I've learned recently that the kindly NNR Roster Clerk has made sure that cleaners are generally rostered Third Man as the season draws to a close, as a Christmas present - which is why I believe I have five Third Man turns on the trot. Rather a nice Christmas present!
This time, it's a green timetable which means we have four round trips at slightly different times, with no diesel service - we have the line to ourselves today. Both the signal boxes at Weybourne and Holt are closed, which means we have to work the ground frames to get out of the yard and to run around at Holt.
The clocks have now gone back and it is a bit lighter when I arrive on shed at 05:45. Fitter Bob is on the early turn this week, and he is nursing a sore head. We have the 9F again and it's great to be on a familiar loco; we have no cleaner today so we will have to see how it goes as it is all down to me until the rest of the crew arrive at 07:30.
The smokebox needs a clean but all is well in there; I have half a glass in both water gauges and the firebox has had a warming fire in it which still has a bit of life in it so I can just shake it through the grate on the rocking levers. Bob has taken out the baffle plate when he lit the warming fire the night before and there is wood, rags and paraffin already on board.
I set about laying the fire, covering the whole grate with a layer of coal, a layer of wood and then a few rags - it lights up easily as usual, and I open the main steam valve at the manifold and test the blower.
Next, I climb up the ladder on the tender and have a look at the water level - it's way down and I need to get the hose in there. I'm Third Man again today, so I'm keen to make sure I have all the equipment the Fireman brings on board - the flags and spare glasses are there, but I need a bucket of cold water and to sort out the lamps.
We are going to be running into dusk on the green service and there is a dining train this evening, so a crew will relieve us at 16:30 and do another two round trips starting at 18:30 - we will need lamps, and working lamps at that. There needs to be a white one on the leading end of the loco and a red one on the trailing end when we are light engine, though this will be replaced by a red lamp on the end of the train when we have a rake on the back.
The lamps are kept in a locked store in the yard, so I head down there with my keys selecting two matching black lamps. I open them both and take out the burners.
The burner has a windshield around it with the wick adjusting wheel outside, so you can adjust the flame without it blowing about:
You fold this back and you can see the lamp:
Undo the wick and check that there is paraffin in the lamp and the wick is in good shape:
This lamp is currently set up for the white aspect - to show a white light at the leading end of the locomotive. The red filter lives in a parking slot on the side.
You move the red aspect to the slot in the front of the lamp to use at the trailing end of the locomotive:
Once you've sorted out the filters you can light the lamp if it is still dark or leave it for later; then you hang them on the lamp irons in the appropriate position for the class of train you are hauling. For now, we hang them on the centre bottom bracket to show the signalman we are travelling Light Engine.
Then it's back to cleaning duties; first a bit of oil and 120 grit emery tape to clean the rust spots off the coupling rods:
While you are there, notice the centre driving wheels on this long 2-10-0 locomotive have no flanges - this is to allow it to negotiate tighter radius curves.
Cleaning done, ash pan emptied and coaled up, it is time for us to get changed and leave the yard for the day. Today is slightly unusual at least for me, since both Holt and Weybourne signal boxes are closed and there is no-one to let us out of the yard. I've been shown how to do this a couple of times, so it's time I did it on my own.
The numbers on the levers correspond to the numbers on the diagram. First, the loco moves up to the headshunt - it is still in the yard, so can move freely. The first lever operates a signal on the road into the yard and tells anyone on that road to stop; the second operates a pair of points, which direct the running line to Sheringham into platform 1 and connect section 18A to platform 2. There is no danger of any other trains being present on the line because we have the Long Section Staff. The points are set to connect the headshunt (part of section 23) to section 18A using lever 3. The loco is signalled to move with lever 4, which operates the shunting signal 4. The loco moves out of the headshunt progressively moving into sections 23 and 18A, lighting the lamps as it goes; when it has cleared section 18A and the lamp goes out, you can set signal 4 to danger, set point 3 to connect the headshunt to the yard and set points 2 to allow the loco onto the running line. Finally, signal 1 is set to clear to allow loco movements out of the yard and into the headshunt.
You next switch out the ground frame by removing the Long Section Staff from the switch box and take it back to the loco in its holder. Next, order breakfast from the buffet.
On this trip, I noticed that Fireman Henry was careful with the coal, using it very sparingly. We arrived Light Engine at Sheringham with the fire like this:
See the firebars?
We had about 50 minutes before we had to leave, plenty of time to build the fire up and of course we did not want it either smoking in the station or blowing off. Fireman Henry knew that to go from Weybourne down to Sheringham used very little steam; while we were in the station he added coal (and so did I, later in the day while firing under his instruction) to the back and sides of the fire; he used the air coming through the middle to keep the smoke down while the fresh coal caught and he did not fill the middle until we were just past the Golf Club crossing, getting ready for Dead Man's hill.
I've added some extra notes to the published drawing to help associate the gradients with particular features. These pictures illustrate those features and are taken from the NNR Route Knowledge training video, and run in the up direction from Sheringham to Holt.
You should note that these pictures are screengrabs from a video whose copyright is owned by the NNR and are shown here as an additional, personal aid to enable better understanding of the route, for volunteer crew on the NNR. They cannot be used for any commercial purpose.
It's important, even vital, to use this information to know when the driver will need steam and when he can coast and secondly when the coverage of water over the top of the firebox will rise and fall with gradient, acceleration and braking. Water is consumed as steam is used, and the use of the regulator raises the level in the glass masking the true level, so you need to get this information in your head.
Here goes:
The line from Sheringham Station rises at 1 in 330 until you get to the petrol station before Golf Club crossing, when it starts to fall at 1 in 333:
There's a few buildings on the landward side at the foot of the embankment, past the allotments. Here the line starts to rise at 1 in 97 - the is the beginning of Dead Man's Hill:
There's an occupation crossing at the top. Just past this, the line levels out:
Then at Dead Man's bridge, which takes the footpath up into Sheringham Park, the line starts to fall again at 1 in 100:
It falls into a cutting and curves inland towards Weybourne. When you emerge from the cutting the line levels out for a couple of track panels before it starts to rise at 1 in 80:
It continues to rise until you get to Weybourne station. For a short distance, from the beginning of the up platform ramp to ust the other side of Bridge 302, it rises at 1 in 264:
Then, when you leave the station it starts to rise up Kelling Bank at 1 in 80 again:
The hill continues up past Kelling Heath Halt, up through the cutting to Windpump Crossing:
After Windpump Crossing it falls at 1 in 214 until you are about half way around Averies Curve, when it starts to rise again at 1 in 104:
It rises at 1 in 104 for a short distance until you get to Bridge 299:
Then, it's level until you get to the Bridge Road Carriage Sheds when it starts to rise again at 1 in 451:
This gentle slope carries on until you reach Holt, when it gets a little steeper rising through the station at 1 in 279:
The headshunt at the end of platform 2 is level.
Here endeth the lesson.
We did four round trips on this turn; I fired up on two trips and down on one, which was great experience. I tried to carry on observing, sitting in the fireman's seat to do so and to perform the other duties, washing the floor with the slacker pipe which fortunately was not leaking today.
Come the end of the day, we took on water at Sheringham for the evening crew and drove the loco back to Weybourne to meet the relief crew. We cleaned the fire and ashed out before signing off.
As it was Hallowe'en, the loco wore a carved pumpkin on the lamp bracket that evening:
This time, it's a green timetable which means we have four round trips at slightly different times, with no diesel service - we have the line to ourselves today. Both the signal boxes at Weybourne and Holt are closed, which means we have to work the ground frames to get out of the yard and to run around at Holt.
The clocks have now gone back and it is a bit lighter when I arrive on shed at 05:45. Fitter Bob is on the early turn this week, and he is nursing a sore head. We have the 9F again and it's great to be on a familiar loco; we have no cleaner today so we will have to see how it goes as it is all down to me until the rest of the crew arrive at 07:30.
The smokebox needs a clean but all is well in there; I have half a glass in both water gauges and the firebox has had a warming fire in it which still has a bit of life in it so I can just shake it through the grate on the rocking levers. Bob has taken out the baffle plate when he lit the warming fire the night before and there is wood, rags and paraffin already on board.
I set about laying the fire, covering the whole grate with a layer of coal, a layer of wood and then a few rags - it lights up easily as usual, and I open the main steam valve at the manifold and test the blower.
Next, I climb up the ladder on the tender and have a look at the water level - it's way down and I need to get the hose in there. I'm Third Man again today, so I'm keen to make sure I have all the equipment the Fireman brings on board - the flags and spare glasses are there, but I need a bucket of cold water and to sort out the lamps.
We are going to be running into dusk on the green service and there is a dining train this evening, so a crew will relieve us at 16:30 and do another two round trips starting at 18:30 - we will need lamps, and working lamps at that. There needs to be a white one on the leading end of the loco and a red one on the trailing end when we are light engine, though this will be replaced by a red lamp on the end of the train when we have a rake on the back.
The lamps are kept in a locked store in the yard, so I head down there with my keys selecting two matching black lamps. I open them both and take out the burners.
The burner has a windshield around it with the wick adjusting wheel outside, so you can adjust the flame without it blowing about:
You fold this back and you can see the lamp:
Undo the wick and check that there is paraffin in the lamp and the wick is in good shape:
This lamp is currently set up for the white aspect - to show a white light at the leading end of the locomotive. The red filter lives in a parking slot on the side.
You move the red aspect to the slot in the front of the lamp to use at the trailing end of the locomotive:
Once you've sorted out the filters you can light the lamp if it is still dark or leave it for later; then you hang them on the lamp irons in the appropriate position for the class of train you are hauling. For now, we hang them on the centre bottom bracket to show the signalman we are travelling Light Engine.
Then it's back to cleaning duties; first a bit of oil and 120 grit emery tape to clean the rust spots off the coupling rods:
While you are there, notice the centre driving wheels on this long 2-10-0 locomotive have no flanges - this is to allow it to negotiate tighter radius curves.
Cleaning done, ash pan emptied and coaled up, it is time for us to get changed and leave the yard for the day. Today is slightly unusual at least for me, since both Holt and Weybourne signal boxes are closed and there is no-one to let us out of the yard. I've been shown how to do this a couple of times, so it's time I did it on my own.
The ground frame is operated by the Long Section Staff, and contains four levers and a illuminated diagram of the yard and associated running lines:
The numbers on the levers correspond to the numbers on the diagram. First, the loco moves up to the headshunt - it is still in the yard, so can move freely. The first lever operates a signal on the road into the yard and tells anyone on that road to stop; the second operates a pair of points, which direct the running line to Sheringham into platform 1 and connect section 18A to platform 2. There is no danger of any other trains being present on the line because we have the Long Section Staff. The points are set to connect the headshunt (part of section 23) to section 18A using lever 3. The loco is signalled to move with lever 4, which operates the shunting signal 4. The loco moves out of the headshunt progressively moving into sections 23 and 18A, lighting the lamps as it goes; when it has cleared section 18A and the lamp goes out, you can set signal 4 to danger, set point 3 to connect the headshunt to the yard and set points 2 to allow the loco onto the running line. Finally, signal 1 is set to clear to allow loco movements out of the yard and into the headshunt.
You next switch out the ground frame by removing the Long Section Staff from the switch box and take it back to the loco in its holder. Next, order breakfast from the buffet.
On this trip, I noticed that Fireman Henry was careful with the coal, using it very sparingly. We arrived Light Engine at Sheringham with the fire like this:
See the firebars?
We had about 50 minutes before we had to leave, plenty of time to build the fire up and of course we did not want it either smoking in the station or blowing off. Fireman Henry knew that to go from Weybourne down to Sheringham used very little steam; while we were in the station he added coal (and so did I, later in the day while firing under his instruction) to the back and sides of the fire; he used the air coming through the middle to keep the smoke down while the fresh coal caught and he did not fill the middle until we were just past the Golf Club crossing, getting ready for Dead Man's hill.
One of the key elements of the training that you only achieve by practical experience is the application of your route knowledge - especially around changes to gradients - to the loco and how you manage it. The railway has a gradient profile which looks like this:
You should note that these pictures are screengrabs from a video whose copyright is owned by the NNR and are shown here as an additional, personal aid to enable better understanding of the route, for volunteer crew on the NNR. They cannot be used for any commercial purpose.
It's important, even vital, to use this information to know when the driver will need steam and when he can coast and secondly when the coverage of water over the top of the firebox will rise and fall with gradient, acceleration and braking. Water is consumed as steam is used, and the use of the regulator raises the level in the glass masking the true level, so you need to get this information in your head.
Here goes:
The line from Sheringham Station rises at 1 in 330 until you get to the petrol station before Golf Club crossing, when it starts to fall at 1 in 333:
There's a few buildings on the landward side at the foot of the embankment, past the allotments. Here the line starts to rise at 1 in 97 - the is the beginning of Dead Man's Hill:
There's an occupation crossing at the top. Just past this, the line levels out:
Then at Dead Man's bridge, which takes the footpath up into Sheringham Park, the line starts to fall again at 1 in 100:
It falls into a cutting and curves inland towards Weybourne. When you emerge from the cutting the line levels out for a couple of track panels before it starts to rise at 1 in 80:
It continues to rise until you get to Weybourne station. For a short distance, from the beginning of the up platform ramp to ust the other side of Bridge 302, it rises at 1 in 264:
Then, when you leave the station it starts to rise up Kelling Bank at 1 in 80 again:
The hill continues up past Kelling Heath Halt, up through the cutting to Windpump Crossing:
After Windpump Crossing it falls at 1 in 214 until you are about half way around Averies Curve, when it starts to rise again at 1 in 104:
It rises at 1 in 104 for a short distance until you get to Bridge 299:
Then, it's level until you get to the Bridge Road Carriage Sheds when it starts to rise again at 1 in 451:
This gentle slope carries on until you reach Holt, when it gets a little steeper rising through the station at 1 in 279:
The headshunt at the end of platform 2 is level.
Here endeth the lesson.
We did four round trips on this turn; I fired up on two trips and down on one, which was great experience. I tried to carry on observing, sitting in the fireman's seat to do so and to perform the other duties, washing the floor with the slacker pipe which fortunately was not leaking today.
Come the end of the day, we took on water at Sheringham for the evening crew and drove the loco back to Weybourne to meet the relief crew. We cleaned the fire and ashed out before signing off.
As it was Hallowe'en, the loco wore a carved pumpkin on the lamp bracket that evening:
I hope you enjoyed reading about my latest adventure on the North Norfolk Railway. Here's a link to some of my past railway turns:
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