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.