Well, it's two days until we start another month (minimum) of lockdown. The railway will be closed, and we should have been starting our Norfolk Lights Express service on November 17th; that is not going to happen, but the service will be extended into January so perhaps the income stream will not be hit too badly.
Have just finished 'normal' Autumn services, we have to get the set ready for the NLE trains, which means fitting the set with lights. The loco will be fitted at Weybourne, and the generators will be put into the CCT using the loader down at Weybourne shed as well.
Soo today, we assembled a group of volunteers in the rain to turn the five suburbans into a Norfolk Lights Train
We are going to install nets over the carriage roofs, to which light ropes have been tied - these will be operated from a controller in the brake coach.
Signalman James waiting for the next net to be sent over from the landward side:
Unrolling nets along the coaches:
The nets were tied down to the carriage running boards using cargo straps:
The display includes several woodland scenes, power from generators and controlled from the train. a short goods train is loaded up with equipment and waits for the Class 20 to haul it up the line:
Another Saturday turn, promising to be a gentle day cleaning. Rostered today is the BR Standard 9F 92203 'Black Prince', one of the largest locos on the railway and quite capable of hauling trains of well over 1000 tonnes - our trains are more like 150 tonnes. Here's the firebox during my inspection - I was on my own, with Fitter Bob, to light up and raise steam.
And here's the smokebox, looking equally leak-tight despite the fact that the water gauges were below half a glass:
I laid a thin fire all over the grate and lit it up with a lot of wood and rags. By 07:00, she had 20 psi on the clock and the blower was going - a very satisfying start to the day:
Where the paint is in good nick, she shines up well with oil & paraffin:
We took her down to the pit in plenty of time. She has a hopper ashpan which you don't empty in the morning, to allow the cold ash from yesterdays fire to protect the pan, so there is not so much to do. You have to wash the ash from the upper parts of the pan into the bottom through four small hatches, but that's it.
Time for a moody blowdown shot:
Fitter Bob, waiting for the whistle from Fireman Alan to tell him to close the blowdown valve:
While waiting for Driver Nick to complete his inspection, I had wiped down the wheels with oil & paraffin. Doing this right before the blowdown leaves this emulsified mess:
She scrubs up well though, and the sun came out to show her off:
Driver Nick goes off shed in clouds of steam. She's still cold and the cylinder drain cocks are open:
One of the locos visiting the workshop for the past year or so is the LBSC 'Terrier' A1X class locomotive 32670. It belongs to the Kent & East Sussex Railway. Here's a picture of it:
There are some details here. However, as you will know if you read those details to the end, the boiler ticket ran out in 2016 and she is here at Weybourne MPD for overhaul.
She's in bits at the minute, the chassis in the shed and the tanks and boiler outside:
Here I'm standing between the frames looking forwards to the smokebox saddle, blast pipe and the crosshead slides.
One of the frame stretchers was cracked. The guys in the weld shop have made a new one.
Some of the horn guide rivets have been replaced.
She's a slide valve engine as you might imagine - here's the front of the cylinder block and the valve chest.
The wheel sets are ready to go back in. You can see their axleboxes waiting for the frame to be finished; Weybourne MPD will refit the wheels, paint the inside of the frame and the back of the wheels and then it will be collected by the customer.
Here's the boiler out in the yard, waiting it's turn in the boiler shop:
I've shown pictures of the boiler from 34010 Sidmouth, an SR West Country class and one of Oliver Bullied's light pacifics, before - in this post. This is the new firebox tubeplate on the mill:
And this is where I spent the rest of the day, after the 9F had gone off-shed - in one of the pits, installing lights with Fitter Bob.
