA) of snow and ice. We (or rather the Permanent Way Dept.) used to paste a de-icing fluid on them which I think they still do, but it couldn't always cope with the most extreme conditions, especially if they were located underneath bridges and never got any sun on them). Things were so bad on that day that I worked for 12 hours but it was the only time that I felt that I was doing a really worthwhile job helping the wheels to keep turning. In that winter, freight trains (a lot of them coal then) were stacked up on the West Coast main line in all available passing loops & sidings as the coal got frozen and couldn't be unloaded, so power stations went without and there were power cuts but I quite enjoyed the excitement of it all.

I remember having conversations with friends and colleagues about how mad the government (Tory) were getting Dr. Richard Beeching to permanently close down half the system and that in years to come there would be choas on the roads .............sure enough! Now they're re-opening and building new lines (even a new steam loco, see the 'Newly Built Class A1 Steam Loco' thread!