Turn 42 - Third Man on the 9F

COVID-19 restrictions have meant a number of changes to the railway, and today turned out to be the last NLE of 2020 as Norfolk went into Tier 4. Travel restrictions have also meant changes to the roster and Fireman Paul, who lives in Lincolnshire has been unable to travel this past month. Today in Paul’s place we have Inspector Mike acting as fireman who has been working on the NNR for over 40 years. I’ve not met him before, but fortunately I was armed with Mince Pies and Rocky Road today so there was an apple for the teacher. By way of introduction he asked for my training schedule and I knew the day was going to be a bit different.

The service was four Santa trains, which run from Sheringham, wait at Weybourne for an hour and run back to Sheringham and then a single Norfolk Lights Express which runs non-stop from Sheringham to Holt. Because this entails a 17 hour day there is a crew change while the train waits at Weybourne on the third Santa trip. We were the second crew, which meant we took over the train at Weybourne, crewed it for the last Santa run and the NLE trip and then disposed at the end of the day, about 22:00.

We climbed aboard, and Mike immediately taught me something new. He got the bent dart out of the tender tunnel and built the back of the fire up until it was encroaching on the door and then left it - we went to get the lamps and bags, to talk about injectors and have a look at the ground frame. Mike also asked me about emergency procedures used when getting help and protecting a train failed in section.

When we returned, the bank of coal under the door was well alight and Mike used the bent dart to push it over the grate, and the engine started to make steam. Mike continued building the fire as we headed down to Sheringham and said “it’s all yours” when we arrived. There wasn’t too much to do straight away, but we needed to take on water:

I made the mistake at this point of not pulling any coal forward, and paid the price when firing up as I had a lot of dregs and water from the bottom of the coal space so the firing was more of a struggle than it needed to be. We left the train at Weybourne and carried on up to start up the generators. This gave me a bit of time to pull some coal forward and get my act together.

The furthest generator from Weybourne is above Averies curve, on the way to Bridge 299. I fired down from there to pick up the children and their parents from Santa’s Grotto at Weybourne but of course the COVID-friendly Santa experience takes a while and when I had the loco ready to go at departure time one of the platform despatch staff came and told us we would be ten minutes late. I shut the dampers and the blower valve and started an injector as she was at full pressure and fit to burst, or at least, perform an unplanned safety valve test. We were 25 minutes late in the end.

Back at Sheringham it was time to get ready for the Norfolk Lights Express, which was to turn out to be the last of the season. We ran around and took on water and I got the boiler filled and a good fire fire built up against the back of the box; we left the loco to go to the loo and get some tea. Driver Grahame went into town for chips; Fireman Mike was in the signal box with General Manager Andrew which left me 45 minutes to have a sandwich, warm some mince pies and get some coal pulled down for the run up.

This is a shot from last year, when I must have been cleaner on this service - I had shovelled all the coal into the front of the tender, If I had done the same thing this year life would have been much easier. At least the train looked good lit up:

Despite not preparing the coal well enough, we were ready to go and had a good run up. Nearing Bridge 299 we were a bit light on water - Fireman Mike tapped the glass and looked at the driver. It was low, but not as low as it appeared since we were braking at the time. A comment appeared in my Training Notes later...

At Holt the weather was dreadful, pouring with rain and with a 45 mph northerly. Squatting in the four-foot to unhook, in a puddle caused by many other crews squatting in the same place, my boots and socks were soaked through. The run down was uneventful though it was wet and cold for the crew; I wasn’t too bad except when observing since I was on top of the fire and frantically searching for coal which was hard to reach, wet, and full of little bits. We arrived a bit low on water but that would be fine as we would take on water before the Light Engine trip to switch off the generators which would give me time to build it up again.

We ran around but I was a bit surprised when the Driver picked up speed as we approached the box - normally you are slowing down ready to stop and back up on the water crane when the points change but no, this time we decided not to water. I’d managed to fill the boiler but in doing so I had allowed the pressure to get very low - it had dropped to 160 and now I had no time to recover or pull coal forward.

Fortunately, the 9F is a very powerful locomotive capable of pulling 2000 tons of freight train, and we were Light Engine. I was more concerned with arriving on shed with enough fire to refill the boiler after the run, so we struggled up at 160, recovering slowly, with me shovelling madly and trying not to throw too much water on a cooling fire.

Inspector Mike climbed off at each of the three generators to let me sort the fire and the boiler out and we eventually arrived on shed full of water and with the boiler pressure at about 180, which would do nicely.

Throughout the trip, there had been a lot of water and coal dust thrown around the footplate and I had washed it down twice already. The crew left me to dispose the fire and give it another wash down and that was it for the 2020 season.

Despite what I though was a pretty difficult turn, Inspector Mike signed off three more boxes on my Training Schedule and gave me a good report. Of course, these difficult turns are the ones which provide the experience for the future - for example, I think I will close the tender doors and shovel coal forward next time I am on this loco with the tender half empty, or perhaps when I take over any loco halfway through the day. All I have left to sign off now is the Sheringham and Holt ground frames, all three signal boxes and the the trip up with the guard; and one more thing - ‘driver incapacitated’, which is where the driver pretends to have a heart attack out on the road and you have to fire and driver the train into the next station.

Now that will cause a flutter!

Turn 41 - Third Man on the 9F

It’s Wednesday and it’s back to work for me - volunteer work on the railway that is. Today is quite unusual in that if all goes well it will be the first footplate turn on the 9F for a year. Here’s a general view of the office:

For office work we will of course need a briefcase and some tools, so I have my prep bag and my crew bag, and my shovel. I’m the sole cleaner today, so its the usual lighting up routine.

I’ve read the report from yesterday, so I expect to find the fireman’s side water gauge drain valve leaking and indeed it is. Fitter Bob changes the seal before we go and shows us how to adjust it for next time.

The smoke box checks out OK, there are no water leaks or bits coming loose so I brush out the ash and scoop it into a barrow below, trying not to drop it all over the running plate, draw hook and vacuum bag.

Next, I take a look at the firebox with my torch and it too looks dry and the three fusible plugs are clean and show no signs of damage, so I take the lever clipped to the backhead and proceed to drop the two halves of the old fire in the ash pan. The firebars are now free of ash and there is no clinker to speak of, so I can build the fire.

I decided this time to build the fire around the edges and under the door, a departure from my usual practice of laying it thinly all over the grate, which I think will get it going quickly with all the air space similar to the way I light the WD. 

Fireman Phil is obviously concerned, though he lets me know I did it wrongly in his usual tactful fashion and I fill in the middle until we have a raging fire. The only problem is, with no pressure in the boiler we have no draught and the fire blows back through the fire hole while we are getting the flame scoop in. This could have caused an accident. Someone told me that you can prevent smoke in the cab by lighting a large fire under the brick arch (and away from the door), so I think I will try that next time.

Anyhow, there is nothing to do now but wait, so I head outside to have a look at the paint. Phil has put the yard hose in the tender and I think I can improve the loco for the photographers by giving the boiler wrapper & buffer beams a going-over with oil & kerosene. While I do that, Driver Bryan and Fireman Phil work their magic with the oil can and the fire and before long she has over 100 psi on the clock and we are ready to go on the pit.

Though I had only gone over the boiler wrapper and the buffer beams she looked quite presentable when she was done:

Once Driver Bryan had made his checks underneath and I had got a couple of lamps on board and filled the oil cans, Fireman Phil hosed out the ash pan while I prepared for blowdown. The glass was half full, so I continued to feed the fire and add water until we had a whole glass. We pushed back for coal while Fireman Phil and I cleared the pit so that we could blow down without spraying ash everywhere. With the pit clear, Driver Bryan brought the big loco back and I returned to the footplate to blow down with Fitter Alan, using the whistle to let him know when to close the valve. My toot was a bit pathetic - note to self, push it harder next time.

With the blowdown complete, I raised steam & filled boiler while the crew went off to change.

On an NLE turn, the first job is to go up the line and turn on the generators for the line side lights and displays. None of this is in the diagram, so the 20 minute trip has to be squeezed in at the beginning of the trip. I left Bryan & Phil to do this while I went to change.

Passing through the yard, we see the winterised B12 and a saddle tank and chimney. It’s from Wissington, which is in the shed with a volunteer working on her paintwork. Her boiler is in the welding shop for it’s ten year overhaul and through the winter off-season, which this year will not be interrupted by the February half term, we will be rebuilding her ready to go out on hire on hire in April. Her saddle tank sits in the yard out of the way.

With my best togs on and shovel & drivers bag in hand, I joined loco at the platform for the run down to Sheringham. Before tying on, we stopped to take on water and with the loco tied on and the steam pressurising the train heating pipes I went over to the station buffet to make some tea.

On this diagram, you are there for 90 minutes or so to warm up the train. Forty minutes before departure, Phil built up the fire ready for the trip up. We’d talked about turns on the 9F and determined that none of us had had a trip out on it for at least a year so we were a little concerned at how to fire it on this timetable, which is made difficult by the very slow speed running required which requires the engine to use a lot more steam than normal. Worrying about blowing off, Phil showed me a technique which I had not seen before - making a hole in the fire with the shovel, to allow some additional cold air in:

Arriving at Holt, I hooked off and we ran around. I took over the fire at Phil’s suggestion and fired down, reminding myself, as he had, that the 9F is difficult to fire without burning yourself and the suggestion Bryan had made while we still on shed - I was putting a round on with my rubber cleaning gloves on - was a good one. Early on in my footplate turns I fired with gloves on a few times, but it is a very bad idea because you have no idea how hot the gloves are until they are too hot. I was glad of the extra two inches I put on my shovel handle.

The run down was uneventful, but I was mindful of running low on steam last week and of Fireman Paul’s view that the boiler should be full and the gauge almost in the red zone at all times - a bit extreme perhaps, but it guarantees that the driver can have as much steam as he wants and it’s probably a good idea on an unusual timetable. We took on water again at Sheringham, while I raked down some coal for the trip up.

Typically on a turn with Phil, I fired the rest of the turn. I protested a bit - just a bit - saying he always did all the hard work when I was out with him, but he rebuffed my suggestion saying I would never learn unless I did it. We ate Bryan’s mince pies from the warming plate..,

I fired up & down on the second trip, and we took on water again at Sheringham. During the turn we made sure to thank the happy passengers coming off the train and I had a chat with a potential volunteer, encouraging him quite firmly to come and join us.

I fired up & down on the light engine trip to switch off the generators, making sure I had filled the boiler to the top of the glass. I was more generous firing down than usual, out of a desire to see how much fire I could safely leave in the firebox for disposal. We arrived making steam gently and with the water past the top of glass and Phil handled the ground frame to let us into the yard. He gave me the choice - handle the ground frame and switch on the lights or help Driver Bryan take the loco in, and of course as I had not done a lot of disposal on my own this is what I chose.

On the pit, I used the bent dart to rake over the grate under the door and in the back corners, pushing the fire towards the front whilst Driver Bryan made his checks underneath and Phil started to wash the ash down through the four access doors either side. By the time I was done, the dart was starting to glow and I threw it into the coal space to cool off. Next, I used the pricker to go over the rest of the fire, though even with that it is difficult to get to the front corners with the heat pouring out of the fire hole.

By the time we were done and back at the stabling point the fire was dying. I used the last of it to add some more water and when I had passed the crew bags and shovels down to Phil in the yard, I cleaned the footplate with the slacker pipe. The last job was to stack some wood for the morning and make sure all the controls were set for stabling.

Another cracking day out. I must make sure that I have a pastie for tea next time and some mince pies for the crew. 

Turn 40 - Third Man on the 4MT

After a six week break I returned to the railway in jubilant mood, like finding a favourite old jumper at the bottom of the linen bin. It was a late start for we were to run two trips of the Norfolk Lights Express and as it’s rostered we have quite a lot of time to prepare an engine that is only seen in the dark. Cleaner’s Mike and Lewis were already on shed when I turned up and the smoke box was clean and the fire lit. I ambled about chatting - quite a departure for me as I’m usually the quiet one getting stuck in!

Fitter Bob showed me the lights we fitted in the pit, which he had finished and someone had made some mesh guards for - the Class 20 was on the pit. Wissington, whose wheels had just been refitted when I was last there had had it’s saddle tank removed as it’s boiler ticket has run out and the boiler needs overhaul; Ring Haw has it’s buffer beam off and valves & pistons removed for inspection. The WD is in the shed as the spare engine; the 9F is in the shed awaiting some rope lights to allow it to act as the alternative NLE loco. Y14 and B12 have been winterised.

So today, the Pocket Rocket 76084 is our weapon of choice. My first job is to sort out the pit hose to fill the tank, since it’s arrived on-shed with only 2000 gallons left. I take a look at the fire and add a little coal with the beast of shovels, my new Western pattern shown in the picture below next to the 4MT’s ‘company shovel’:

It’s certainly a beast and whilst its quite hefty I think I will be happy with it. 

I cleaned the footplate, until I heard someone teasing Cleaner Lewis for trying to fill the tank without the tap turned on. Admitting my guilt, I was treated to a training course from Fitter Alan in how to turn taps on so that the water will come out, promising that I wouldn’t hear the last of that. 

Finishing my job I went off to make eight cups of tea whilst Fireman Graeme and Driver Bryan settled in, and Lewis & Mike cleaned the boiler, tender and buffer beams. I’d got about 150 psig on the clock by and it was time to get onto the pit, for the driver to make his inspection. Lewis & Mike fitted the ash pan screens while I tested the injectors and brought the fire on to prepare for blowdown - Fitter Alan helped us blow down a full glass and she was still making steam with the blowdown valve open. The world disappeared in clouds of vapour. We blew down another half-glass and then moved off the pit leaving Lewis and Mike to clear out the mess.

First job on an NLE turn is to go up the line to turn on the generators, which gives you a couple more miles then it’s down to Sheringham to warm up the set. We were there about 90 minutes before the crowds were on board and we got the ‘right away’ from Guard David. Fireman Graeme was on the shovel on the first trip, with me doing the token, hooking on, and handling the water crane at Sheringham - we had a bit of topping up to do after my incident with the yard hose earlier.

At the top, Fireman Graeme let me know that I was firing the second trip and we were pulling in to Sheringham before I had a quick look in the box to see hardly any fire and only a third of a glass - there was a brief involuntary exclamation which brought a ‘what did I do’ look from Graeme, who was setting up a challenge for me. We had forty minutes to get ready for the return trip, and he and Bryan handled the water crane - all I had to deploy was to deploy the Western pattern JCB and rebuild the fire.

The foundation ring was becoming exposed so the sides were built up first, followed after a few minutes by the back and front, then some more back, then sides, front, more back until we had only twenty minutes to go and I had the blower running, the dampers cracked and I was able to get some water in it. A little later I started to fill in the middle, though not too much as closing up the hole in the middle brings this engine around very quickly. I still needed to add water, but by the time we got the 19:00 ‘right away’ I was  in the top quarter and the pressure was well over 200 psi. 

We moved off, and I collected the token and relaxed into the fireman’s seat for a couple of minutes whilst we moved the train over the crossing. On the way down the 1:333 I filled up the middle and front to let her go up Dead Man’s Hill and pull some air through my fire. Cresting the hill, I put the injectors on again to top up as we descended the 1:100 down the other side.

I’d been watching Graeme on the first trip and realised that he had fired completely normally, despite the extra 10 minutes scheduled on the diagram. I followed suit, firing and watering as I saw fit and we romped up the hill - or ‘struggled’ as Graeme put it, who by now I had realised spent most of his time with tongue in cheek.

However, adding another round at Bridge 299 raised an eyebrow and taking my eye off the fire as I dropped the token on the catcher at Holt, she blew off. “You just didn’t need it” says Graeme, proving to be, as most of the guys are, a valuable teacher.

Going down is usually quite easy for the fireman, since the only uphill bit is the 1:100 up to Bridge 304. I took it very easy, adding bits and adding water as I went down, but by Weybourne I was in trouble with only 160 on the clock and half a glass. Graeme opened the door and put his hand to the hole, demonstrating that there was no heat - I had already turned off the train heating to conserve steam and a couple of rounds were needed to get it going again. By the time we were in Sheringham I had 200 on the clock again.

A valuable lesson. Steam heat uses steam. Who knew?

Graeme fired the trip up to turn off the generators, and we were up to 30 mph on the 1:80 - going like the clappers. A magical end to a first turn back after six weeks.

More next week.