Turn 38 - Third Man on the 4MT

Saturday dawned warm and bright, the last day before we in the UK revert to Greenwich Mean Time, which means after this 05:00 start we get an extra hour in bed. Fitter Bob is on shed when i arrive, and we spend a few minutes chatting in the mess room before I go down to the loco. We've got the BR Standard 4MT today, since the expected B12 has been failed with a broken spring - successfully repaired yesterday, but not in time to get it warmed up for today.

This is A Good Thing, because this is an easy engine to fire and i am a bit tired, having spent the week shovelling coal, manure and gravel.

So, we set about preparing the engine starting on the smokebox. Fireman Phil arrives, and tells me it's all mine and I am to get on with raising steam; I finish the smokebox, close up and go and inspect the grate and the firebox. The stays and fusible plugs look good, the brick arch is no worse than the last time I saw it but there are a few tired looking bars which I expect we will be changing within the next few months.

On the pit

If I've learned anything over the last few weeks it is that the temptation to over-fire is very strong. I always want to be tinkering with the fire and the result is that I'm always at pressure sooner than I need to be and I'm usually blowing off in the yard. So, to temper that enthusiasm and put a bit of space between me and the shovel, I go and get a bucket of oil and paraffin and clean the boiler barrel which doesn't take long on this little engine.

I head back to the fire and put the flame scoop in, and build up the sides and back a little and step off again to clean the buffer beams.

With the boiler pressure heading towards 100 psi, we go down to the pit to ash out and fit the spark screens. Fireman Phil goes down, the first of many dirty jobs he does today, while I manipulate the dampers and the ashpan hopper doors.

Pushing back for coal

I test the injectors, starting with #1 which starts easily. I understand from Driver Matt that this will work at 80 psi. I struggle with #2, and eventually ask for help. Driver Matt asks what pressure I have and tells me that it needs 120 psi to work.

I need to get these running, since despite the fact that the loco would have been disposed with a full boiler, the boiler is only showing half a glass - and I need to blowdown a full glass. Anyhow, I get a bit of fire on, fill the boiler, Fitter Bob blows down and we refill the boiler again, by which time we are ready to go into the platform.

I go off to change, as time is running by; on the way I notice this valve which I have not seen before - it's the valve that operates the pilot operated cylinder drain cocks.

So, we go off shed and I fire down to Sheringham for the first train:

On the way down to Sheringham, Light Engine

In fact, I ended up firing for the whole day - three round trips and fire to dispose. To start with, I made the fire gently down to Sheringham and just kept building it around the edges. You can see that I have a hole in the middle which I used to keep it cool while we waited for departure:

With about 10 minutes to go, I filled this hole in, hoping that we would get off on time. We did, otherwise I would have been on the injectors and closing the dampers and firehole door to try to slow it down. Once we were over the crossing, I fired again, and again a few minutes later building up steam for Dead Man's Hill. Once we were up, it was on the injectors again and I fired again on the way down. 

I continued firing and adding water whenever there was less demand for steam, and I also fired just before the hills when the driver would use the steam I had made to get a good draw on my fire - I wanted the draft, but I also wanted to make sure the fire was not going to be pulled into holes.

We had three good runs up the bank, each better than the last - with one in second valve at 28 mph - lots of happy passengers, and the grins coming from Phil & Matt was a highlight of my firing career so far.

That last turn didn't quite go to plan though, at least at the beginning. I use an old electric 'Swatch' on the railway, as it is waterproof and more robust than my usual antique mechanical watches. With about twenty minutes to go, we had finished our tea and Cherry Bakewells and I was slowly building the fire for the run up. Matt said, seemingly innocently "10 minutes to go" which made me jump - I looked at my watch and realised it had stopped - I had to bring it round in a hurry. Sensing my panic, Matt and Phil encouraged me to pile the coal in quick - using small bits and gradually adding it to the front and then the back, and filling the middle in. The boiler came around very quickly and we didn't lose any time - this is a splendid engine.

There had been one close call, but I had fired the whole day and still hadn't cause it to blow off!

One thing I haven't mentioned to far: quite early on in the day, Phil had suggested I use his ex-BR shovel. Now, i spent one trip recently using Fireman Joe's cast steel Carter shovel, which is a long and heavy thing, which I self consciously clanged into the firehole door ring several times before handing it back with a red face and going on to the company shovel - this was on the B12, which is the hardest loco to fire in the NNR fleet.

Phil's shovel was a revelation - it is long, light and very well balanced, a superb thing that made a huge difference to my day. Next time I see him I shall be measuring it to see if I can get a similar one.

Alongside firing, I tried to do all the fireman's duties including the tablet exchange, observation, calling signals - though I only did the tablet exchange on the fireman's side.

I did no tying on either - Phil and Matt handled that, and that makes a huge difference to the effort you have to put into your day; I did switch a few points on run around in case you were thinking I spent the whole day in the cab, helping out with watering as well.

Shunting the set into Platform 1

But, all good things come to an end and we need to dispose the engine at the end of the day. Firing to dispose starts with the trip down from Holt - you need to feed the fire carefully to arrive on shed with enough fire to fill the boiler and stable the locomotive, but not so much that you are making steam on shed.

I made sure that by the time we arrived on shed, the boiler was already full, so all I had to do was riddle fire after shaking it through on the rocking grate. Phil removed the ash pan screens - he did all the dirty jobs that day. 

By the time we had finished, there was no fire left and the boiler full. A grand day out.

Turn 37 - Third Man on the B12

Another day, another railway turn - this time on a Monday. There's a big gap early in November where there is no service, so I'm piling in turns as the opportunity arises. Of course, after the NLEs, Santa's and Mince Pie trains, which finish early January, there will be no service until Easter so there is precious little opportunity to get my training signed off.

This time, Cleaner Nathan and I are in with Fitter Alan, who quietly reminds me that I am not supposed to be in the yard or workshop until he arrives (I was in the yard turning the lights on), which is for my own safety. We get started on the B12, Nathan in the smokebox and me on the footplate, waiting until he is finished to go in the firebox. Climbing in, I pull a couple of bars from each section and brush the debris from yesterdays fire into the pan below. There's no damage today.

I build the fire, concentrating on filling the front as it's easier with the scoop out, and light up. Fitter Alan is on the footplate too, as the fireman's side water gauge has been persistently leaking. I leave the coal to catch and go and make the tea.

Today, I'm crewing with Driver James and Fireman Joe, both experienced guys. Joe is training to drive, so we agree that Joe and James will handle the first trip, Joe and I will handle the second and third trip and finally Joe will drive with James firing for the final trip. Since it's only been a week since I fired the B12, the second trip isn't too bad - Joe has built up the front to a considerable depth on the first trip and his strategy is to top that up and fire to the back and middle; I keep this going, though I don't fire to the front enough. I'm also not injecting water soon enough on the way up. The third trip is better, and I have reverted to the company shovel - it's lighter and smoother than Joe's own shovel that I had been using and abusing on the second trip.

There's still a bit of a hill to be moved forward when James takes over for the last trip. One approach I had adopted was to keep the front damper closed to reduce the coal consumption in the front and reduce the cold air coming in that way, which may have helped.

We take on water at Sheringham on the second, third and fourth trips. Sheringham has a softened water supply which is used for all engines except the Y14, which takes water from the harder supply at Holt - this is thought to preserve the boiler.

Back at Weybourne, we dispose the engine. I clean the back of the fire with the bent dart, and while I am stowing that James cleans the front with the long pricker - managing to dislodge a firebar in the process

More in a few days, when we have a third Man turn on a Yellow service - mixed steam and DMU over six trains.

Turn 36 - Cleaning the B12 - with a difference

This Wednesday, I was looking forward to an ordinary cleaning turn, having done a few third man turns which while great, are quite hard work and are for me a bit more stressful mainly because I'm still not quite confident with what I am doing. A cleaning turn promises a bit of hard work until the loco goes out, followed by a few hours of yard work, loco cleaning or mechanical stuff on the bench, peppered with banter from the guys in the shop. It's fun, and since I've been exclusively working at home (or retired) it's great to actually have a job where you see people. 

Moving on from the Y14, the B12 is now rostered until the end of  'normal' services for the traumatic 2020 season - next month, on the 16th November, we start Norfolk Lights Express trains and shortly after, Santa Specials. I start with the smokebox as usual which reveals no drama, but when I get in the firebox I find it is rammed, and it takes ages to clean. There's not been a cleaner on for a few days and it looks like the fire has just been raked through in the mornings. So, I climb in and pull up a few firebars, cleaning all the ash and clinker into the ash pan.

And then I get near the front. I'm on my belly, filthy, my glasses are covered in dust and I am thankful for the new dust mask I took from the store and what do I find? A hole. The B12 has a dropping grate section at the front, which is currently disabled since while it drops when operated from the cab, it won't go up again without considerable grief and it was here that one of the firebars was broken

So, as I am bound I took a picture and showed it to Duty Fitter and Shop Foreman Mark. Mark decided that since we had a spare, and a hole could be a significant problem, we would change it - or, I would change it. So I dived back in the hot firebox with a few spanners since unlike most firebars these are bolted in at one end. It took me the best part of an hour to remove it, starting with a large hammer to break away most of the remains. This created a bit of space for me to attack the bolted end, which was retained with a stud, a nut and a split pin and after a bit of a struggle (the nut and pin are pointing down into the ash pan and I'm reaching down through the gap) the split pin begin to give way. It's usually quite easy to work-harden and break a split pin, but I guess these are well annealed by virtue of their service life and it took ages to get one leg off and pull the head out. Fortunately by this point I had given the nut enough stick to loosen it, and once the pin was out the nut came off and I could remove the last bit of broken bar and clean out the slot.

Here are the bits, retrieved from the ash pit:

Here's the bronze stud. The stud is in pretty good shape:

Putting in the new firebar takes a matter of seconds:

I passed the tools back out through the firehole to Fitter Mark, and crawled onto the cab floor, exhausted. It was about 07:15 - we should probably have been lit up an hour ago. Fitters Mark and Bob had prepared two cups of water and a tea for me, since they knew I would be tired - I did hear someone say "we'll make a steam fitter of him yet, you should hear the swearing". Leaving me to recover with my drinks, Fireman Ralph lit up and once I'd recovered a bit I set up the yard hose to fill the tender tank and began cleaning the boiler:

Next, it's off to the pit to empty the ash pan, and as expected it is rammed and takes me a long time to get it all out, much to Fireman Ralph's concern as he doesn't want the dampers open.

So, it had been far from a normal cleaning turn, and more was to come. Driver George has some problems with his knees, and asks if I can come out with them to give Ralph a hand. Not my call, so he goes off to seek agreement from Fitter Mark, my boss for the day. Mark agrees, so I am off on an unofficial Third Man turn, where I am out assisting with coupling, points, the tablet and watering all day.

During the day, which was my fifth Third Man turn on the B12, I fired two up trips & a down trip. The first up trip I fired was a bit light - the loco was running at between 140 and 150 psi which is way too low, since the ejector on this engine isn't very efficient at those pressures and fails to keep the vacuum low enough, so the brakes will start to come on. I wasn't firing enough, nor was I getting the coal in the front of the box as is essential with this engine.

The second up trip was much better - I was firing more and more of it was getting to the right places and the loco stayed around 160 the whole way up, and sounded pretty good on the run up Kelling Bank. When we got to Holt however, the Pennines had appeared - if you don't get the technique right, coal will come off the shovel and hit the flame scoop; then it loses all it's energy and ends up in a heap in the middle of the grate. You do need coal there, because where the grate passes over the rear axle it tends to burn through so you have to keep an eye on it but of course the heap will stop the coal getting to the front of the box and you will have a cold air coming through the front and you won't be able to make steam.

I wonder if closing the front damper and opening the rear would help if you get yourself in this situation. 

Fireman Ralph fired down to Sheringham and handled the Light Engine movement back to Weybourne for disposal, and to get the fire ready to do that he used the paddle to push my Pennine heap towards the front... 

And that was the end of an enjoyable and instructive day - Fireman Ralph showed my how to clean down to the firebars with the dart & bent dart, and I ashed out again and cleaned the pit.

Time to go home.

Turn 35 - Third Man on the Y14

I always look forward to a railway day and this week promised to be a highlight. I was rostered with Driver Matt and Fireman Paul again, and as Paul is training to drive the day potentially had a lot of firing time in it for me. Matt drives for GNR for a living and has volunteered on the NNR for 27 years, so he is happy to use his turns to teach others as long as he gets to drive and fire one trip each turn.

As always, after the safety checks the first job is to have a look at the firebox, and there are a few weeping stays; Fitter Bob is happy with those and I go and clean the small smokebox, which is nice and dry. Next I'm into the firebox, where I pull up a couple of bars and shovel the debris remaining from yesterdays fire into the pan and marvel at what clinker can do - there are two bars which are effectively welded together with it.

At Paul's suggestion, I lay a very thin fire at the front and back, leaving it sparse in the middle to void blacking out, and light up. Paul says that the first notch on the damper is a bit too much when lighting up - we want to bring this on slowly - he puts a chunk of wood in the damper to hold it open a little.

Cleaner Nathan is here for his sixth turn and he sets up the yard hose in the tender tank, before we both get to polishing - me in the cab, Nathan on the rest of the loco.

Recently I've lit up this loco several times, and brought it into steam successfully if rather rapidly. This time, Fireman Paul encourages me to take it slowly as the little grate has a reputation for coming around very quickly, so on his instruction I fire to the front and let it spread to the back. I leave the fire and start on cleaning the cab. After a while, it's obvious that it is way too slow and while we have some fire at the front it is not spreading to the back, and for the first time we use the paddle to scoop some fire to the back of the grate to get it going.

This is not how I planned it at all.

Anyhow, we eventually raise steam and get the brake pump going, and I test the injectors before we roll back to the pit. Driver Matt goes under to perform his inspection while I look after the fire, which, true to it's reputation is coming around rather fast and eventually blows off - well, at least we know the safety valves work.

I ask about the blowdown and for the second time, forget that this loco has no blow down valve so that will not be happening.

Fireman Paul is in the driving seat today, so I fire down to Sheringham to pick up the train and retrospectively, I realise that I should have been building up heat at this point because the firebox was too cool on the first trip up. I'm coming to realise that the first up trip is more difficult, because the boiler is still relatively cool - I was firing too little on the Light Engine trip down to Sheringham.

My second, and much more serious mistake was to mis-read the second Dodd on the way into Sheringham, after the crossing - I announced it was clear and later realised it wasn't, which could easily result in a SPAD so if in doubt, say nothing!

Cleaner Nathan took a little video of us coming into Weybourne at 5 mph. Here's a still showing me delivering the breakfast baps.

In the end, I fired three round trips, watering at Holt on the second and fourth trips, with no more blowing off. The third trip was particularly good, charging up Kelling cutting in second valve. The boiler was over 150 with the water well up, all the way up, so I was very pleased with myself. I am learning that many people can make the engine go, but it's a lot more difficult to make it go well.

The secret, as the books tell you, is light consistent firing, fire to the bright spots, and on this loco keep it above 150 psi and the water in the top half of the glass. You should watch the door and the chimney, because you can see the state of the fire from the smoke - fresh coal on the side of the firebox produces black smoke on the same side of the chimney, and you can use the same principle for the front and back, but this is more difficult to see.

So, it turned into a pretty good day. I fired down to Sheringham, fired three round trips, and had the last trip to admire the scenery while Matt fired up and Paul fired back. In fact, the last down trip was made using virtually no steam - Matt coasted all the way down from Windpump to Sheringham!

We had a round of cake and tea on the way back.

Back on shed, Fireman Paul cleaned the fire while I ashed out; I cleared the pit.

And the WD's new blast pipe has arrived:

Turn 34 - Third Man on the 4MT again

Back to ever-darkening Wednesday mornings, but at least it's dry and there is no wind. I'm in at 05:45 with Fireman Paul and I'm in the smokebox ten minutes later. These BR Standard locos are very easy to prepare with their rocking grates, and the engine is pretty warm. As last week, there is masses of ash and I'm grateful that there are a few guys on shed early - Firing Inspector Joe, Driver Josh and new Cleaner Nathan, who makes heroic bacon butties in his other job at the Sheringham buffet. Fortunately, Joe is on hand to find a second barrow when the ash from the smokebox fills the first one.

Fireman Paul has spent time teaching me in the past and since he is on the driver training programme I am left to light up, and all goes according to plan. I restrain myself with the coal this week - we want to bring it on nice and slow. Driver Matt arrives.

Joe and Josh help out with cleaning - the loco is in pretty good shape from the day before, when the same guys had a good go at it. Even the tender chassis gets a clean - and that's when the direction of the day changes, though not for long.

Josh says "I don't want to worry you guys but look at that spring!" Sure enough, one of the tender springs has a broken leaf. See if you can spot it:

This is a potential failed engine - it can't go on the road like that, and it's 08:15 and we are due off shed at 09:18. We decide to carry on as normal while we get ready for the spring change so we go down to the pit ready to blow down two glasses; I make sure my boiler is full of water and that I have plenty of fire to replace it - but again, I'm a bit too enthusiastic and it blows off. We blow down the first glass, and it's still making steam with the blowdown valve open.

Fortunately it's a weekday and the shed team are soon ready with a spare spring, jacks and a lift table. We go up the road a bit to where they have assembled their kit and I look after the fire while they crack on removing the broken spring. The fire is burning steadily and not making steam, so I elect to go and change. When I get back, they are clearing up the tools and fastening the last two nuts - it's been fixed in 45 minutes, so soon we are back on the pit to blow down another glass, and we are still off-shed early.

I fire the light engine trip down to Sheringham, calling the signals and dropping off the Long Section staff - there is no Weybourne signalman today. 

It's raining.

Driver Matt decides to fire the up trip; I go between to tie on and then forward to set the head code - I forget to pick up the disc from the tender. Head codes are indicated by lamps or discs on the leading end of the locomotive and indicate the class of the train. These are used to give the signalman and indication of the priority of the train over others, and come from the working timetable. Each train has a code, e.g. 2M03, which indicates a class 2 train, heading to Melton Constable, and it will be the third train of that class and destination that day.

The guard appears to give us our briefing, and indicates he wants steam heat on so I go back around the loco and go between to connect the steam heat pipes. When I return, I'm reprimanded by Fireman Paul because I haven't told him that I am going between for a second time - this a is a big no-no. 

We head up to Holt with Driver Matt firing and Fireman Paul driving - I am observing. At Holt, the RO discovers the power is back on and we can do a normal run around; there is about twenty minutes to wait here. Driver Matt goes between to tie on, after Fireman Paul, driving, has squeezed up. I'm in charge of the fire.

Down to Sheringham, the prevailing gradient is about 1 in 80, with various ups and downs on the way so the drill is to sprinkle the fire, keeping an eye for any areas that are burning through and to fill the boiler as required. This is where knowledge of the timetable is important - we have about an hour at Sheringham, so we should plan to arrive with some water space in the boiler so that we can use the injectors to control the pressure if we need to. We go down uneventfully, with Driver Matt providing pointers to where I should fire and add water.

We arrive with about a third of a glass. I add a bit of coal for the run around and Fireman Paul tells me you should never let it go below half a glass - Driver Matt is less cautious.

We have some tea and cake, and chat to some visitors. Fireman Paul asks if I am happy to fire up and of course I am - he picks up the shovel and shows me how he would load it and with what sort of lump size - he says you should use small shovelfuls of fist size lumps which can be placed more accurately, with less strain on your back and which don't cause too much damage to your fire if you mess up. I always get good advice from Fireman Paul. He tells me not to fill holes with big lumps, but to use small ones before holes form - they will catch more quickly and you won't form a cold spot. 

As a newbie, I tend to get a bit ragged when trying to fire in a hurry, overloading the shovel and making mistakes. Paul told me to always treat the right side in the same way as the left, and to never let the foundation ring get cold - holes are more acceptable and more easily repaired if they are in the middle. Paul's sequence is:

• fire the front left & right
• fire the sides left & right 
• fire both back corners
• fire under the door
• fire the middle

The sloping grate in the Standard 4MT tends to shake the fire down to the front, so you should always keep a good back in it, and always KEEP TO THE PATTERN! That way you should have a mental picture of what the fire looks like, as you won't be able to see it while the loco is drawing the fire.

Talking of drawing the fire, Paul told me to make sure the fire was well built up when approaching a hill, since the draw would pull holes in a thin fire and you would lose the heat - when approaching a hill it's important to fire quickly as all the while you have the door open you are sucking in cold air.

So, I fired up the hill, built up a lot of steam and we charged up Kelling cutting in second valve with a rag over the speedometer - one of the best experiences on the railway.