Turn 48 - Third Man on the WD

This regular Wednesday turn is the first of several in sequence where the rostered driver is a steam inspector - which could be both nerve wracking and instructive. To add to that anxiety, checking my notes reveals that this is only my second third man turn on the WD, and that I have never fired this loco on the road!

Before we start though, my pre-flight checks reveal there is very little water in the boiler - it's been leaking through blow down valve and there is about 3/8" in the bottom of the glass. Fitter Alex fixes the washout hose onto the driver's injector drain to put an inch of depth in before lighting up.

Fitter Alan has showed me how to light it up in the past, and I know i have to leave a lot of air space on the grate otherwise it will smoke out the cab, or perhaps choke up. I mention this to Fireman Ralph, who helps me lay a thin fire which I light up using a lot of wood and rags - I have no intention of letting this get the better of me today and indeed it gets going well.

However - half an hour later the smoke is pouring out of the firehole, thick and black. They tell me the blower won't do anything until there is 40 psi on the clock. I spend the next hour cleaning the boiler, buffer beams and the brass.

We move onto the pit with about 40 psi on the clock. The WD has a hopper ashpan - we didn't drop the pan but just washed it down - we would use the ashpan sprinkler through the day. We blew down 1/2 glass.

Ralph fired the first trip, and we picked up Fitter Alan on the way down through Weybourne - Alan was due an annual firing assessment, so he fired the second trip.

Driver Nick, a steam inspector, gave up his seat to Fireman Ralph who drove for the rest of the day leaving me to fire. 

The WD blows off at 225 psi, and Fireman Ralph was running it between 200 and 220 with occasional dips to 180. On my first trip, I managed to let it go down to 160, but I also managed to keep the water on adequately. I closed the damper when cresting Wind Pump on the way up thinking that I would keep the heat in until we got to Holt but actually I succeeded in wasting an opportunity to recover the fire.

Arriving at Holt I had a Pennine Way in the middle of the box with very bare front corners - I had lost the technique to get the coal around the flame scoop and toward the front. If you don't get the swing right, the path correct (so the shovel doesn't hit the ring) and the momentum sufficient the coal will hit the scoop and fall in the middle of the box.

The second trip was better, and I didn't drop below 180 psi. I was still leaving holes but it was better, using my own western pattern shovel I was occasionally hitting the front of the box - it was frustrating though, Driver Nick was using fire irons to recover between trips, as he was concerned my holes would leave the firebox cold, which indeed they would. My own shovel is better than the loco's own shovel for length but it's too wide at 9 3/4" - it hits the firehole ring too often, and it's so heavy that it's difficult to concentrate your aim when you are tired. It needs more thought - maybe a modification, or a smaller shovel with a long handle.

I can fire right handed and left handed easily, so switching locos is no problem for me in this respect. However, on a big loco I tend to fire each side of the box using both hands - an approach which produced a comment from Driver/Inspector Nick as I was getting in the drivers way...

In the end, we had a good trip back to Sheringham & Light Engine to shed for disposal - the water was very high all the way back and no-one else touched the fire.

And no blowing off all day!