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.
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