Firing Test - Are you ready?

After much deliberation, I’ve decided that I am going to put in for my firing test. I've been thinking about this for a while, talking to people and looking at past timetables, in terms of the service we usually offer through the year. I also talked to Operating Superintendent Peter about medicals, and I understand there is a bit of a waiting list.

Currently I have completed 28 third man turns and I am doing 4-5 per month. My confidence improves with every turn, and I think if I leave it until next year I will have to spend some time rebuilding that confidence after the winter break. Right now, if I were to take the test in two months’ time for example, I would be going into it with almost 40 third man turns, 60% more than I have done currently – then, I would have the rest of the season - until January - to continue training after my test. I'd have more yellow timetables plus the Norfolk Lights Express service to train on.

My option, and previous idea was to do the paperwork, interview and medical etc over the winter and leave the test until next season. If I do that, I will have a lot more turns under my belt - up to twice what I have now, potentially, but I will have to refresh myself after the winter break - possibly taking the test in April or May at the earliest. That's a possibility - it's not a race.

Right now, I have everything on my training schedule is signed off with the exception of ‘driver incapacitated’ - where you have to pretend that the driver cannot carry on with his duties and you are between stations, having to drive & fire at the same time, to bring the train safely to a standstill at the next station. I’ve got a turn with Inspector Nick mid-July and I think I will ask him to take me through that!

Meanwhile, my application is in.

As far as I am aware, I have a number of things to do:

• pass the medical for safety-critical staff
• pass an oral examination on engine theory, rules and regulations
• pass three written papers on Footplate Rules, Route Knowledge and Fireman’s Theory which are open book examinations completed in your own time
• undergo one or two full days on the shovel with a firing inspector
• pass a firing test with an inspector

When I've done that, I will be upgraded to 'Passed Cleaner' - that is, a cleaner who is deemed fit to roster as a fireman. I will be expected to fire on my own for ten turns and I will be able to roster as a fireman at galas; I will also be eligible to train as a full Fireman, which will allow me to drive occasionally and to start driver training - but that is getting ahead of ourselves!

Turn 55 - Third Man on the 4MT

Well, a turn on a Tuesday! It quite knocked me off my rhythm.

Today we have the delightful Pocket Rocket, number 76084 the BR standard 4MT - probably the easiest loco on the fleet. I'm on with Fireman Paul and Driver Graeme both of whom I know well. It's pretty clean and shiny, as Paul has been over it the day before and we have Cleaner Cameron here to buff it up further. I clear out the smokebox and busy myself on the brass, while Fireman Paul lights up. 

Down at the pit, we blowdown a full glass and I go beneath to swab out the ashpan, though it is quite clean and as it has a hopper ashpan we don't drop the ash. That done, we are ready for Fitter Bob who has the loader ready to give us a ton of coal.

It's a conventional yellow timetable with the two trains, and we go down to Sheringham for breakfast and the first of many footplate tours - there are a lot of people on the railway today. Paul fires the light engine trip down to Sheringham then the first & second round trips - he manages to blow off three times. This little loco can be made to steam very well, and he is firing to keep up with Driver Graeme who likes to use the regulator enthusiastically and make some noise up the hills.

I take over for the third round trip, building the fire slowly while the others take on water. By the time we are ready to go I have the boiler full, a good back end in the box and a hole in the middle. I fill the hole in when we get the 'right away' so that the loco is making steam as we go across the Golf Club crossing and up Dead Man's Hill; I keep firing, but I close the dampers and open the door to keep the boiler cool during our six minute layover in Weybourne. 

We carry on up to Holt, and she goes well though she is a bit thinner than I would have liked when we arrive. We stop for tea. On the way down, I am a little too late getting her ready and the boiler pressure  is between 160 and 180 all the way down to Weybourne, though I have recovered it by the time we get to Sheringham.

I have a chat with Driver Graeme about the best way to fire this loco, or indeed any BR Standard like the 9F, and indeed the WD is similar. The idea is to build a really deep back end, so high that it's up to the door - or, if you want to build more energy in you can lift the flap up and fire up to that. This gives a big energy reserve, much like you use the deep front on the B12. You keep the front covered since it runs to holes easily there and you allow holes to form in the middle if you want to control the heat. The pressure needs to stay above 160 psi, but it is easy to fire with a longish shovel as long as your shovel is cranked enough to get coal in the corners and you are reasonably good at firing left handed.

Graeme also says that if something is wrong, don't open the door for ages and look for the hole - you will just let a lot of cold air in. Flick the door open, send two quick shovelfuls into the front of middle and get it closed again.

This is actually very similar to the pattern I have been following, but for the fourth up-trip I make the back much deeper than I have done before and magically the boiler sits at something like 240 psi all the way - and doesn't blow off at all.

Up at Holt, I get some tea and chat to a few people - Fireman Paul takes the shovel on the way down to Sheringham and then back to Holt for disposal.

There's a lot of ash. They stable the loco and I spend the next 20 minutes digging it out the pit.

I will feel those muscles tomorrow.

Turn 54 - Third Man on the B12

Back to the normal routing for this turn - a Wednesday and a Yellow timetable: that's four round trips steam hauled back to back with four round trips of the DMU. As usual, I sign on at 05:45 with Fitter Bob, who goes off to make his breakfast while I go down to the yard with my cleaning bag, shovel and a 'stop board' to light up the B12.

It's warm, as it has been in service since Sunday, and we have 20 psi on the clock since last night. I collect a shovel and a broom from the cleaning store and climb up to look in the smokebox, which all looks intact so I use the tools to scoop out all the ash from yesterday. Since the smokebox door seal is integral to creating the draft to drawer the fire, I brush around the seal area before closing the door and tightening the dart.

Returning to the cleaning store I pick up a bucketful of rags from the bin which is full of dirty rags and paraffin, and put them on the footplate. I open the firehole and with my cleaner's cap on backwards have a look around inside with my torch, to check the stays, the brick arch and the fusible plugs - all areas which might cause concern. Nothing is amiss today, so I take the bent dart from the tool rack on the tender and clean the ash off the firebars, pushing it all forward. When I am done I take the rake, like a 10' iron garden hoe, and clean the rest of the grate so the ash falls through the bars into the ash pan below. 

Next comes a layer of coal, heavier on the inclined section at the front and only one lump thick over the rest of the grate - I want to minimise the time it takes to reach incandescence and hence minimise smoke. I check the dampers are both shut before throwing in a long piece of wood with a flaming rag tied to one end, to the front of the firebox followed by more wood to the same area. another one goes in the opposite corner, one in the middle followed by more down the sides until I have the whole grate ablaze with burning timber and paraffin. I shut the door.

It doesn't make so much smoke, and after 15 minutes or so Fireman Harry adds some more coal. He's been here for a while and has put the hose in the tender. I set to with the rake to level off the coal, to allow Fitter Bob to load some more later - it's all heaped at the back of the tender, before going over the running boards and frames with some oil & paraffin. Before long, Driver Keith is here and we have enough pressure to start the Westinghouse brake pump. 

Driver Keith opens the drain cock on the pump and then the steam valve, to drain out the condensate - the pump operates lethargically for a bit spraying water everywhere, before warming sufficiently for us to shut the drain valve and develop some air pressure in the braking system.

Now we have brakes, we can push back and Keith can get underneath with the wheeltapper's hammer. Fireman Harry uses the injectors to prepare for blowdown, and with a full glass blown into the pit we dive underneath to clean the ash pan and fit the spark guards. Next it's coal, and Keith and I go off to get changed while Fireman Harry refills the boiler.

Dressed in our Sunday best and back on the footplate, Keith and I take the loco out of the yard and into the platform. I resist the temptation to put a round on as I don't know Harry yet, and it's his fire at the moment - though it looks a bit thin to me.

Little do I know! Back on the footplate, Harry puts a light round on and we roll gently down to Sheringham with may 40 minutes to go until the fist train is due out. He builds it up very gently on the way down, adding to the front but leaving the hole developing in the middle.

We tie on to our train and I observe as this very experienced crew take us up to Holt and back. We take water before the second train departs and on the trip up I tell Harry what I've observded him doing, and he shares his technique - some of which I have heard from others.

He says he doesn't use the front damper, it's shut all the time. He fills the inclined area of the grate with a thick wedge of coal and leaves it to form a mass of retained heat right under the arch - he tops it up occasionally but since the damper is shut it burns through very slowly. 

Secondly, he allows the middle third of the grate to run to holes, so we can see the bars, to control the fire, keeping the sides covered and the firebox wrapper hot.

Lastly, he fills the back third with coal and is careful to get it right under the door, in the part of the box that slopes towards your feet. When the loco is underway, you have a 'billiard table flat' fire.

I can see that with holes and a big mass at the front, the boiler will sit at 150 happily; fill the middle third in and it will come around very quickly - if you fire the front, back and both sides gradually while stationary and with both dampers and the doors shut you can build in heat into the fire and the poor draft and hole in the middle keeps the boiler temperature low enough to avoid blowing off; when you get the 'right away', open the rear damper a little and start filling the hole in as you get out of the station, adding more to the middle as the driver starts to use steam and the draft starts to make heat.

It's easy for the rookie fireman to panic and throw more coal on the fire than it needs - you must fire slowly, control your rate, and be patient for it to come around. If you fire slowly and let the coal catch, you can see the effect it has on the gauge before you overdo it - of course, if you have a lot of building up to do, you need more time to build it slowly, so you must always watch your clock.

You must learn to trust your judgement - believe in your holes. Running round at Sheringham, I had a large hole and some water space - and I had twenty minutes to take on water. Fireman Harry saw this hole and suggested I will it in - I said "I don't want to do that, I have twenty minutes to wait". He said "you're in charge" - and I filled it in anyway. And what did it do? Blew off while taking water - so, trust your judgement.

So yes, we blew of and not for the first time that day but, we did get back to shed with the boiler full and the fire perfect for disposal.

During disposal we raked out the clinker as normal and Fireman Harry showed me how to rake over all the ash to remove clinker and then spread the ash to keep the whole grate warm.

Another good day, with smiles all round.

Turn 53 - Third Man on the B12 - and lunch

 This month, I have been mostly collecting Steam Inspectors. To complete the set, I volunteered to roster with Inspector Ben, who was down to drive a lunch train on Sunday.

Lunch trains are a bit unusual. The timetable goes something like this:

• You go off-shed about 10:30, an hour after the service train - so potentially you don't have to arrive until 07:00
• You go down to Sheringham and hook on to the dining set in platform 3, which you have to heat in the winter
• At 11:30 or so, you shunt the set into platform 1 to pick up the passengers - you had better not have overdone the fire on the way down, and you hopefully will have left some water space because it is now an hour since you left shed. No-one will thank you for sitting there blowing off at that time on a Sunday morning.
• You leave at 12:00 for a gentle non-stop trip up to Holt, where you wait for 25 minutes for the previous service train to depart and another to arrive
• You go down to Sheringham, repeat the 25 minute wait, and then you go up to Holt again for another 25 minute wait.
• You take the passengers, who have had their dinner by now, back to Sheringham keeping the fire low and the water up while you try and eat your dinner at the same time
• You arrive at Sheringham and sit in platform 1, keeping the fire going and the water topped up for 30 minutes while another two service trains come in and out
• You head up to Weybourne, light engine, via the water crane and dispose the locomotive

So, a lunch train timetable is a good lesson in controlling your firing and boiler water levels, anticipating waiting around for long periods. There are only two trips so it is a gentle day out but you must keep you enthusiasm under control and your shovel light.

The next thing is, the lunch train is unlikely to be hauled by a loco that has been in service recently. We were assigned the B12 - here she is:

She had just been in the shop for a water change and Fitter Alan had prepared her the previous day - she was brimful of coal and water, the smokebox was spotless and the firebox had the remains of a small warming fire in it.

I didn't have much to do, so I lit her up as normal. Wrong!

I turned up about 06:45, to make sure I had time to light her up myself - I wish I had got there a bit earlier. I laid a reasonably thick fire with a lot of wood which caught, as it usually does, quite successfully - but as it was a cold loco, there was no natural draft at all and the fire was belching black acrid smoke into the cab. Another time, I think I will start earlier with a thinner fire near the front and let that catch before I add to it.

Having said that, laying that fire did prove that my new, smaller shovel with the 42" handle is perfect for this loco.

Anyway, as I always say, every day is a school day. With the fire under way, and the 9F lit up next door - she was the service engine that day, I went to make a round of tea. This involved getting back in the car and heading back to Sheringham to buy some milk.

On the way, I took this picture - it's the data recorder from the 4MT, which is the only loco certified for the mainline. The data recorder is out as the tender needs some welding repairs - these delicate electronics are always removed prior to any welding work.

Next job, tea.

I spent the next couple of hours cleaning and polishing with Fireman Robert, until it was time to get changed and go down to Sheringham. We'd agreed that he would fire the first trip and me the second, and that whoever was firing would call the signals etc., so the first trip was pretty relaxing for me.

Taking over the fireman's role as we arrived in Sheringham, with 25 minutes to go I had a look around and could see holes forming, so I repaired them with the odd shovelful here and there to keep the fire warm. Once the service train had gone, we ran around and I put another round on; then another as we neared departure time.

Firing up on the second trip, the boiler was sitting gently making steam at 150-160 psi. On the B12, this is a sure sign of a hole. As we left Sheringham we had a little over half a glass and of course I wanted the gauge in the top quarter before we attempted the hill. I put the injector on as we crested Dead Man's, but Driver Ben encouraged me to leave it off until the fire had recovered a bit more - the injectors will work more efficiently with higher pressures.

By the time we got to Weybourne we were heading towards 180 psi and I had my three-quarters glass, so the trip up the hill was pretty relaxing, I even sat down for a bit! However, she wasn't making steam very quickly and she was obviously breathing cold air - three shovels across the front fixed that and we went off up Kelling Bank quite happily.

We took a couple of young guests on a footplate ride as we ran around at Holt, so I had to leave the fire alone. When Fireman Robert reappeared, he brought three roast pork lunches with him from the kitchen, a rare treat! I shovelled that down while building the fire for the trip down - a new challenge.

Firing down was no problem, just a question of keeping it topped up while making sure that we would be ready for disposal - but this time, we would have a half-hour wait at Sheringham before the line would be clear to go back up to Weybourne, so I would not be adding too much fire or water on the way down - I would need water space for the wait in Sheringham. 

When we arrived, she was just about making steam and I had over half a glass in, so I could sort out the fire when I was ready - we also had to take on water, so I would need to accommodate that time as I built the fire up.

Back on shed, driven up by Fireman Robert, I riddled through the fire with the bent dart, finding a few saucer sized bits of clinker in the back corners - probably why it had been slow to light up just there. We used the rake to go over the rest of the bars and it was pretty clean. 

While filling the boiler, I learned a new tip from Driver Ben - that if I filled past the top nut while we were still on the pit he had no way of knowing where the water level was. If it was high enough to allow the engine to prime (getting water in the main steam pipe to the cylinders), that could easily lead to an accident since the loco would be difficult or impossible to stop - and the shed doors were only 100 yards away. It's much safer to fill high in the glass and leave the last fill until the loco is in it's stabling position.

At the end, Driver Ben's comment was that I could fire to a 'reasonable standard' - it was my first turn with him, and I take that as a compliment. He said the next level was to become a lazy fireman - similar to Driver Josh's comments a few days ago, which means to get more efficient, don't fire on the run so much, fire consistently without having to adjust the dampers or adjust the feedwater reactively - and sit down occasionally.

Bring it on I say.

Turn 52 - Third Man on the 9F

I felt pretty relaxed as I drove to Weybourne at 05:30 on Wednesday morning ready for Turn 52. I would be on a loco that I had plenty of experience on, the BR Standard 9F no. 92203, famously christened Black Prince by the wildlife artist, the late David Shepherd. The loco is the subject of a book, currently in typesetting, to be published by the Friends of Black Prince. It's a writing project which perhaps has a slightly wider audience than my others, which are all about rattly old motorcycles.

Fireman Ralph was there early too, with Cleaner Dan from the Chappell & Wakes Colne Railway down in Essex. I asked Dan to sort out the smoke box and I lit up the engine myself, assuming the fireman's duties until Ralph was ready to come on board. The loco had been in service since Saturday, and there was still 30 psi on the clock.

I took the opportunity to try out my small shovel, which is a couple of inches less wide than the big Western pattern shovel, wit the same length handle:

It's just right for this loco and I fired with it for the rest of the day.

Driver Josh arrived a bit later and when he had finished oiling up we had sufficient steam to operate the brakes and go down to the pit. He disappeared underneath to hit things with the wheeltapper's favourite hammer while we tested the injectors and sprinklers and made ready to clean the ash pan. Injector number 1 was leaking through both the water and the steam valve - which was why the main steam manifold had been shut off on disposal.

Testing the injectors, Fireman Ralph found that number 1 didn't start too easily either though it did work enough. If we couldn't get it working, we would have to get it fixed before going off-shed or fail the loco - that would mean getting the reserve loco up to temperature from cold, which would have taken maybe 5-6 hours.

Injector #1 didn't get any better all day.

By the time we were taking coal, I was sweating clearing the pit. The forecast was for 24°C all day and a 5 mph southerly - it promised to be a sticky day. BR Standard locos, with their enclosed cabs, are great for Santa Specials but what you need on a sunny summer's day is an open cab, like the Y14 or the B12:

Ralph fired the Light Engine trip down to Sheringham where we were greeted by a lamp showing a red aspect on the platform telling us we should not go onto the train. We waited for a bit while the Carriage & Wagon people made some weekly checks on the stock, waiting at Sheringham platform 1 with our tea and breakfast baps - bacon, egg and mushrooms today.

It was already hot, and by the time we were up at Holt it was time for the first refill of our personal water bottles and the first raid on the Holt buffet freezer:

Ralph handed over the metaphorical shovel as we ran around the train in Sheringham, and with 15 minutes to go I took a quick look at the fire and hooked us on to the train before doing anything with it. Josh & Ralph handled the water crane while I pulled down some more coal. While we waited for the passengers to load their buggies and collect their grannies, I went around the box leaving a hole in the middle, followed five minutes later by another few shovelfuls along the back, to build it up. There was a large hole in the middle which I left to keep the boiler cool; I topped up the water and washed down the floor.

With the 'right away', I loaded three more heavy shovel loads into the hole while Driver Josh eased gently out of the station. I let this catch, and when the smoke blackened I opened the door, collecting the token as we passed the signal box. The fire would take care of itself for a few minutes while we made sure the level crossing was safe and once across, I put another full round on to make use of the draft Josh would make as we climbed the 1 in 97 Dead Man's Hill. At the top, I put the water feed on and another round, since we had a little time on the level and descending the 1 in 100 slope down the other side, before the long 1 in 80 up to Weybourne.

By now, the boiler was sitting at 220 psi, in the top quarter of the glass and making steam as we charged up the hill and across Bridge #303, over the A149 . I put the feed on again as we approached the station and made myself ready to exchange the token with the signalman. We had a six minute stop here, and I put another round on with a few minutes to go, just along the back; With the right away given by the guard, more coal went to the front and middle as we drew out of the station ready to storm up Kelling Bank, another mile at 1 in 80 and one of the highlights of the railway.

The water went on again at the top, where another Driver, Bryan, was doing one of his other jobs - strimming the grass around Wind Pump Crossing. He got a blast on the whistle to warn of our approach and raised his hand to acknowledge us from the safety of the trackside. 

I was using both injectors alternately as prescribed in the Operating Manual. Whilst using the #1 injector, I made sure to dampen the coal using the tender sprinkler. If the coal is left dry, dust blows everywhere - in your eyes, down your shirt, in the passengers eyes... I also used the footplate slacker pipe to wash down the floor and to warm the water in the bucket - when you have warm water in your bucket, you can get your hands clean ready for your next sandwich and to avoid getting everything greasy - essential if you were the last one to hook the loco onto the train.

We stopped at Holt for another 25 minutes - tea and more water this time, before going back to Sheringham where I handed the shovel back to Ralph. A great second trip.

The third trip was a bit different, as we were carrying a special cargo on the footplate - the ashes of two frequent visitors to the railway whose wish was to have their remains scattered over the fields above Weybourne.

The ashes arrived in two heavy cardboard tubes, which we loaded into the firebox as we went over Bridge #301, over the beck above Weybourne. We planned to make a spectacle of the event and Driver Josh, with the loco in full forward gear, opened the regulator to make the engine produce a lot of noise and smoke as we charged up the hill with the whistle blaring. A fitting send off for two train lovers.

We had another ice cream and more tea at Holt, before Ralph fired back down. 

My turn again for the fourth trip - it is much easier to share the duties than to do the whole day on your own. The fire was pretty low when we arrived, and I had a look at it with twenty minutes to go. There comes a time on every turn where you come a bit unstuck - well at my level of experience anyway - and I decided to leave the fire alone for ten minutes or so. Unfortunately, when I got up on the tender the tank was almost half gone - it would take at least ten minutes to fill. Retrospectively, since the fire was so low I should have dealt with it in two steps - much like I had done on the second trip. It would have been better to put a round on, watered the loco while it caught, and put another round on. That way the fire would have been back up to temperature by the time we were off and I would have been able to see where it was thin as I built it.

However, I didn't do that and was left frantically trying to build the fire as the departure time approached. I had plenty of water, so that was not a problem but the boiler was sitting at 160 psi - a bit low. On arriving at Weybourne, Driver Josh's comment - he was now watching me as Ralph was driving - was that everything worked out OK in the end but I had made life very hard for myself...

However, we went up the bank OK and ran around at Holt for the last time, so the next test was to ensure we had enough fire to keep the boiler full as we returned to Weybourne via Sheringham for disposal. This was fine - other than the fact that try as I might I couldn't get either injector started going through Weybourne and managed to blow off.

Running around in Sheringham, I climbed back on board to find Ralph in the fireman's seat again, and Driver Josh ushering me into the driver's seat - driving the 9F for the first time, I took it from Sheringham East box up to Weybourne box, nice and smooth, no slipping, no jerky braking and managed to bring 140 tonnes of loco and tender to a stop right outside Weybourne signal box.

A cracking end to a cracking day - all that was left was to dispose and stable the loco. I was knackered. I need a better diet if I am going to last a day on the shovel in that heat.

Turn 51 - Full day on the Y14's shovel

Turn 51 was a day I had been looking forward to for a while, since I was rostered Third Man with Inspector Mike and Fireman Paul - and I knew that Fireman Paul had put in for his driving test. Gossip around the railway suggested that this Wednesday might be the day, especially since Fireman Paul had an assessment turn with Inspector Nick the previous day.

To get to that level, Paul would have spent 60 turns as rostered fireman since becoming a Passed Cleaner; there would have been a verbal interview and five test papers for him to become eligible for assessment to drive, so it was a pretty important day.

For me, this was likely to mean that I would get the whole day on the shovel, and when Inspector Mike turned up at 07:00 he gathered us together to tell us that he would do nothing but watch and see how we got on. Later, he told me that the plan had been to roster a driver on test with an unqualified cleaner who was well advanced in his training to Passed Cleaner, to see how the driver coped.

Fireman Paul got a bit more of a test than he had bargained for, but - and here's a spoiler alert - he was cheerful when he went home having been promoted to 'Passed Fireman' - that is, a qualified Fireman who has passed his Driver's exams and his driving test, but lacks experience of driving.

The day started pretty normally; we were assigned the Y14, which is easy to prepare. Since there has been a new guide to lighting up published which encourages the use of fire irons to clean the grate (rather than getting in the firebox yourself) I decided to use that approach - which works reasonably well and certainly keeps you cleaner and probably safer.

Every day is a school day.

The usual challenge with the Y14 is stopping it making steam too fast, but since it's easy to fire (small firebox, and easy to reach all around it) you can keep it under control if you fire little and often. We tested the brakes, ashed out, and took on coal with no drama, and I tested the injectors in the platform before we went down to Sheringham, while chatting with one of the gardeners (who I happen to know went to the same secondary school as I did, a couple of years ahead of me) about slugs and moles in the station vegetable plot. 

The little and often principle seemed to go out the window when I was building the fire for the first trip up. I was firing too heavily - putting too much coal on a cool fire at once, which leads to black smoke and complaints from the neighbours, and cools your fire further. Of course it also cools your boiler, which means you can't feed it with water, the brakes won't release, and your uphill performance is poor...

It's all about planning. You know that a round of coal will take a few minutes to ignite and maybe ten minutes to create any heat, so you put a little bit on, close the box, let it come around and then do it again. Maybe you fire the front first and then the back, and leave the middle if you want to keep the temperature down - you can fill that in when you want instant heat, because you can block up a hole and stop the cold air coming in; if you have overdone it you can shut the damper. 

The second and third trips were much better, firing little and often around the box. This was my first experience of a full day on the shovel - I was doing all the firing, pulling coal down, watering, hooking on and off, doing the tablet exchanges and providing the driver's eyes on his blind side. The weather was lovely, a sunny day with a breeze off the sea, but I went through three litres of water, three cups of coffee and two teas in a 12 hour shift. Hot work.

The priming was new experience. Suddenly and without warning the cab windows were spattered with sooty water - the engine was pulling water through with the steam. Priming can be caused by an overfull boiler, but not on this occasion - the elements & salts in the water can cause the water to foam in the boiler, and this lighter foam gets drawn into the regulator and the water condenses out all over the shiny paint and your nice clean windows. We added an anti-foaming agent with every other stop for water and once this started to get through we didn't have another incident.

Paul had a look at my fire at one point - he spotted that I was firing heavily in the left front corner and reminded me in his doleful way that that would lead to clinker later and that I would have a problem sorting it out. This was the beginning of the less fun part of the day...

The fourth trip started well as we rolled out of Sheringham, and I was pleased to have the boiler full and ready for the 1 in 80 hill up Kelling Bank. The up train has a six minute layover at Weybourne while it waits for the down train, and you don't want to over fire which might lead to blowing off while you wait so you fire with a few minutes to go and when you have the 'right away' from the guard you fire again, so the coal is burning as you approach the hill.

One of the things that the fireman must do is to be on top of his game all the time. It's not just about throwing a few shovelfuls of coal on a fire - it's full on activity for 12 hours with only a few minutes break periodically, during which time you can stuff a sandwich in your mouth while you plan the next action. 

Unfortunately, it was at this point that I dropped the ball, failing to add enough coal to take us up the hill. As we climbed, the pressure dropped and as we climbed further I didn't open the door to fix problem until we were at the top of the hill - I was worried about making it worse by opening the door. Speaking about it later during debriefing, Paul said that since it's already sucking cold air through the holes you are not going to make it any worse, so just fix the problem as quickly as possible. 

He wasn't happy on the way up at all and was really quite exasperated when he was telling me that I must be more proactive in attacking problems like this. I take this criticism on the chin - I signed on to learn how to be a Fireman and I don't have time for people to let me believe I have done the right thing when I haven't!

One of the main indicators you have is what's coming out of the chimney - and where it is coming from. Essentially, if the smoke has gone it's time to fire again but this has to be married to the fact that you don't want to arrive somewhere for a twenty minute stop with a raging fire.

The fourth down trip is all about preparing the engine for disposal, so you must ensure the boiler is full and that you have enough fire to get back to Weybourne and stable the locomotive. I don't usually have much of a problem with this, but today I had really lost the plot and was concentrating on keeping the pressure up at 150 psi and failing to realise that I was building too big a store of energy in the fire that I couldn't get rid of - because I had already filled the boiler and didn't need the steam. Running around the last train she blew off in the headshunt and deafened everyone - the damper was already shut, the boiler was full so I couldn't add cold water to get it under control, and indeed it was so full that it was blowing off water. The loco was blowing off from the Sheringham East headshunt to Dead Man's Hill, probably about a mile, and only recovered because Paul was running in full forward gear to use as much steam as possible. 

Anyway, we managed to arrive back on shed for disposal full of water with the fire in reasonable shape. Paul worked fire with the slice and showed me how to break up clinker that I'd caused by overlaying new coal on top of partially burnt coal. He was pretty frank at the debrief, telling me how I'd taken my eye off the ball and that he'd no idea what I'd done at Sheringham. He said that as it's a small loco with a small boiler and a small firebox; it's much more challenging than a big one - no room to make mistakes.

So, did I get what I expected out of the day? I went in hoping to get 4 trips and to do everything, and for Paul to pass his test. I did achieve that and more - Inspector Mike behaved as if he wasn't there and Paul passed his test. At the beginning of the day, Inspector Mike suggested that he would sign off a Full Day on the Shovel (part of my firing test assessment) if things went well. They didn't, and he didn't sign anything off, and that is OK. A full day on the shovel is a great way to find out what being a fireman is all about, and it showed me that being one of two people on the footplate is a lot more fun than just assisting the fireman or maybe firing two trips - and that physically it is perfectly within my capability. I'm definitely getting stronger each time I do this. It teaches you that to do everything, you need to make the jobs fit together - put a round on before you go between to unhook, for example, so the coal is coming around when you are back on the footplate, and in hot weather drinking water is an essential activity - tea is not enough.

And a slightly dodgy turn has reminded me that blogging is highly cathartic!

Turn 50 - Cleaning the 4MT and cutting some felt

 Turn 50 came almost two years after I joined the railway in May 2019, which considering the fact that I was working three days a week until June 2020 and the service, like everything else in the world, was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not bad going as far as turns-per-month is concerned.

This week, we were to use the BR Standard 4MT 76084, and I was on a cleaning turn with two new faces - old hands who had not been on the railway for two years. They were to be joined by Inspector Nick for a 'return to service' assessment.

I started with an inspection of the firebox and a clean of the smokebox; Fireman Owen cleaned the firebox with irons, and I laid the fire and lit up.

The 4MT has a narrow box, which is long, but not as long as the B12 - it's much easier to fire, and there is less distance between the firehole and the tender coaling plate.

With the fire underway, I turned my attention to the paintwork until it was time to push back:

The boiler had been showing high 'dissolved solids' since she was close to a scheduled water change. Fitter Bob decided to blow down two glasses. I ashed out between blowdowns, and found the rear damper would neither close completely nor open - it appeared to be distorted, which goes to show that cleaning is really an important inspection function. Discussion revealed that Fitter Bob was aware of this and since the damper was maybe 1" open, it was pronounced fit for service.

Before I forget, Fireman Owen gave me a good tip here - when using the injectors before going off-shed, it's a good idea to test the ashpan sprinkler, the tender sprinkler and the slacker pipe.

She went off shed on-time and I busied myself with chopping rags and preparing a barrow of wood for the next day until she returned with my breakfast. The sun was out, and we ate on the picnic tables on Platform 1 with a cup of coffee.

The rest of the shift was spent replacing the felt oilers on the WD's piston rods. These sit in a gunmetal casting on the back of each cylinder and serve to lubricate the piston rod as it travels in and out - the oil is pumped in at the top and soaks the felt, wicking the oil all around the piston rod and preventing any debris from entering the gland behind the cylinder.

The gland is contained in that hexagonal iron casting - the felt is in the brass casting behind it. 

In the store, Fitter Bob slices off a strip of the felt - it's 1 1/2" thick:

After cleaning and measuring the channels that carry the felt, we slice it into smaller pieces:

Each piece goes into an oil bath while we cut the next one, and when it is soaked we bend it into shape and push it into the channels in the casting:

When it is in, we put it back in place around the piston rod temporarily, to make sure the felt fits properly. Next, we cut the ends off:

We leave these a bit proud, so when the two halves are bolted up the felts seals all around the rods:

Easy!

That's more or less it for the day, apart from a bit of paperwork. Next turn is on the footplate again, with Inspector Mike and Fireman Paul - who will be taking his driving test. With a bit of luck I will be firing all day - I wonder which loco we will be allocated... Fireman Paul is an excellent teacher, but won't appreciate an inexperienced pupil when he is under assessment himself. 

His last words to me? Don't f&%% it up!