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.
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.
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