What a drag! Mighty 'Grid' 56043 approaches Lewisham station dragging a pair of EPBs bound for Dartford in the Big Freeze of 1991
<b>The Big Freeze - London, February 1991</b>
At the beginning of February 1991, a bitterly cold spell of weather brought heavy snow to eastern and central England. Temperatures remained below zero in these areas continuously between the 6th and 9th of February and maximum temperatures were between -3 and -5C. During the night of the 7th the snow became heavy and persistent in London, bringing 20 cm in central London and 25cm in boroughs such as Croydon and Bromley, the deepest snow since the winter of 1962-1963.

This brought the rail network into chaos, Heathrow was forced to cancel flights and Gatwick and Birmingham airports were closed. On the 8th of February, the snow was lighter and started to ease. However, the cold spell and the snow lasted for several days. More information here: 
<a href="http://www.weathercast.co.uk/nc/weather-news/news/article/heavy_snow_in_england_25_years_ago.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.weathercast.co.uk/nc/weather-news/news/article/heavy_...</a>

and here: <a href="http://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/34026-winter-1990-91-the-gr.." rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/34026-winter-1990-91-the-gr..</a>.

<b>Everyone likes a bit of rail chaos - especially when you were a basher in the 1980s-90s!</b>
Another time capsule from the Big Freeze of Feb 1991. A massive Class 56 is seen here at my then home station of Lewisham, dragging a pair of 4-EPBs on a local NSE service from Charing Cross to Dartford. An extremely rare event indeed.

I was waiting for my EPB to Charing Cross, to head over to Waterloo for 50046 'Ajax' on a Waterloo to Exeter that morning. So I was slightly stunned and perplexed when this 56 growled into view. Should I abandon my 'Vac bashing' and go for a 'once in a lifetime' drag to Dartford? I decided to go for the 172 miles to Exeter behind the last large logo 50! 

Note the line climbing up to the left, which links the Lewisham line with the Nunhead loop line. The incline was also used on occasion in the rush-hour (if my memory serves me correctly) to take commuter trains across the mainline using the infamous Lewisham flyover. 

&quot;In 1929 large-scale remodelling of the junction was undertaken to enable cross-London freight traffic to be routed via Nunhead and Loughborough Junction. The new route utilised part of the former Greenwich Park branch (which had closed in 1917) and included a flyover.&quot; For more on Lewisham station see: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisham_station" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisham_station</a>

Taken with a Nikon F-501 SLR camera with 75-200mm lens.

You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: <a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/</a>
4epb emu 56043 class56 grid networksoutheast nse lewisham london stations snow weather drag class415