Training - Buckeye Couplings

One of the items on my training schedule is to learn about buckeye couplings. This is a bit tricky to schedule for loco crew, because although you will rapidly become familiar with the screw type coupling as soon as you start doing footplate turns, buckeyes are rarely used on locomotives. Shunters and guards, and others involved in making up trains will be familiar with them as they are used on the more recent rolling stock on our railway.

Buckeyes are automatic couplings that can be used to make up trains quickly and easily, without crews having to put themselves in danger, between two vehicles. They consist of a large, greasy steel claw with a moving hook that mates with a similar device on the next vehicle when pushed together. The BR Mk1 coaches on our railway are fitted with both buckeyes and screw couplings; the buckeyes are lifted into place with a shunter’s pole (which avoids you getting filthy) and retain with a horizontal pin - the upermost pin in the picture above. A second pin, with a chain attached, opens the coupling. You unbolt the dividing doors between the two coaches (you can’t get to the bolts when the coaches are coupled) and the two vehicles are pushed together.

You can hear the coupling make up - and if you are standing in the coach you will see it.

Next, from the six-foot you signal the driver for a pull test. The brakes will be on in the vehicle you have just coupled to, so you hook the fingers of both hands together above your head and the driver will pull away from the new vehicle slightly, to ensure the coupling has made up properly.

Guard Michael showed me around the coupling and uncoupling process, on what had been a driver experience day - this was facilitated by Operating Superintendent Peter. Being local, I was able to turn up when the train arrived and Driver Stuart & Fireman Alan kindly waited for me. None of us knew it, but this was to be the last train before the Coronavirus lockdown...

Turn 20 - Cleaning the 9F

March turns are few and far between as the 2020 running season is just getting started. It's warm, and getting light as Cleaners Robert, Lewis and I join Third Man Pip, Fireman Paul and Driver George on-shed at 06:00 to prepare BR Standard Class 9F 92203 Black Prince for a yellow timetable.

She's been in service on a driver experience day on Friday, and she is still quite warm. She's had some coal left over from the previous day, but it's all at the wrong end of the tender and Cleaner Lewis works out with the shovel, pulling it all forward for Third Man Pip who will be on the shovel all day preparing for his firing test next month.

There's a few of us about today, since it is now obligatory for all volunteers to attend an annual Operating & Safety Briefing, which for about 15 of us will be today after the 9F goes off-shed. 

However, before we get cleaned up for that we have some more cleaning to do. Mike and Rob take the wheels and motion while I climb up and start on the boiler paintwork, working my way around and moving on to the tender where they join me to finish off. By the time we get to the pit she is finished, and Lewis and Pip can clean the ash pan.

I can actually see  my face in her paintwork today! 

Turn 19 - Third Man on the B12

Saturday came around with a special Third man turn - a wedding train. I was on shed an hour early, to make sure that I could get the loco lit up, steam raised and clean by the time we were due off. Driver James and Fireman Christian had the same thought, so we had the whole crew from the off. Driver Nigel, Driver Mark and Cleaner Richard were there as well, for Richard's 'Full Day on the Shovel', which was to be the Yellow Service train for the day. 'Full Day on the Shovel' is part of the cleaner's assessment process prior to passing out.

It's quite usual to sign on without knowing which loco you will be assigned to. Social media usually gives you a clue, and we knew that the WD had been out the previous day and that the Roster Clerk Mark had asked for the B12 to be rostered for the wedding train. I arrived wondering whether I would have an easy cleaning job (kero and oil) combined with difficult steam raising on the WD, or a much more involved cleaning job (citrus cleaner and car polish) on the B12.

Anyway, a plethora of people and a little confusion over which loco we were taking led me to trip over my feet when faced with the 06:00 brow beating from Driver Nigel. I got the first question about the two methods of operating the railway (electric token block, single train on line) but I was completely lost when faced with the three ways of going on the line without the token... And I still don't know. I forgot to read locomotive log book from the previous day as well.

Anyway, gathering my thoughts I climbed aboard the B12 and set about the usual safety checks, followed by a look at the firebox. The smokebox was done the previous day, so I checked the sealing ring and closed it up. I was cleaning the grate with the dart when someone asked if I had checked the repair from the previous day, which resulted in a small level of embarrassment and a long walk back to the signing on point to check the log. Back on the loco, I found the offending stay and had a look.

The loco had had a warming fire in it the previous day which was still glowing. I elected to clean the fire with irons - this doesn't result in as clean a grate as the alternative, that of climbing in, lifting firebars and brushing the grate clean. Looking back on this as the pressure slowly climbed up the guage, I'm not sure I made the right decision and I was glad I'd started an hour early.

I built the fire as usual, shovelling coal and hitting the front of the box. I was pleased about that, the technique is definitely coming. I lit up using the wood and rags that had been left for me the previous day, and closed the door while the wood caught. A few anxious minutes saw me add some more rags to the front and some more wood to the sides, and left it to raise steam. It's very tempting to fiddle with it at this stage.

I took a pile of pictures of injectors and controls for my records:

Fireman's side exhaust steam  injector

I spent the next couple of hours cleaning the cab, the brass and the backhead while Fireman Christian cleaned the loco. I was pleased to see this uncredited post on the Facebook page:

It's important to keep the fire irons tidy...

Next, we roll back to the ash pit. I go underneath to clean the ash pan with the hose and Fireman Christian joins me with the rake; next we test the injectors.

At this point it is worth remembering that here there is a demand for steam. First, you need to test the injectors; second, you need to have enough water in the boiler to do a blowdown and enough steam to replace that water so you need to up your game on steam raising now; that, and by the time you get to this point you will be nearing the time at which you are due off-shed.

Anyway, with steam raised you need to test those injectors. Here are the controls for the fireman's side injector:

Fireman's side - the LH lever is the water valve, the RH lever trims the combining cone

We need to remember that the fireman's side injector on the B12 is an exhaust steam injector. Here it is:

Fireman's side exhaust steam injector 

It doesn't have the exhaust steam connected, but it works on live steam as well for times when the regulator is closed. When this happens, there is an automatic changeover valve which also controls the water supply - this means that you can leave the water on throughout the day and use the steam valve alone to start the injector.

The driver's side injector is a conventional live steam injector

Driver's side live steam injector

Here are the controls:

Driver's side - water stop valve on the LH, water regulator on the RH.

The two injectors have identical steam valves, either side of the regulator:

Injector Steam Valve

I've operated a few injectors before, usually on BR Standard locomotives, and today I fell into a trap. I'd used the fireman's side injector on the B12 before, and was reasonably confident - but pride comes before a fall, hence this extensive write up. I got the water flowing on the driver's side injector, and attempted to start it using the steam valve. I tried several times and eventually walked through through the operation with Fireman Christian, talking through all possible faults (water leaks, airlocks, feedwater too warm, steam valve blocked etc.). I knew water and steam were both getting to the injector because you can see them in the overflow, and having dismantled the 4MT clacks I could not see how they could fail, until I remembered that the B12 clacks have a stop screw. This is not actually a clack, but it is a stop valve. It's that square headed screw above the steam valve, and it stops the water on it's way into the boiler. When you dispose the locomotive, you have to shut these two valves and I had not opened them...

As a matter of interest, only Ring Haw is really affected by feedwater temperature since it has it's injectors mounted on the backhead, where they get very hot.

Time to get changed. We are third off shed this morning - both the service trains are running so we can head out of the yard courtesy of the signalman.

We head down to Sheringham where we reverse onto the dining set in platform 3, hooking on for a while to warm up the train and take a few pictures:

That's the headcode for empty coaching stock. We were to pick up our passengers at Weybourne.

We do a bit of polishing and have some breakfast. The WD comes in and out for it's second round trip:

I look after the fire and top the boiler up periodically. The steam heat uses a bit of water.

I'm lucky today - I'm on the footplate in the warm when the heavens open:

After 90 minutes of carriage warming it's time to take the train up to Weybourne to pick up the wedding party. We make two round trips, entertaining visitors to the footplate at each end.

We took part in the gastric entertainment as well. Trifle on the footplate:

We finally drop our guests back to Weybourne and bring the bride and groom down to Sheringham. There is a bit of a wait there so I ask the guard, newly passed Edward, if he will show me around the train. There's a few things I haven't seen one of which is the buckeye coupling and the brake gear.

Here's a buckeye in the lowered position. You can see the support pin and it's tail piece which will hold it in the 'raised' position:

Here's one in the Carriage & Wagon shop. This is the underside - that curved finger (the uncoupling lever) is operated by the release chain and pushes the vertical lock bolt up to release the coupling:

Here it is from the other side. The uncoupling chain attaches to the red link:

We had to wait a while at Sheringham due to a passenger with a bumped head - the ambulance had been called and the train was going nowhere until she had been pronounced fit enough to move. Fireman Christian spent some time on the tender sorting out the smallest bits of coal - he wanted to make a quick getaway and the small coal would create heat quickly.

We'd had an odd day - there were only two round trips, which didn't give me a chance to fire but Driver James was kind enough to give up his seat for the light engine trip back to Weybourne, trusting me to drive for the first time! It was great to get a feel for the regulator and steam brake, if only for a short time. I brought the train to a halt at Weybourne platform 2, reversed and drove it back up the head shunt and into the yard.

Next turn? Two weeks time, an early start with a safety briefing in the afternoon.