Cleaning Turn 3 - Y14 & Ashing Out

This is more like it, two railway visits in the space of a week. Having spent Saturday morning cleaning the B12 and ashing out the Standard 4, I knew that the B12 was going out of service the following Tuesday to be replaced by the 7F and I confidently expected to be cleaning the 7F when my next turn came, on Wednesday.

Now, one of the things you have to do when signing on is read the driver's reports from the past few days, to find out what has been happening. This morning, I read of leaking piston glands and juddering from one of the rods operating the valves in the drivers side steam chest. Not good. It was no surprise then to find Fitter Bob in the yard directing me to the Y14 with the news that the 7F was considered failed and would not be in service that day.

So, fortune appeared to be smiling on me that day. It was about 5:45 and I was the only cleaner rostered, so it fell to me to prep the Y14. Climbing aboard, I ran through the usual checks. I tested both water gauges by isolating them, draining them, closing the drains and watching the level come back up as I opened the water valves. The handbrake was on, the regulator shut, the reverser in mid gear and all the appropriate injector, blower and cylinder valves & cocks closed.

From the NNR website:

This historic engine was built as GER no. 564 and left Stratford Works on 22 February 1912. It spent most of its working life in Norfolk and Suffolk. In 1922 and 1936 it was allocated to Norwich Thorpe and also spent time at Yarmouth. After the 1923 grouping, the loco was renumbered 7564, then 5462 in November 1946. In October it was transferred to Lowestoft and stayed there for 13 years. In 1949, as a consequence of the nationalisation of British Railways, it became 65462. Both the LNER and BR painted the loco plain black.

65462 was allocated to Norwich Thorpe in June 1960 and then moved to Stratford in January 1961. In January 1962, 65462 was retubed at Stratford, before joining the few other remaining London based J15s on standby and Liverpool Street station pilot duties.

The last four J15s (including 65462) were finally withdrawn on 16th September 1962, when steam was eliminated from East Anglia, having outlived many other more modern types of locomotive. It was purchased by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Society and ran for a while in the guise of a J15 locomotive. An overhaul by the Society costing more than £350,000 has seen it return to service in a condition closely matching that when it entered service as built by the Great Eastern Railway.

Pretty isn't it.

Here's the failed 7F, seen from the top of the coal heap in the Y14's tender, while I was checking the tender for water.

Here's the centre of operations for the next bit.

The loco has had a warming fire in it overnight - it's warm and there is still 20 psi on the clock:

By now, Third Man Nick has arrived and despite being considerably less than half my age he is the senior man; as I'm relatively inexperienced, Nick supervises me in preparing the fire and the next step is to clean the grate and light up. Through the fire hole, I used the rake to work through the remains of the warming fire which was still pretty hot with visible glowing coals. The loose ash went through the bars, and I used the shovel to put a round of coal all over the grate until I had it fully covered; then, I use all the wood yesterdays crew have left on the footplate - probably most of a pallet, broken up, goes all over the top of the coal. Nick has assumed the cleaner's role for the moment and has fetch a bucket full of paraffin-soaked rags, which I distribute over the wood. With the last of the pallet, we prepare the torch - a long piece of wood with a wet rag tied to the end which Nick sets his lighter to, since I have not managed to locate my own for some reason. I apply the torch to each of the rags within reach and the wood is soon ablaze. We throw the torch into the firebox and close the door.

This method is called the upside down fire - because the kindling is on top of the fuel, opposite to most domestic fire lighting procedures.

So what did I forget? The smokebox is still full of yesterdays ash. We scrabble to clean it out before the fire gets too lively and we cannot see for smoke.

Later in the day, the Y14 pulls a train into Weybourne Platform 2

Next, it's back to normal duties. We have plenty of time, so I set to polishing up the Y14's paintwork, attempting to get it done before the boiler get's too hot. NNR procedures indicate this one has to be cleaned with Citrus fluid and wax polish, which is not fun if the paintwork is too warm.

That takes an hour or so, and we polish up the brass ring behind the smokebox and the steelwork on the smokebox door.

Then, it's over the pit for ashing out and then backing up for coal

The Y14 now has it's full crew aboard, so I leave them to go and get changed for the day and return to yard duties which involve tidying the store, chopping up more cleaning rags from the old clothes, sheets and curtains donated by the public, and tidying up the yard. 

During my yard work, the 7F has been hauled up and down the yard by the Class 20, while various people including the railway's Chief Engineer look at the various pivots and rods around the motion. I speak to the Chief Engineer later & he tells me that the problems are just an accumulation of normal wear and tear in the Walschaerts valve gear and he needs to speak with the owners - the 7F is not going anywhere for a while.

My last job is to clean out the ash pit, and then it is time for a tea break.

Tea over, Fitter Bob finds me another job: cleaning the firebox and smokebox of the 7F. Here's my office for the next hour or so:

The B12 waits for it's next service, on the adjacent road:

First off, we'll have a quick look in the firebox to see what awaits:

No surprises there, the remains of last night's fire. Let's close up and go and clear out the smokebox first. Fowler designed LMS locomotives like this have these toggles closing the smokebox door, unlike the usual dart found on most other locomotives. You undo them with a spanner usually found in one of the tender lockers and turn them out of the way:

Here's the sight that greets us. The inverted V in the middle bottom is the two exhaust pipes coming up from the cylinders; this combines to form the blast pipe, which is directed up the chimney; the mesh cage around the blast pipe is a spark arrestor, designed to stop hot ash going out of the chimney and causing lineside fires:

Under the spark arrestor is the blower - which is used to induce a draught through the boiler tubes when the engine is stationary or going through a tunnel. The two large pipes either side are the steam pipes leading from the superheater to the cylinders; you can see the smokebox tubeplate and the superheater elements in the background.

Fire in the cutting at Kelling Heath

A broom and a shovel make short work of the ash.

When you are cleaning the smokebox, you put a barrow in front of the loco - you can drop the ash into the barrow from above. If you are careful, it won't go everywhere:

Next, we close up the smokebox and dispose of the ash and the barrow, and turn our attention to the firebox. This a 'between the frames' box and as such is narrow, but very long. We use the rake to draw the ash from the front of the grate into the middle; this rake is about 8 feet long and made of 3/4" round bar - it's pretty heavy outside the box and trying to manipulate the far end from outside is hard work.

The 7F has a drop grate - operated by this lever. The drop grate allows you to dump the ash directly into the ash pan by lowering a section of the grate. You pull the lever back to release pressure on the safety catch, kick the catch away with your boot and lower the grate.

Next step is to pull out the baffle plate and the lower protection plate in the firehole and get stuck in. You can't see the back of the grate without getting inside, which is dusty, hot and dark. You can see the dust in this shot and you can also see the hole - this is the drop grate.

I put a short shovel inside the firebox and move all the remaining ash into the hole, so it can fall into the ashpan below before closing the grate. Needless to say, I was filthy when I came out.

Here's a footplate view of the tender:

I'm not yet sure what those valves are.

Next, the 11:35 train is due in from Holt - I wait on the platform for it anxiously, since I have now been on duty for almost six hours and I am starving. This DMU is not it - it is waiting to go to Holt, and it's waiting for the Y14 just like me.

A few minutes later, the train arrives; the crew exchange tokens with the signalman and I follow the train as it draws to a halt at the end of the platform.

Here's what I'm waiting for - a bacon & egg roll that has been sitting keeping hot on the loco warming plate.

Superb. Roll on next time, when I am a rostered cleaner. I've now completed my first 'shadowed' turns and am considered fit to be out on my own and will be looking after cleaners with less experience!

Who knows what peril that will bring...

Cleaning Turn 2 - MICs and B12 Wheels

It's been quite a while since I spent any time on the railway, due to various family visits and two weeks holiday but this month I have two turns booked. Today, we have a Cleaning Turn and two Mutual Improvement Classes.

It's 06:00 on a cool Saturday morning. There's a special timetable today - it's basically a red timetable day but the Railway are using the B12 and the Vintage Set alongside the Standard 4 and one of the Mk1 sets. There's two full crews already on shed when I arrive, including three other cleaners - we are all here for the MICs as well. Work is well under way, and I join Phillip who's cleaning the B12. The B12s were initially built in the Great Eastern Railway Stratford works between 1911 and 1920 as GER class S69 locomotives; this one was one of a batch of 10 built in 1928 by Beyer Peacock and is the only one of it's class left. She is owned by the M&GNJRS.

The inspection is done and the smokebox has already been cleaned, but there are a number of leaking stays on both sides of the firebox, approximately at grate level. When this happens, you call the Duty Fitter who's responsible for deciding on whether the engine goes into traffic or not.

While we wait for Fitter Alan to have a look at the stays, I set about cleaning the copper brake pump pipes before the fire is lit and everything gets too hot, and Fireman Alan, assigned to the Standard 4, brings everyone a round of tea.

Fitter Alan pronounces the B12 fit for service, and then finds a very worn brake block  on the drivers side centre wheel which he replaces in a matter of minutes. For me, it's on to wheel cleaning, which I have never done before. I start on the fireman's side of the loco while the brake block is replaced on the driver's side.

The B12 has 6' 6" spoked driving wheels painted in LNER's lovely Apple Green livery, with 3' 3" wheels in the pony truck; the motion is inside on this loco, which leaves the wheels relatively clean but they do pick up all sorts of muck as you can see from the picture.

You deal with this initially with a pile of rags, a bucket of paraffin and some elbow grease. The picture above shows one of the rear wheels at it's highest point inside a mudguard - obviously parts of the wheel are rather difficult to get to and it's useful if the engine moves occasionally while you clean the wheels.

Here's the B12 moving back over the ash pit:

As it's moved, there's more of the wheel you can get to and you can follow up with the 25% bearing oil/paraffin mix, which gives the wheels a good shine - but does attract the dirt.

A couple of hours later, the wheels are done and I am tired and wet; the B12 moved back again for coaling and I was able to do the last bits of wheel, and rub down the coupling rods as well. That's the Westinghouse brake pump above the rear driving wheel, and yes it does leak hot water and it has just started to rain...

In this picture, you can see the 'Not to be Moved' board hanging outside the driver's window. This is part of the Lock out/Tag out system which ensures everyone can work on the loco safely.

You might also notice that the Standard 4 has moved over the pit. My next job, since I was already wet, was to go underneath with Fireman Alan and remove the ashpan screens. Ashpan screens are fitted to all the locos on the NNR to prevent large hot cinders bouncing out and setting light to the dry lineside foliage we have here in the summer. They are a bit tricky to get in and out in the confined space under the firebox which is fairly warm, gritty and very wet: wet, because you must hose down the ash before raking it out or dropping the hopper doors, or you will have clouds of fine hot dust all over you, all over the brake rigging and all over the motion. Oh, and the damper doors will probably not shut so you won't be able to control the primary air...

All quiet in the yard now - the Standard 4 has gone off to get the cleaners breakfast (and to pick up some carriages and passengers) but before it goes, Senior Cleaner Phillip shows me how to operate the Weybourne Ground frame. The ground frame is a set of levers, switches, lights and relays and it lives in this hut:

The ground frame is there to operate the points and signals which let locos in the yard out onto the yard headshunt and then onto the main line.

When the signalman is ready, he passes a token, housed in a leather bag and with a long looped metal handle to the loco crew which signifies that they can safely work the section of track that the token relates to. As a train enters a section, the token is collected and the previous section's token dropped off :

Here, the Third Man is dropping off one token, which will be collected by the signalman on the platform on an outstretched arm; the Third Man on the loco will collect the next section token from the signalman simultaneously; there is only one token per section and the signals cannot be cleared without the token - they are electrically interlocked.

So, when operating the yard ground frame to let a loco onto the section, the ground frame cannot be operated without the token, preventing there being two trains on a section of track at the same time. We sign for the token when we collect it from the signal box, use it to operate the ground frame and let the Standard 4 onto the main line, and when we are done we pass the token to the loco crew.

There is a lot to learn on the railway quite apart from locomotive engineering. As well as the NNR training material and Mutual Improvement Classes, I am using these books:

Today, we had two classes from senior NNR staff - two Passed Firemen and a Driver, on locomotive preparation and disposal and on the Operating Manual or Rule Book. In the class were five cleaners and a signalman. We started out with engine checks and got some good tips from the more experienced guys, progressing though different methods of laying the fire, cab cleaning, ashpan cleaning, washout & blowdown and coaling. We then moved to activities at the other end of the day talking about what levels of fire, steam and water to arrive on shed with, cleaning the fire and ashing out.

In the lunch break, I went on a bit of a photo tour of the workshop, taking a few pictures:

Here's the 9F 92203, which is in the workshop to have new material let into the backhead to repair some cracks. This next shot shows one of the plates tacked in during the shaping & fitting process:

Here's an early morning shot of the Standard 4 inside the running shed:

Two views of the lovely Y14.

There are always stacks of springs, brake blocks and firebars around the yard. These are consumable items on the railway. That's the wood store in the background.

This is the Carriage & Wagon shop at Weybourne:

The crimson coach is the Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third, which is nearing completion and will become part of the vintage set.

There are always BR Mk 1 coaches in the shop - these are in widespread use around the heritage railway world and form the backbone of the vehicles used for service trains. They are manufactured from timber & steel, and are just as prone to rusting as family cars were in the 50's, 60's and 70's. This I think is a 1957 Tourist Second Open coach from the Eastern Region.

As you can imagine, a lot of sheet metal cutting & welding goes on here.

Prior to the Rules MIC, I took a couple of pictures from the mess room steps. I'm not sure what the boiler on the left is from, other than the fact that it is a wide firebox, fitting outside the loco frames; it's tapered and huge so it is perhaps from a BR Standard. (Update Oct 2019 - it's actually from a Bulleid Pacific)

The smaller boiler on the right? really not sure...

This one is easier - this is the Gresley designed GNR N2, built in 1921. The engine was withdrawn from service at the end of 2018 to be stripped down at the Weybourne Workshops in preparation for the locomotive's 10 year overhaul which we hope to complete by the spring of 2020. It has been fitted with the necessary safety equipment to permit it to operate on the main line and once complete will work the dining trains between Sheringham and Cromer.

You can see the frames and wheels on the right, and the tanks are actually behind the silver car in the middle of the picture.

Going back to the classroom, I took this shot of the Carriage & Wagon shop to give some idea of the scale of the shop. The Mk 1 in the foregound is in the staged area - you walk around at platform level just here. It's not the same coach as the previous one I showed you - it's a 1959 Tourist Second Open from the Midland Region.

After lunch, we had a couple of hours talking about rules and regulations around the railway, starting with basic personal track safety. Since I have recently finished my Basic Rules Test, this was easy; but the quiz on locomotive headcodes was anything but. Headcodes are the patterns of lamps shown at the front of a train, which indicate the service that train is performing. this quiz was followed by another on hand signals and yet another on lamp signals.

My brain was numb at this point and I had not said anything for an hour and I was starting to realise I had a lot to learn.

Time for beer.

That's better. Next, my third and final shadowed cleaning turn is next week, probably on the 7F again. I'm quietly going to try and increase the time I spent at the railway in the coming weeks - it would be great if I can get through my ten shed cleaner turns before Christmas, and start next year rostering as Third Man.