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:
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