Not long after the rotary had passed Hagerman, a huge snowslide completely blocked the line. The rotary cleared the line to Sellar and turned on the wye to attack the hill. The struggling rotary with her six engines wasn't able to get up the hill again as far as the slide.
The blizzard continued and a borrowed Jull plow from the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe arrived at Leadville on February 2nd. It immediately started to the relief of the blockaded passenger train at Busk. Twenty-four hours after leaving Leadville, the Jull arrived at Busk and freed the snowed in passenger train. The passenger train backed down the hill to Arkansas Junction, turned on the wye, and returned to Leadville.
On the western slope of Hagerman Pass the plow had been working near Ivanhoe, but the tracks had drifted full behind it. The outfit was turned on the Ivanhoe turntable and cleared the tracks to Sellar. With the rotary needing mechanical attention and fuel supplies running low at Sellar, on February 3rd the rotary retired to Basalt for repairs and crew rest. On the Busk side, the Jull outfit continued to try and reach the first snowshed so it could be repaired.
On February 5th the rotary left Basalt powered by five locomotives and reached Sellar late that day. On the 6th disaster struck and through a miscommunications between engineers because of the howling winds, the lead engine derailed and damaged the drawbar to the rotary tender. With the tracks blown shut behind it, the rotary was stuck.
The Midland managed to borrow another rotary which arrived at Leadville just as the other rotary was getting disabled at Sellar on February 6th. The Jull was replaced by the rotary on the east slope and the Jull was routed to the west slope via the Denver & Rio Grande and arrived at Basalt on February 9th. At the same time a new blizzard struck plugging the line between Buena Visa and Leadville. The rotary working the east slope broke a large casting as was trapped by the snow. A new part, weighting over 500 pounds, was fabricated and through sheer gut and human muscle was carried via toboggans and eight men on skis to Busk and on February 16th the rotary was hard at work again on the east slope. About the same time the Jull plow liberated the stalled rotary east of Sellar and with its' repair, the unit backed down to Sellar for refueling.
By February 18th, the rotary outfits on both sides of Hagerman were working towards each other and by the 20th, the two snow fighting trains were within seven miles of each other. The 21st ushered in a new blizzard and by the following day, all the work so far had been undone. On the 23rd the storm ended and the Jull which had return to the east slope broke through bringing coal and supplies to the beleaguered crews. The Jull took over the fight while the borrowed rotary made its way to the west slope to replace the Midland rotary which returned to Leadville for necessary repairs.
By March 2nd the Midland rotary was again battling the drifts at Busk with the Jull returned to Leadville and held as a spare. On March 5th the Midland rotary reached the blockaded stock extra and pulled the train with its frozen and lifeless cargo to Busk. The following day the worst blizzard yet undid all that had been done and the rotary retired to Leadville for 24 hours until the storm abated. By March 8th the storm had spent itself and the line was again clear from Leadville to Busk.
During the following week and a half, good progress was made and the west slope plow again was toiling above Ivanhoe while the Midland's own rotary was well up the hill above Busk. Rapid progress was now being made and on April 14th the two rotary teams met. The blockage had lasted 78 days!
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