Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-01-28 | Page 4 | Trains on the U P Still Blocked

tie ON Mil. P. STILL BLOCKED One Is Proceeding Slowly Westward Behind Rotary; Officials Hopeful, CHEYENNE, Wyo., Jan. 27. Moderating Mod-erating winds, clearer weather and the fact that on train was proceeding elowly westward behind a rotary snow-plow snow-plow at 5 o'clock today were cited by Union Pacific railroad officials as basis for hop that they miht gucceed in terminating the intermittent snow blockade which has hamnored operation of trains on the road for a week and which has been complete for the last twenty-four hours. "However," one official said, "the wind niay blow aain tonight, aa it did last night, and block the road ayain. "Give us twenty-four hours of calm, weather and we'll break the blockade for good." Except for the one train, which left Denver two days ago, that is crawling westward, not a wheel is stirring on the stretch from Wilcox to Medicine Bow, unleHs it be under a snowplow or work train. In this stretch four rotary snow-plows, snow-plows, one "flanger" dIow and one wrecker plow are at work, betides, all the men the company can house between be-tween working periods. The thousand coal miners called from the Union Pacific Pa-cific Coal company mines at Hanna today to-day could not all be used, on account of lack of facilities for caring for them, railroad officials said. Before they were called out the road was hiring every available man, they asserted, ana now has all the labor it ran use. Westbound trains, which were pushed west of Laramie today, dn the hope that the line would be cleared when they arrived ar-rived at the blocked section, were recalled re-called and are to be consolidated in the Laramie yards and sent on westward as opportunity offers. There are sixteen six-teen . of these, while eight more trains are waiting at Medicino Bow for a chance to go oat. Passengers have experienced Do hardships, hard-ships, railroad officials said, though one of them admitted "they weren't getting meals like you'd sit down to at a hotel. " All but one of the halted trains carried car-ried a dining car, well stocked, the officials of-ficials said. Six private cars of officials also wore, converted intd "dining rooms."