The winters of '42-'43 and '43-'44 were some of the harshest and coldest
since the WP&Y began operations at the turn of the century.
Seventy one years ago from the 5th to the 15th of February 1943, Colonel Wilson
and the men of the 770th R.O.B. had their worst experience when the railway
was blocked by snow drifts and blizzards raging at thirty below zero
temperatures. Whitehorse airport weather for the period shows sunrise at
10AM and sunset at 6:30PM, no moonlight, temperatures to -40, with an
unrelenting wind at 20 MPH gusting to 32 out of the North. It would have
been much worse at the White Pass. It was extremely cold, mostly dark,
and very windy.
William Wilson led from the field, and on February 5th his southbound
rotary snowplow train was stopped at Carcross Yukon because of the severity
of the storm and high snowdrifts over the railway to the south.
Over the next ten days we'll see Colonel Wilson's story unfold in his own
words from the report he submitted on February 16th after a ten day battle
with weather and equipment difficulties. It's a tribute to his courage and
command that he brought his troops through a near death experience without
loss of life or wrecking machines.
WP&YR Weekly Report (1943) Hq. 770th R.O. Det. -Feb 16, 1943
HEADQUARTERS, 77OTH RAILWAY OPERATING DETACHMENT
Office of the Commanding Officer
WPW/fbb
APO 985, Seattle, Wash. February 16, 1943.
Subject: WP&YR Weekly Report No.6 (1943) .
TO: Commanding General, Military Railway Service, St. Paul, Minn.
Commanding General, Northwest Service Command, APO 702, Seattle, Wash.
1. During the week February 5 -12, inclusive, a severe blizzard occurred
over the entire line making the operation of trains impossible throughout
that entire period.
2. In order to explain the severity of this storm I am giving below the
daily occurrences on the line during this period:
FEBRUARY 5 -Rotary plow with engines 8l and 62 in charge of the writer,
were held at Carcross from 10:.30 AM, February 5th until 12:15 PM, February
6th, awaiting improvement in storm conditions, at which time it was decided
that weather was such as to make possible the efficient operation of the
rotary.
All other traffic was held at terminals until line could be cleared by
rotary.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2014 09:42PM by m.j.peltier.
