Steam Department Induction Day

New boy

Friday morning, and it's up at 5 to get ready for my Steam Department Induction Day at the NNR, where I am to have a couple of hours with the crew for the single steam engine rostered that day and spend the rest of the shift working through the department induction process.

Clad in a new pair of overalls (not bright red & not Hi-Viz!) I donned my flat cap and safety boots and set off for Weybourne for a 6 o'clock start. Of course, Weybourne is a 15 minute drive from here and there was no-one there at 5:30, so I was in 'mooching around' mode for a while. Phil, the rostered fireman for the day arrived to let us in and we were off. Paul, rostered 3rd Man, followed soon after and we were merrily chatting away as the Duty Fitter, another Paul, arrived.

We signed in and read the daily notices, including the driver's report from the previous day. Our loco was to be 76084, the BR Standard 4 'Mogul' which is resident at the NNR and which had been running the Yellow timetable for the past couple of days.

76084 arriving at Sheringham

First job was to put a Not to be Moved notice on a lamp iron, to ensure that nobody would move the loco until we were all in a safe place. Next job was to light up, but before we could do that Phil showed me how to inspect the engine to ensure it was safe to start the process:

• handbrake on
• regulator closed
• blower closed
• ash pan dampers shut
• reverser in mid-gear
• cylinder drain cocks open
• check for steam pressure
• injector steam and water valves, steam heat valve etc. shut
• water visible in the glasses

We drained & filled the water gauges several times for me to get a feel of it, and to make sure they were working correctly. Phil inspected the grate with his torch, and we had a good look at the stay heads and fusible plugs for leaks, and the brick arch for cracks. Paul & I went off to the Cleaner's Store to sort out rags for cleaning & a bucket of paraffin & rags for lighting up.  The previous crew had left a stack of firewood on the footplate, and by the time we were back, Phil had shoveled on the first layer of coal and was covering that with wood. The paraffin soaked rags followed - then a single flaming rag on the end of a long bit of pallet wood set it all ablaze while I watched from the back of the footplate. Fire door closed, and it's time to start cleaning.

Paul was kind to the new boy, volunteering to empty the smokebox of yesterday's ash and when he came out I was glad he did - it was a bit of a breezy day and it went everywhere. We had a look around the smokebox tube plate, inspecting the tube ends, superheater and stays for leaks and closed the door to let the fire take hold. Paul took the other dirty job, cleaning the outside of the smokebox with oil and paraffin.

I was still quite clean, having started at the firebox end of the boiler, cleaning the paint and working my way forwards happily until Phil started the blower and bits of burnt coal began to appear all over the area I'd been cleaning. He invited me onto the footplate to try the blower - it was surprisingly sensitive, in that you could adjust it to allow a waft of smoke out of the firehole or to draw it back into the firebox with a fraction of a turn. It demonstrates that according to the natural draft you have to adjust the blower to avoid wasting steam but also to avoid any possibility of flames blowing back through the firehole.

Re-cleaning the boiler paintwork, I discovered that I'm a bit short to reach the top of the steam dome, so it was tippy-toes on the running boards, one hand on the rail and stretching to the top of the dome. The wind was getting up a bit, and for a while I stood high on the running boards, drenched in the thick smoke as the fire got under way. Just the perfume I like, and it gives your skin the tones only heritage railways can give you but it's probably not so good for the lungs.

Steam engines need water too, and ours was a bit short. I went back to the running shed to collect the yard hose and dragged it down to the tender. Climbing up, I found the tender has two domes as you can see in the picture, one of which is a dummy. What is all that about? Some of these BR2A tenders had water scoops fitted (this one doesn't), so maybe that has something to do with it. I put the hose in the hole, called for the water to be turned on and left it to fill for a while.

Next, armed with some Brasso, I polished the copper steam heat pipes and the injector steam feeds that adorn all BR Standards below the fireman's side of the cab, and very nice they looked too; I learned another lesson - polish the brass & copper before the engine gets too hot! By this time, the driver had arrived and we all transferred back to the footplate for the short trip to the ash pit - my first time on a moving loco footplate since childhood.

In the pit, I carried the oil pump to fill the front bogie axle boxes while the driver inspected all the axle bearings for water ingress. I had expected the pit to be quite deep, but there is so much equipment - mostly brake gear, but also the front bogie chassis, sanding pipes, bits of frame etc. that you need to watch your head at all times. We worked our way to the rear of the loco, stopping to look at the ash pan doors.

At this point, there was enough steam for the Fireman to test the injectors, which he did. It was also at that point that I learned that BR Standards have an ash pan sprinkler which operates from the No. 1 injector - if this is on, the ash pan is sprayed with water which all comes out downwards... I was not quite under the ash pan at the time, and nor was the driver so we didn't get too wet - but the Fireman was most apologetic and it was an easy lesson learned.

Next, coaling. Time to stand back and let the Duty Fitter do his thing with the JCB, as we don't want melon sized lumps of anthracite raining down on us - we are going to have to pick it up afterwards anyway. He came alongside the tender & I stood for a while, spraying the bucketload of coal to damp down the dust, and he dropped it in the tender. Time for more cleaning, tender sides this time.

And that was the end of my practical activity for the day; it was about 09:00 and the trainer had arrived for my induction.

Busy Yard at Weybourne

Training started in the mess room, with a talk about housekeeping and PPE, and a cup of tea - though I must remember to bring some milk on my next turn. We moved downstairs to the signing on point to learn about signing on, notices, timetables and rostering procedures; we moved on to first aid & burns kits, the phone system and muster points.

Next, and thankfully the day was sunny, we moved onto the station platform and looked at the signals - that's something to get my head around. Moving over the footbridge, the Sheringham train pulled in and with it, my Bacon & Egg roll - breakfast at last, delivered by Paul, the 3rd Man on 76084.

Groundframe & oil store

Breakfast demolished and we moved into the yard to look at the Ground Frame and talk about yard signalling on and off the main line. Then it was off to the other end of the yard to get a feel for manual point operation and to look at electric point overrides & reset, the coal & wood store, oil store, Cleaner's Store and the various floodlights & facilities in the yard. The NNR has handy notices set up in these places to show you what products to use in each engine.

Back in the shed, we climbed about on various locomotives to look at controls, hazards, handrails & steps, which bits get hot. We had a look in a few fireboxes - at some point I am going to find myself crawling through the firehole to clean ash & clinker (a job for the 'Bar Boy' back in the days of main line steam) and I was surprised to see the cavernous width of the 9F's firebox compared to the coffin like shape of the B12's 'between the frames' firebox. Still in the shed, we walked around the workshops looking at slips, trips and falls and looking in the boiler shop & carriage sheds. I had a chance to chat to the Duty Fitter about day to day maintenance - washouts, replacing springs, what help they needed. As I expected, the NNR can swallow up any spare time I have.

We made a last stop in the mess room for a talk about training schedules, rostering arrangements and the first three cleaning turns, which are shadowed by an experienced cleaner, followed by normal rostered turns. The training process is quite complicated, so I made a picture:

When you have done ten cleaning turns on-shed, you start your cleaner-Passed Cleaner Training Schedule; I have a copy, and there is a lot to absorb. By the time you start that you are rostered as a 3rd Man (a senior cleaner on the footplate) or as a shed based Cleaner, alternately - which is the beginning or your training to become a fireman. Of course, reading and absorbing everything you can find relating to steam locomotive engineering and railway operations starts now...

And that was about it! I tend to ask a lot of questions, so perhaps it was no surprise that I could not fit the planned footplate ride into the day - the oil industry beckoned, and I had to return to my desk to close out a little job for Total.

I've set up the initial, shadowed cleaning turns and a Cleaner's Basic Training course over the next three months; I'm going to do one turn per month for now, in the interests of domestic bliss; I shall increase that as far as I can - it may enhance domestic bliss sometimes!

Bring it on I say, I can't wait.

NNR Volunteer

So today may mark the beginning of a new hobby for me.

Sheringham Station

For most of my life, I've been interested in trains; I like travelling by train, I like the technology, and I particularly like the enthusiasm, excitement & tourist business that the North Norfolk Railway brings to our little town.

From Wikipedia
The line, which is just over 5 miles (8.0 km) long, once formed part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. Work on rebuilding the line started in 1965, and on 4 June 1967, two steam locomotives were delivered. The operating company, North Norfolk Railway plc, was launched in 1965 following the granting of two Light Railway Orders. In May 1973, the railway was the scene of filming for the episode "The Royal Train" of the popular TV programme Dad's Army. The railway won the 'Independent Railway of the Year' award in 2006.

At Sheringham the line has now been reconnected to the National Rail network station via an 'occasional use' level crossing. There are two stops between Sheringham and Holt – Weybourne (about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the village) and Kelling Heath.

The main restoration sheds are at Weybourne. They have room to accommodate four standard length British Railways Mark 1 coaches and six large steam or diesel locomotives. New carriage storage sheds have been built near Holt with Heritage Lottery funding. These have the capacity to store the equivalent of 18 Mark 1 coaches. The railway is operated mainly by volunteers. There is also a Junior club for members who are aged between 10 and 15. Every year there is a volunteer of the year award and also the 'John D Hammer' trophy for the 'Junior volunteer of the year'.

So, now that I am working three days a week, I have a bit of spare time to get involved in something new. I work from home, and consequently the day to day interaction with workmates is confined to Skype which though excellent is hardly a substitute for office banter; secondly, I'm at a time in my career, and play a part in the oil & gas industry where I am constantly in a leadership role, guiding others & supporting more junior staff: I'm looking to be led, to learn something new and to do it in a face to face environment, preferably with a structured approach to training.

From TrainDriver.org

Traditionally, boys were recruited onto the steam railway at the age of fourteen as engine cleaners with only a basic education. After a year or so of laborious engine cleaning combined with general shed duties, such as assisting the boiler-smiths and fitters, they would be examined and passed out by a locomotive inspector as being fit for firing duties. Now re-classified as Passed Cleaners, from this point on they could be used by the shed foremen as firemen on such workings as local goods trips or yard shunting. Incredible as it now seems, there was no paid, formal training at all. Cleaners taught themselves and attended unpaid Mutual Improvement Classes (MICs) run by experienced drivers and firemen in their own time, often between church and brass band practice on Sunday morning in a driver’s front parlour! Eventually a cleaner would obtain a full time fireman’s appointment, often

Mayflower passes Sheringham West Signal Box

posted to a depot far from home, beginning the slow progression through the rosters, called links. This would see them starting on shed, local and shunting work, gradually venturing further afield, then onto semi-fast passenger work and long-haul freights before finally getting onto express passenger trains. Promotion through the links and grades was on a rigid system based on length of service or seniority, what is commonly known as ‘Buggins’ Turn’! To working class men with no formal qualifications their seniority was often the only thing they had to distinguish them from those around them and was jealously guarded. After ten years or so, and still studying in his own time, a fireman would be examined and passed for driving, becoming a Passed Fireman, thereafter being available for the most lowly driving duties, usually shunting or preparation & disposal of locomotives. Finally, perhaps in his late thirties or early forties he would obtain promotion to Driver and begin the long haul through the links all over again, perhaps not becoming a ‘top link’ express driver until just a few years before retirement.

That same approach to driver training is built into the regime provided by the NNR Locomotive Operations Department, so that fits the bill - albeit on hopefully shorter timescales. One of the staff did ask me how old I was, and seemed satisfied that it might be feasible to earn a driver's role before I was... 60? 70? pushing up the daisies? The group is based at the NNR Works at Weybourne, two miles from Sheringham and at the end of some nice biking roads; the car park is usually full so a bike will be the perfect thing to take me there when it's my turn.

So I've signed up; a nice lady Volunteer Coordinator called me and gave me access to the NNR Volunteers website and Facebook group, so I can start the learning process.

Today, Thomas the Tank Engine Day on the NNR, I went to Sheringham to undergo the first part of the training, the Personal Track Safety course and test. I'd read the PTS section of the Operating Manual (several times) and watched the training video (again, several times) and today had some practical experience of walking around the yard at Sheringham with the Operations Officer, answering questions about where to walk (and where not to walk), train movements, visibility and PPE; apparently oil industry yellow HiViz coats are not allowed on the railway - it has to be orange. I sat the 35 question test in the buffet at Sheringham station, amongst dozens of small visitors and their Mums & Dads, whilst Percy chuffed up and down outside.

I am pleased to say I scored 100% - the Oil & Gas industry certainly leaves you tuned in to HSE matters, and I now have my Volunteer's ID card. Next is the Steam Induction Day, in a couple of weeks; I'll need to sort out some suitable overalls since my modern, bright red overalls with their reflective HiViz stripes look a bit out of place in the Edwardian scene that Weybourne represents...