In the mid fifties significant falls of snow were quite common in the Isle of Man, and on one of these occasions, during a Christmas period, the village at Kirk Michael became cut off overnight with huge drifts of snow. I was scheduled to report for duty in Douglas, but this was clearly impossible, so I went to the small automatic exchange, a UAX13, (we didn't have a telephone at that time) to ring in to Douglas, and report the circumstances, only to find I couldn't make any calls out.
The links between exchanges were called junctions, and all six junctions between the Kirk Michael exchange and Ramsey exchange, a UAX14, were faulty. The junctions at that time were provided by means of an overhead route of open wire, running all along the railway line from Kirk Michael to Ramsey, a distance of about 10 miles, and it was obvious that it had suffered significant damage due to the storm. The electricity supply was also off, and all roads from the village were seriously blocked by snow drifts We were to all intents and purposes isolated.
As a young engineer, not long out of my training period, it was to say the least an unfamiliar dilemma to try to resolve. I set about using a test set to check out the faulty junctions, and during this experimental process, fortunately, my colleague in the Ramsey exchange heard some unfamiliar noises from the equipment and on investigation discovered that it was caused by my experimentation. We established contact, and proved that there were two good wires between us, each belonging to a different junction. By a little rewiring it became possible to get one junction back into service, and re-establish some communication with the outside world.
As mentioned earlier, the electric was off, and this led to further problems. The exchange relied on a quite substantial battery to keep it functioning in the event of mains failure, but despite its size it had a limited capacity, and was running down all the time the mains supply was off. Now, the next dilemma requiring a solution.
There were a number of people who owned large vehicles in the village, and after a little persuasion, enough of them agreed to loan me their vehicle batteries, which I transported to the exchange, using my sledge. When the main battery was exhausted these vehicle batteries were connected up to extend the life of the exchange. However because of the extra demand with people trying to use their telephones, this solution was not going to last very long.
I was given permission eventually to temporarily cut off many of the customers in order to try to keep a number of emergency numbers working. There was at that time no emergency generator held at these small exchanges, although that was to change quickly after this incident. After a number of days, a team of engineers set out walking from Ballaugh, about two and a half miles away, to deliver a portable generator, which enabled an improvement in service. Fortunately the local garage was across the road from the exchange, so a petrol supply for the generator was readily available.
Altogether a memorable and interesting experience. There seem to be some benefits from the advent of global warming; we don't experience such harsh conditions nowadays. Or am I speaking too soon with winter not over yet!
Date: 27-Dec-1955
Sent by: David Moore
Category: The network and street furniture
