Turn 24 - Cleaning the Y14 and a lot of loco prep

During the post-lockdown service, where we are running one train for four non stop trips per day using two crews who are grouped into 'Footplate Bubbles' to preserve segregation between volunteers, the locomotive policy is to run an engine for 7 days (rather than the usual 14) before changing it out for another. This gives the railway the opportunity to exercise all the locos (with the exception of Ring Haw and the 7F), a total of five locos. This means that as long as a loco is in reserve, Weybourne MPD have four weeks to fix a problem engine coming out of service before it is due back in service again, and it enables the railway to ready itself for running two trains in August.

So, with the B12 out of service and the 4MT showing some minor faults, it's the turn of the Y14 to come out. This is a loco that I have not touched for a year, and it's great to get on it again. Checking over the engine after climbing aboard, the swallows are swooping around the yard catching their breakfast:

Driver Nigel and Fireman Paul are both on-shed at 6, and Driver Nigel is stickler for getting moving quickly. I clean the smokebox and grate and light up the already-warm loco, and then set about cleaning the paint. I've done most of the boiler when, after 90 minutes or so, we have 70 psi on the clock and the loco will move; we go onto the ash pit and finish oiling up.

I ash out, and we push back for coal.

Wasting no time, I let the loco out of the yard using the ground frame and we leave it in platform 2 while the crew go off to change. The fire is burning nicely now; I shut the blower and go back to the paintwork.

She looks grand when I'm done.

We have a round of tea, and the crew head down to Sheringham. I'm back in the yard, cleaning the ash pit and rescuing wildlife:

The rest of my morning is spent making sure the 9F, the WD and the Standard 4MT are ready to go into service. I clean three fireboxes, chop wood for three fires and load it onto the locos, clean three smokeboxes and check three tenders for water. Now, any of the locos will be ready to go into service without a cleaner on hand, saving the shed crew time if something should fail.

I'm knackered.

Turn 23 - Cleaning the Standard 4MT and some descaling

I’m getting back into the swing of life at the railway now, especially as since retiring I am there every week. They are all cleaning turns and will remain so as long as social distancing remains in place (difficult on the footplate) although we now have ‘Footplate Bubbles” - groups of crew who agree to work with one another without distancing. Cleaners are included in these groups, since you get quite close to people occasionally, whilst lighting up or ashing out for example.

Today, Fireman Paul, Driver Josh and I are preparing the BR Standard 4MT for service. Remarkably, it's the first time I have lit up this commonly used loco, and its no great problem. It’s got a narrow grate between the frames which while long is not as long as the B12 and I can hit the front easily. Lighting up doesn’t go brilliantly however, since I’m using bundles of rags as fire bombs, throwing them in after the wood. This doesn’t work so well - sometimes they bounce off the wood or go out on the way in - Fireman Paul reminds me of the technique I was using last year, that of wrapping rags on the end of the wood like a torch, which means the rag stays wrapped to the wood and goes where it’s needed. Paul says that the front is the key location to get this fire going, and you don’t smoke out the cab.

After a couple of hours of elbow grease and the usual soaking while underneath, she is off shed in plenty of time and I retire to clear up.

Next. I am back in the shed helping prepare for the B12 washout - Fitter Bob and I remove the washout plugs in the firebox backhead:

Next, I move in to the smoke box to remove the plugs in the smoke box tube plate:

Fitter Alex removes all the mud hole doors and starts the washout. The are a lot of solids in the boiler, which settle on all surfaces and accumulate heavily around the foundation ring. It’s a couple of hours before the water is running clearly, with Bob & Alex flushing through each hole uses lances & water hoses

I make myself busy cleaning up the mud hole doors on the wire wheel.

The water erodes the gasket face. The wheel makes short work of the area under the gasket, but there is plenty of scale which needs a file to shift it:

The plugs mostly clean up on the wheel; the ones under the water line have hard deposits deep in the threads and need the bead blaster to get them clean:

My last job before going home is to polish up the blasted threads on the wheel:

So that’s it for today; next turn is on Monday, when we will prep another loco and perhaps return help put the B12 back together.

Turn 22 - Cleaning the WD

A beautiful sunny morning saw Fitter Alan & I back at Weybourne MPD for an early shift, this time on the WD. The WD had been in reserve, and had gone into service the previous afternoon for reasons I'll tell you about in a bit.

The WD was pretty warm, and I chose to rake out the firebox after I had removed a barrow full of ash from the smokebox. Fitter Alan asked if I had lit this up before - which I had, though not very successfully. The WD has very small dampers and it is very easy to choke the fire, as I found out last time. Fitter Alan suggested I lay four small fires with plenty of space between them until it was hot enough to cause a decent draft, then I could build it up. This was easy - I removed the flame scoop and shovelled coal into four piles, followed by wood and rags. After maybe 20 minutes this was going well, and I added more rags and wood; another 20 minutes and it was roaring away, so I added some small coal I had pulled down from the tender. By the time Fireman James had arrived at 7:00 it was showing 10 psi on the clock and the blower was open. I was cleaning the paintwork:

Ashing out followed, and Fireman James took a tonne of coal from the loader. I removed myself to the ground frame to let them out of the yard - this caused a bit of a panic as I couldn't find the pouch for the staff.

When we operate the ground frame, we normally hang the pouch inside the hut, not on the speed limit sign so it took a while before I was able to take this picture of the WD coming into platform 2:

And the reason the WD had been pressed into service? The B12 had sprung a water leak in the tender, creating this little fountain in the coal space:

By the time I saw it on Wednesday, the thin plate in that area had been removed and replaced by the guys in the weld shop.

The B12 still needed disposing though, so I spent a happy hour in the firebox, cleaning it so that Fitter Alan could inspect the brick arch, and cleaning the smokebox so that some wasted bolts could be replaced. I finished the day with a bit of yard tidying & prepping wood for the disposal crew.

Turn 21 - Cleaning the B12

It's great to be back on the railway and to see all the guys on-shed at Weybourne. Today it's a cleaning turn; I arrive at 05:45 to prepare & light up the B12 ready for a day's Post-COVID Green service. It's raining, so we don't want to get it all smeary and there is no polishing to do.

She's a cracking loco, and looks great even in this dull cloudy light. When she's on the pit and Driver Mark has done his lube job in the frames I climb into the pit to ash out. Unfortunately, my communication is not Accurate, and while it is Brief it is not Clear, and Fireman James opens both the dampers at the same time. I'm standing under the front one:

The B12 goes off shed at 09:16, and I let her out of the yard on the Ground Frame:

Next job is to dispose the WD. she is the reserve loco, so we want to be able to get her ready at a moments notice: I clean her grate, empty her smokebox and get some wood ready on the footplate - unfortunately I am obviously a bit rusty and open the ashpan door in yard, so there is a pile of ash to be cleared up. No matter, that is easily shovelled away and I can wash it down with the yard hose, after filing the tender. I left the footplate, for my next job. Not a bad office for a while:

Next job today is this old thing, out of service for the last four months:

She's got a Part C exam next week, so I will clean the firebox and smokebox; after the Part C she will have a steam test and then potentially go back into service in August. She'll need a bit of a cleaning session:

Time for a rest. I spend a few minutes sitting on the platform chatting to Driver Josh and Fireman Paul, who are here to relive the crew for the afternoon.

The Quad-Arts look great out with the B12:

Post Lockdown Test Train

It's Monday July 6th, and were are volunteer passengers on a train scheduled to test the COVID-19 segregation procedures. We turn up at sheringham at 10:30 for two round trips to Holt, which will pass through Weybourne without stopping.

After queuing outside the station, we sanitise our hands and introduce ourselves at the ticket office to a masked General Manager, who ticks us off on the list and assigns us to a compartment.

The train is hauled by the B12, with Driver Mark and Fireman Joe on the footplate who are happy to be up and running again. The B12 hauls the beautiful Quad-Art set, a Mk1 suburban and a Mk1 BSK. The B12 as had the attentions of a cleaning crew the day before and she is looking gorgeous:

I've never been on the Quad-Arts before. They are a Gresley-designed articulated set (four bodies sharing five bogies) designed to suit the twists and turns of suburban railways.

Holt station is closed, but we can get out and stretch our legs while Mark & Joe run around the train:

Max comes along on the second trip. He loves trains and this is a very happy time for both of us.