Ireland’s 1982 Big Snow – Bombardier Shannon to the Rescue | Season 6 – Episode 10
Wheels Jan 16, 2026
At this time forty three years ago, the entire island of Ireland was covered by what became known as the “Big Snow”. Beginning on Thursday, January 7th 1982, snow fell almost continuously for 36 hours, blanketing the country, with drifts reaching two metres in places. Trains were cancelled, buses stopped and Dublin Airport and Port were closed. The lowest temperature recorded was -19.6 °C at Glasnevin. The country was at a standstill.
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GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
As the emergency intensified and amid much public anger, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Garret FitzGerald cut short a holiday in Spain and returned to Dublin on Sunday, 10th January, to take charge of the government response. By then, supplies of basic foodstuffs in the capital were critically low. Milk and bread had become scarce, prompting the requisitioning of 50,000 gallons of milk in powered form for distribution in Dublin on Monday 11th January.
Shortages were worsened by delivery trucks stranded among snowbound and abandoned vehicles. In the fishing town of Howth, just north of Dublin, bread shortages led to public disorder. Meanwhile, the Irish Air Corps was operating under severe pressure, with Alouette helicopter crews carrying out a record number of rescues from isolated communities. Three days after the snow began, 10,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity, 8,000 of them in the southeast of the country.
BOMBARDIER TO THE RESCUE
Help then came from an unexpected source. Management at the Bombardier bus factory in Shannon recognised that their Ski-Doo snowmobiles, heavy duty tracked machines produced by the company in Canada, offered a practical solution, capable of operating where deep snow had brought conventional vehicles to a halt.
Bombardier (Ireland) Ltd. had been established in 1979 as a joint venture between Canada’s Bombardier Inc. and the US based General Automotive Corporation of Michigan. The company was established to build buses for the Irish state transport operator CIÉ (Córas Iompair Éireann) in a factory in Shannon, County Clare, previously occupied by a piano manufacturer.
BOMBARDIER NEW YORK
The well-established Irish-Canadian-American network moved quickly. What followed was later outlined in an article titled Skandic Snowmobiles Aid Ireland Rescue, published in 1982 in Recreational Vehicle Life / Snowmobile Canada magazine.
Within hours, arrangements were put in place for Bombardier’s distribution subsidiary to move six Skandic snowmobiles to John F Kennedy Airport in New York City, from where they were flown directly to Ireland.
Bruce Nash, who was responsible for service and parts in the Malone distributor, was chosen to accompany the snowmobiles to Ireland.
“As soon as we worked out the route to take from Malone to New York City, I called longtime friend on snowmobiler Larry Wallach to meet us and act as a guide to the airport,” Bruce recalled. “At the meeting place, we found New York City police waiting to give us an escort to the airport complete with sirens and flashing lights. This was only the first example of an amazing amount of cooperation we received in moving the sleds from alone Ireland”, he noted.
ARRIVAL & RAPID DEPLOYMENT
The six snowmobiles were loaded onto a dedicated Aer Lingus charter flight for a nonstop journey to Shannon Airport. On arrival at 7.00 am, the Ski-Doos were unloaded and transported directly to the Bombardier facility in Shannon, where engineers at the bus plant had while the aircraft crossed the Atlantic spent the previous hours fabricating 6 heavy duty tow sleds.
When the Skandics arrived, both the snowmobiles and their tow sleds were loaded onto the fast mail train bound for Dublin, the east coast was the worst affected by the snow. The train reached the Dublin at 10.00 pm, where Bruce Nash found a detachment of Irish Army soldiers waiting to be instructed in the assembly and maintenance of the machines. Bruce worked through the night with the soldiers and, at first light, formally presented the first sled to Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Paddy Cooney.
DEFENCE FORCES TRAINING
“With the snowmobiles assembled and checked out he taught the army personnel how to operate them and we put on a show never before seen in Ireland, a convoy of four wheel drive army trucks and snowmobiles Bouncing along the snow and ice covered cobblestones streets of Dublin”, said Nash. “At a large park Phoenix Park) we taught additional army personnel how to handle the sleds. It was quite a sight to see the army troops zip around in the snowmobiles once it became used to driving them. There like a bunch of kids who found a brand new toy.”
Most of the third day was devoted to training army and civilian rescue personnel in riding techniques. Later that day, the first teams set out into the countryside, using the Skandics and tow sleds loaded with food and rescue equipment to reach and resupply isolated families in the greater Dublin area.
Bruce spent the following day providing further instruction on maintenance procedures, ensuring the snowmobiles would continue to operate at peak efficiency for the duration of the emergency.
A SYMBOL OF COOPERATION
“The people operating the sleds were very interested in the preventative maintenance tips and checks,” Bruce noted. “Throughout the entire five day operation, I was amazed and pleased to see how many different people pulled together to get those snowmobiles into action. It was very rewarding to be part of the effort and see our sleds help ease problems during the storm emergency.”
With sirens sounding and lights flashing, the movement of the sleds became a highly visible symbol of cooperation. This, Nash noted, was only the first example of the remarkable level of assistance received in moving the machines across Ireland.
ORIGINS OF THE SKI-DOO
The first Ski-Doo snowmobile was launched in 1959 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier. Bombardier’s factory was based in Valcourt, where he had first opened a small garage in 1926. This gradually evolved into a manufacturing operation as he developed a range of tracked vehicles. By 1942, the company had been incorporated as L’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée, focusing on larger multi-passenger snowmobiles and military vehicles.
THE NAME THAT STUCK
The Bombardier snowmobile was originally intended to be called Ski-Dog, but a typographical error in a company brochure changed the name to Ski-Doo, a mistake Bombardier embraced for its distinctive and easily trademarked appeal. Early Ski-Doos were used by trappers and surveyors working in remote snowy regions of Canada and the United States, before sport enthusiasts drove widespread popularity leading to mass production. The machines later proved their capability on landmark expeditions, including the first undisputed overland journey to the North Pole in 1968.
The Ski-Doo Skandic chosen for use in Ireland was a robust, heavy duty utility snowmobile designed for hard work in remote winter environments. Its wide track gives excellent flotation in deep snow, making it well suited to towing sleds and carrying heavy loads where conventional vehicles cannot operate.
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS
When researching this story, very little material could be found. Newspaper reports were usually limited to a brief line noting the arrival of six Ski-Doos in Ireland, with no evidence of any television coverage. To fill in the gaps, we contacted the Canadian Embassy, whose staff directed us to the very help Privy Council Office in Ontario and ultimately to Sophie Cimon at the Bombardier Museum.
There is similarly little clarity around what became of the Bombardier Ski-Doos after the Big Snow of 1982. They appear to have been held in storage by the Irish Defence Forces for a number of years. The last known reference to their fate dates to December 13th 2005, when, during a debate in Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament), County Wexford TD Paul Kehoe raised a question with the then Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea, regarding the six Ski-Doos. Minister O’Dea was able to confirm that “the snowmobiles were written off in 2000 due to the fact that they were obsolete and uneconomic to repair.”
Dáil Éireann Debate.
Question: 466 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Defence if the snowmobiles obtained by his Department during the severe winter of 1981-82 were donated; if so, by whom; if these snowmobiles were subsequently written-off; if so, if they were written-off due to lack of maintenance; if not, the reason for the writing-off of such valuable pieces of equipment; his views on whether snowmobiles would be as necessary during a severe winter as they were in the winter of 1981-82; the steps which have been taken by his Department to replace the original fleet of snowmobiles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38943/05]
Response: I am advised that six snowmobiles obtained by the Department of Defence during 1981-82 were donated by the Canadian Government via Bombardier Aerospace. I understand that the snowmobiles were written off in 2000 due to the fact that they were obsolete and uneconomic to repair. The Defence Forces have no plans to replace the snowmobiles. Minister for Defence (Mr. O’Dea)
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Sources of Information, Photo & Video Credits:
CR’s Video Vaults
Emerald Society Police Department of New York
Irish Network New York City
NYPD 19th District – X Account
Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier
Skandic Snowmobiles Aid Ireland Rescue – Recreational Vehicle Life/ Snowmobile Canada Vol. 14 No. 1
The Irish Times
Pictures of the Past of North Country New York – Facebook page
The American Irish Historical Society
