Cleaning Turn 4 - Y14 again - and Worsted Trimming

Another Thursday, another railway day.

This one does not get off to an auspicious start as I drive down the Weybourne Road and realise I have forgotten my hat. Since a hat is part of the required PPE for footplate crew I turn about and go and get it, surprising Mrs H and the dog who have both gone back to sleep.

Weybourne works is only a few minutes down the road, and I arrive with 15 minutes to spare prior to sign on time, in the pouring rain...

Its a Red Day, which means the whole timetable is serviced with steam hauled trains and most of the two crews are already there. I am rostered Cleaner 2, and the second loco is the Y14. Loco 1 is the BR Standard 4MT, and my friend Peter is Cleaner 1. Third Man 2 is Phil, who I've not seen for a while, Fireman Tony, and Driver Steve who I've not met before. Keith is also assigned Loco 2 for footplate experience - so there will be four people out on that tiny footplate all day.

Third Man Phil and I shelter in the Y14s open cab until the worst of the rain is over - I am lighting up and Phil will do the smokebox but first, Phil offers to clean the fire. Phil's way of doing this is unlike mine from last time (which involved raking the old fire out) and he climbs into the fire box, lifts a couple of firebars from the grate and pushes the remains of yesterdays fire into the ashpan. It must be quite warm in there, as there is still 10 psi on the clock from yesterday.

Third Man Phil in a dark and dusty place

Lighting up goes according to plan and we are joined by three new faces - Tim and Peter, who are here for SID and Cleaner Wendy, who is married to Tim. Wendy is to shadow me today since it is her first turn, and we set about cleaning the Y14.

Before we get in to that, Fireman Tony asks that we sort out the lamps and discs from the store. I've not done this before, so he leads the way. We retrieve two discs and a lamp, checking the lamp's condition and making sure the reservoir is full of kerosene. The discs are used in daylight in place of lamps to show the signalman what type of train is approaching him:

I clean the discs and place the red side on the loco's bottom centre lamp iron and the white on the rear of the tender - the first trip is Light Engine to Sheringham, and she will be travelling tender first.

The rain holds off, and we spend the next hour or so cleaning yesterdays muck off the blue GER paint. The Y14 has a high dome, and I scramble up onto the boiler to clean it - from a position sitting astride the boiler. I am now painfully aware of the limit of travel of my hips.

Still, she looks good. We clean the brass and new man Peter takes a wheel brush and some paraffin to the areas beneath the running boards.

We are almost ready to go now, and someone makes a round of tea. Since we are Loco 2, the Standard 4MT is already on the pit road and is coaling so we won't be going anywhere for a bit. I fill up some empty spray bottles with cleaning fluid solution I mix up from the shed to catch up on the housekeeping jobs.

Need to lose that yellow hose before we back up!

A bit later, and the 4MT has moved into the platform ready for the first trip to Sheringham. I need to hurry, since I will be going with them to see someone about a Rule Book but first, we need to finish getting the Y14 ready.

Next job is to ash out. Driver Steve goes under the loco first to complete his inspection & oiling up:

Y14's expansion links - many oiling points here

This is Stephenson's Valve Gear, similar to that fitted to the B12 which we will be intimately involved with later in the day. Those two creamy coloured rods are the ones coming from the eccentrics on the left, to the expansion link in the middle of the picture:

When Steve's happy, it's my turn to go underneath with a rake and the ash pit hose. Third Man Phil opens the damper revealing the ash from yesterday and the new, hot ash from this morning:

The pit hose has a long metal lance and this gets plunged into the ash to wet it. There are several reasons for this - I don't want hot ash on my feet; we don't want fine dust in our lungs, and we don't want grit all over the valve and brake gear.

When it's thoroughly wet, I pull it all out through the damper and onto the floor of the ash pit.

Like all inside-frame fireboxes, it's quite long and I could do with a bigger rake - it's a trade off. I can get more out with a bigger rake but the bigger rake is much heavier, so I will persist with the smaller on for as long as possible. Just as I am considering getting a larger one, Phil appears with the lance and washes out the last of the ash. I refit the screen and we close the damper.

Next, the Y14 backs up for coaling and it's time to tidy up the ash pit.

I have a diversion from normal cleaning duties this morning - I have to go back to Sheringham to discuss the results of my Basic Rules Test with the Responsible Officer - and to pick up my copy of the Operating Manual. But how to get back to Sheringham? My car is blocked in and the Sheringham Station car park will be choc a bloc by now. An opportunity presents itself at Platform 1 in the shape of the first loco off-shed, the 4MT. I politely ask the driver and the duty fitter if a lift to Sheringham would be permissible, and am delighted with the response! Here's my ride for the trip:

Armed with the crew breakfast list, we set off on time from Weybourne at 09:15, collecting the tablet from the Weybourne signalman. I keep well out of the way on the Fireman's side, perched near the handbrake wheel and with a great view of the coast and golf course as we travel the few miles to Sheringham. 

Coming back, Fireman Paul explains the gradients from Sheringham up to Weybourne and Holt - and where to fire. They are shown in the Operating Manual:

As someone with little experience, and most of that with locos in the yard, it's surprising to see how different the fire behaves when the loco is under load - it is much hotter, and so bright that you can no longer see the fire bed.

On the return trip, Fireman Paul demonstrates the effect of the fire door position on the colour of the exhaust smoke. He's aiming for light grey - the smoke is much darker when the secondary air is restricted by closing the firehole door.

Back in the yard, it's time for some tea and a look around. The boiler is back on the N2, which is apparently heading off somewhere else for rebuild.

The backhead welding is nearing completion on the 9F:

Here's the 9F's smokebox, just because I happened to go into the shop that way:

Earlier, I learned from Fitter Bob that I was required to help out NNR legend Sir Nigel with some trims on the B12. Trims are used to assist and control the flow of oil into the many bearings in the motion of the engine, around the valve gear, piston and valve crossheads & guides. Unusually, the B12 was next to an empty road in the shop:

Here's a typical example of a rocking bearing - this is the lower bearing on one the expansion links (on the driver's side), the part of the Stephenson's valve gear responsible for controlling valve movement relative to piston movement:

You are looking at the brass plug that is used to access the trims, with the cork above it that is used to fill the bearing oil reservoir. It's the bearing indicated by the red circle:

Here's another example, the sliding bearing at the top of one of the piston crossheads; this one is on the fireman's side of the loco:

Some explanation is necessary here. In this next picture, I have removed the cap of the oil box and have also removed the cork. The two tubes you can see normally contain two trimmings; you can also see the box is half full of bearing oil. The trim's job is to lift the oil, by capillary action from the oil reservoir and to let it fall at a controlled rate into the tube, which conducts it into the bearing.

Here are the old trims, which are falling to pieces and are of the wrong type for the job:

And here is a new one. They are made from copper wire and worsted, by Sir Nigel in his home workshop. Nigel was a BR Fireman in his past and he's tested various designs with different numbers of threads to determine what flow rate each option provides:

The trim in my hand is a PT type, as shown in the diagram below. The idea is that the plug part, wrapped around the copper wire fits snugly enough into the tube to restrict the oil flow to the required amount; the tails are there to lift the oil from the bottom of the reservoir to the top of the tube. the number of tails affects the quantity of oil falling into the tube; the size of the plug affects how quickly it gets through the tube. the crosshead bearing we are working on needs two of these.

It's the drivers job to make sure all the oil boxes on the loco are full - he will attend to these, which are accessible from under the boiler but above the running boards during steam raising; those under the running boards and inside the frames will be filled when the engine is over the pit, before ashing out prior to departure.

Different trims for various locomotive applications

So that was my 4th cleaning turn, and a particularly enjoyable one.

In two weeks time I will do the 5th, along with the Cleaner's Basic Training Course. I'm really looking forward to that one too - I wonder if I can squeeze another turn in next week?