After a tricky turn last week which made me think about whether I was really going to be ready for my firing test this year I determined to relax and enjoy myself, and if I didn't put in for the test until next year, so be it. Firing the WD for the first time made me realise that my shovelling technique was poorly developed and what had been developed over the past two years was pretty rusty, so when I learned that the B12 would be rostered this week I resolved to concentrate on that technique since before firing the WD I had considered the B12 to be the most difficult loco in the North Norfolk Railway fleet - for me at least.
I made sure to light up so that I could get some shovelling practice in before the day began. There was a lot of fire left in the grate - the disposal the previous day had been rather sparing to say the least, as we found later when we discovered the ashpan had not been cleaned out or the pit cleared.
Cleaning the grate was a struggle - it was very hot, so I could not get all the way to the front and there was a lot of ash. The ash pan was not much better:
Fireman Josh, as I may have mentioned before is a thoroughly good chap - he offered to let me fire the first trip, which is a tricky one because the engine is cold. In the end, I fired the light engine trip down to Sheringham rather enthusiastically as we arrived in the station blowing off and with the boiler full - I had made sure to keep the fire hot on the way down.
The first trip up was much the same - we romped up the hill, never low on water but wasting more water and coal than would have been desirable.
The second trip, which I also fired, was a much calmer affair and I was getting a lot more relaxed. For the the third trip, Driver Fozzy gave up his seat to give Josh some driving experience, so I fired the trip too after shovelling down a hot pasty from the Sheringham buffet.
The up trip ended in Holt with a bit of the Pennine Way across the firebox, which I should have let burn down. Instead, I used the clinker shovel to push the burning coal forward to the front of the box.
This was a mistake. The trip down was not so good, as I had let the front get too low (I didn't rebuild it after raking it over) and we ended up coming down just below 150 psi, with the vacuum ejector struggling to keep the brakes off. I realised what was going on, but with 25 minutes layover in Sheringham I didn't want to do too much - I put a few light shovelfuls down the front and it was recovering by the time we were ascending Dead Man's Hill.
We stopped for water and tea in Sheringham.
I was pleased to see that Josh didn't immediately do anything to the fire - in fact, it had recovered to a normal level for arrival at Sheringham - so essentially I messed up, but I knew I had messed up and fixed it myself.
I made sure to do all the run-arounds, all the watering, and all the hooking on while I was on the shovel - and for the rest of the day in fact. I was pleased that Josh fired the fourth trip while I ate a Cherry Bakewell and had some tea.
And to top off a great day? I got to drive the light engine trip from Sheringham back to Weybourne, and take the loco into the yard and onto the pit.
Fascinating as ever
ReplyDelete