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.
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.
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