Turn 28 - Cleaning the B12 again, and some shunting

A Monday this time, and despite the fact that I am rostered Cleaner 2  I start with preparing Loco A, the B12, for service. She's been out the previous day and there is a fair bit of ash in the smoke box:

Following some top tips from a Operation Manual update from Inspector Nick, I rake over the hot grate with irons and do not think twice about getting inside the firebox. I follow my new procedure (thanks again Fireman Paul) I shovel in a layer of coal, followed by a flaming Nigel-bomb. Wood follows, each length wrapped in a burning rag.

I close up and let the fire develop, while I pull some coal down and fill up the tender. The boiler has about 20 psi in it already, so not wishing to be late I start the blower and open the rear damper one notch.

Next job - clean and polish the paint. Here I am, up a ladder:

When the loco is rostered Loco A, it goes off-shed at 09:18, which doesn't allow a huge amount of time for polishing. You can get through the whole loco and tender for one of the black ones, which use oil & paraffin mixed which is rubbed on and polished off with the soot but for the B12 or the Y14 we use road traffic film remover followed by wax car polish.

This takes a while, but brings the paint up beautifully - the only problem is you won't have time to do both engine & tender.

In time honoured fashion we ash out the B12 without drama, apart from the fact that the pit hose is still not working so we have to arrange the position of the loco so that the hose from the diesel pit will reach.

With the B12 on it's way to collect my breakfast, I sit with Loco B, the Standard 4MT. She's sitting at 210 psi with the firehole door open and a good fire - no holes, but coal on the way to burning through. The pressure rises steadily and she is a few psi from blowing off by the time the crew return.

The WD and the Y14 are due for some work, so some shunting is the order of the day using the Weybourne Pilot, this Class 11 shunter. This one, one of the last, was built at BR Darlington works in 1952:



Fitter Alan gave me a guided tour of this little locomotive and showed my how to start it. First, you close a contactor on the nearside of the loco to connect the battery positive terminal - then you do the same on the offside, to connect the negative terminal.

Then you climb up to the top of the radiator and check the coolant level; at ground level again, check the fuel in the main tank - this needs to be at least 50 gallons, to avoid sucking up any crud laying at the bottom of the tank. Operate the hand pump to raise fuel to the supply tank - you need at least twenty gallons in the supply tank, for the same reason. Thirty pumps raises ten gallons:

Next, you operate the pink oil pump until the oil pressure, on the right hand gauge is above the red zone. This takes about 30-45 seconds.

Next you move the master key, on the right hand side of the desk to the EO or 'Engine Only' position, and then to the start position. You hold it there until you can feel and hear the engine start; the oil pressure will rise and the engine rpm will show on the tachometer. You then move the master switch to the off position and the main compressor will start and the brake air pressure will start to rise on the dual needle gauge (third from right). You will see the batteries start to charge on the charging ammeter (left hand gauge).

The loco is fitted with an exhauster to provide a vacuum brake - you will need this if you are shunting coaches or the DMUs. The white apparatus is the vacuum brake; the black lever to the right is the air brake. Both these levers are repeated on the other side of the cab.

When the brake reservoir pressure has reached 70 psi you can test the brakes - you can see the brake cylinder pressure on the same gauge. 

To move off, release the handbrake and move the direction controller into forward or reverse with your foot on the Driver Safety Device treadle, and release the air brake. You will hear a 'clunk' as the traction motor contactor energises and the loco will slowly move off. The speedometer and traction ammeter swing toward the driver, who can sit on either side of the cab.

If you remove your foot from the DSD treadle, the brake will automatically apply itself after 15 seconds.

This little loco weighs about 50 tonnes. It made short work of moving both the Y14 and the WD at the same time, which must be a combined weight of 200 tonnes or so. Fitter Alan said that you would see something like 400 A applied to the traction motors under this sort of load initially, dropping as speed increased.

While I had my breakfast, Fitters Alan & Alex moved the 7F outside, and moved the Y14 into the shop for washout.

They left the WD over the pit so I could clean it.

Due to COVID social distancing requirements, crews are divided into groups or Footplate Bubbles. This week, we have visiting crews from the Bluebell Railway and there are no cleaners; to help them all out, I spend the rest of the day breaking up wood and chopping rags.

With the COVID restrictions there has been no footplate training, but I have realised there are elements on my training schedule that I can get signed off without being out on the road. Fitter Bob is kind enough to show me how to clip a point, and I explain to him how to use fire irons safely.

That's two more things signed off.