[From: History of Wayne County, N.Y., 1877]
The New York Central learned how to cope with snow in its formative years. This scene is near Palmyra on January 14, 1877. There was no such thing as multiple unit controls and rotary snowplows in those days. Engine crews communicated by a series of whistle blasts. During the week this sketch was drawn, some eight feet of snow fell in central New York. The railroad put more than 800 men to work shoveling out the mainline between Syracuse and Rochester. This picture is no exaggeration. The Wayne County Journal of Palmyra reported on January 18, 1877:
“Some idea of the difficulty the trains on the New York Central have experienced during the late snow storms, may be gathered from the fact that in some instances from six to seven locomotives have been required to propel a half dozen cars.” Timetables of that time show five daily passenger trains in each direction.
