Turn 59 - Third Man on the B12

It's another summer's day here in Sheringham and the railway is now running the red timetable, which means there are two steam hauled trains for most of the day and a four-car DMU for the last two services. 

I sign on with Paul, who is Fireman 2 for the day; I am rostered Third Man 1 and we are closely followed by Steve, who will be Fireman 1 with me on the B12. Paul has the Y14, so we will have two ex-GER locos out today.

The B12 was in service yesterday and already has 20 psi on the clock when I do the safety checks. Steve lights up, as he often does when we are on together but not before he has been in a very full, hot firebox after I have cleaned the smokebox. He's in need of a breather when he comes out so I finish cleaning the fire with irons, and we lay the fire together.

I go to the shed to find a hose to fill the tender and find Wissington, who has her repaired and tested boiler back in place now, with the saddle tank on top:

I set about the front of the boiler barrel with a large bucket of oil & paraffin while Steve raises steam. Driver Matt arrives to oil up, and before long we are on the pit and I am underneath raking ash out of the pan and fitting the spark screens.

Steve fires down to Sheringham and I am on coupling, token & tea duty for the first trip. Matt has left the steam heat valve open on the rear of the loco. Folk sometimes do this to allow some manual ability to lose some pressure - you can turn the steam heating on in the cab to dump some boiler pressure to atmosphere with the steam heating disconnected. Very wasteful, and you shouldn't need to do it but it is more controllable than lifting the safety valves which are known to pop early on this locomotive.

Driver Matt has been on the railway for 27 years, not bad going considering he is only 44 years old. He's a professional train driver, so it's no surprise that he doesn't want to drive all day and Steve takes his seat for the second trip leaving me to fire. It's a lovely summer day and the schools have broken up for the holidays so there are lots of visitors:

I'm on the shovel for the rest of the day. It goes well, but the third trip is a bit light on steam - we arrive at Holt with 150 psi on the clock but less water than I would have liked. The fourth trip goes well until we are waiting at Weybourne for a signal, ready for the up - Driver Matt gets a bit bored and wants to do some firing. A few frenzied minutes and about ten shovelfuls later, most of it near the front, and the calm is shattered by both safety valves pouring the energy from 10-15lbs of coal and 10 gallons of water into the air every minute...

Not wishing to add to someone else's problem, I leave the fire alone and knowing that Driver Matt wants fly up the hill in second valve to the general amusement of us and the passengers, I sit back and enjoy the moment.

Up at Holt, there is not much left at the back and I feed it a little, building up the water level on the way down with just a little coal but, in the opposite of the events with the Y14 on Fireman Paul's driving test, I leave the fire too low and arrive on shed after the Light Engine trip up with half a glass and 120 psi. I can tell from the pained expression on Fireman Steve's face that he is uncomfortable, and not just because he has been ankle deep in the wet ash pit whose drain is blocked.

Here's the answer:

Small bits of coal that will produce instant heat! After about ten minutes, during which time Steve and Matt have been ashing out and inspecting the motion, I have 150 psi on the clock again and while I empty the now-dry ash pit, Steve fills the boiler.

Another grand day out.

Turn 58 - Third Man on the 9F

Of course, I look at the goings-on at the railway virtually every day. I'd been in the Operations Office on a Tuesday afternoon to discuss a new volunteer, and I'd seen the 9F, the B12 and the WD all out over the past few days - but I thought we would have the B12 and of course I had prepared for it.

So I was a bit surprised to find I was rostered to this old lady with Fireman Steve and Driver Fozzy:

She'd not been out for a few days so there wasn't much to learn from the loco notes, but Fitter Bob told me she had had a warming fire and indeed she had. There had also been a weld repair to the ashpan doors after a small lineside fire a few days earlier (the weather had been in the mid twenties for a while) and there were still a couple of holes:

I made the safety checks and cleaned out the smokebox. That done, Fireman Steve was clear to clean the firebox, and I went off to clean the paint up a bit until he called me on to the footplate, unable to move the rocking grate. He climbed in with my torch and I heaved about on the lever until we managed to dislodge the chunks of unburnt wood stuck in the mechanism.

Satisfied, we laid the fire - me on the driver's side, him on the fireman's side which saved a bit of time. Steve lit up and I went to work on the paint.

On the pit, I went underneath with Driver Fozzy and topped up a couple of axle boxes which were low on oil. We left the hopper ashpan, content to swab it down with the pit hose. You are supposed to leave the pans with the overnight ash in them to protect the thin metal from hot cinders, running the ashpan sprinkler during the day to keep them cool until you fully empty them during disposal.

On time, we changed and headed down to Sheringham for breakfast, Steve firing. I assumed coupling and point duties for the first run, observing Steve and Fozzy - the loco seemed to struggle to make much more than 160 psi - she blows off at 250 psi and you can run her at 200-240 quite happily. Something was wrong, and it wasn't helped by the fact that the RO had asked us to run without the dampers open on the hills, to avoid the possibility of lineside fires. It was also obvious that Steve was struggling with the injectors - 92203 has a K type exhaust injector designated #1 and a standard injector designated #2. You use both alternately, but #1 was persistently leaking water and would knock off when the driver opened the regulator or closed it.

Steve offered for me to fire the third and fourth trips, suggesting I take over in Holt on the second down trip to allow me to prepare my fire for the third up trip, which I gratefully accepted. I immediately put three shovelfulls in each back corner and the pressure started to come around - I think Steve's longer, straight cast shovel was not getting coal in the corners whereas my pressed shovel, lighter and with a more pronounced bend could get the coal in the right place.

I fired for the rest of the day, keeping up with Fozzy's demand but I could see another part of the cause of the morning's problem - the current stock of coal burns very quickly. I used the technique I'd been taught for the 9F, WD and 4MT - a deep horse shoe around the back, cover the front and let the middle go to holes to control the temperature. You have to continuously feed the horseshoe with this coal. The injectors didn't get any better and the fact that the Class 37 is out with the service train at the moment makes me think that 92203 is off sick today.

It was another great day out - lots of visitors young and old, some footplate passengers for a run round and some good questions from rail enthusiasts. I bought the loco back on shed after topping up the tank at Sheringham with a full boiler and just enough fire to keep it that way. I sat and had a rest while Driver Fozzy made his checks:

The footplate looked reasonably tidy - I had washed the floor a couple of times and brushed it down at Holt:

All in all, an excellent day. Two and a half trips fired and no cock-ups in front of a Steam Inspector and senior driver. I think I made the right call in applying for my test.

Turn 57 - Third Man on the WD

An unusual sight met us in the running shed this Wednesday - a DMU, separated from it's brother unit.

I'm not sure what this is or why it's there! I don't know much about these things. I'm rostered on this old thing today, the 1943 ex-WD Austerity 2-10-0, just like last week!

Cleaners Cameron and Robert are also with us today, and Cameron takes the smokebox while I go to find Fitter Bob to tell him about the brick arch, which is falling apart. We decide to leave it for the day as it can't do any harm and I get it lit up, with a lot of wood and rags over a thin bed of coal. It goes reasonably well and I have the gauge off the stop by 07:00; We are ashed out and filled with coal by 08:40, having done two blow downs. I've not relinquished the shovel yet.

The fire is going well, and she is still making plenty of steam while Fitter Bob operates the blowdown valve but actually the fire is quite thin and for two blowdowns, I ought to have built it up a bit more. Gary intervenes with a suggestion to that effect and I put another round on.

Something I wanted to test from last week was the two water isolation valves on the tender:

The driver's side injector isolation valve is impossible to get to when the driver is in his seat. if we leave it fully on, we can easily isolate the injector on the tender valve - the right hand one in the picture. This works fine and I will do that every time, as Simon's party trick on the WD.

Fireman Gary asks if I would like to do the first trip, which is often tricky as the engine is cold - I fire the second trip as well. Gary is a training to be a Passed Fireman, and he takes the driver's seat for the third trip, and I'm still on the shovel while Driver Josh leaves me to it - until Gary leaves the driver's seat passing over bridge 300 just out of Weybourne, claiming to feel ill.

This is my opportunity! They've conspired together to let me get 'driver incapacitated' signed off on my training schedule, and I take the driver's seat on the 1 in 80 hill up to Wind Pump Crossing, so I heave the regulator open to get the five coach train moving at a decent pace up the hill, backing off the reverser to 40% as we reach line speed. 

Now we are steadily approaching the top of the hill, not too quickly, not too slowly and as we approach the crossing the walkers get a long blast on the whistle to warn them of our presence. I shut the regulator as we go over the top, opening it again as we approach Aviaries Curve. 

Now it's 1 in 104 as we go up to Bridge 299, and then 1 in 451 as we see Holt Station in the distance. I set the reverser to 20% as we need very little torque from this enormous engine on such a shallow hill.

We have to think about braking and this is the new bit for me, handling the vacuum-braked train. The coaches all have quick-dump valves on their brake cylinders which means that when the vacuum falls to 15" of mercury the valves will open and full braking force will be applied to each coach, individually, and it will be uncomfortable for the passengers and difficult for me to retrieve. When we get to the outer up home signal I pull the brake handle down to show 15" on the vacuum gauge to slow the train, release it, apply it again until we are at walking pace as we approach Platform 1 - I close the regulator.

Later, I talked to another driver about the vacuum levels. He said that on other locos (we were on the 9F at the time), you can use 15-18" to slow the train, and 12-15" to slow it ready to stop.

This is the balancing act - sufficient braking force to stop the train where you want it, but not so much as it stops short. I feel that is going to stop short so I give the valve chests a bit more steam from the regulator and quickly close it again, and we get a little more speed.

Where do I stop? Fireman Gary says to stop by the Platform 2 station name board, so I bring the vacuum brake lever down until the train draws to a halt. Actually, there is a white paving slab on the ground which serves as the marker, so we have overshot a bit but it's close enough for a first go. I check the regulator is closed, put the reverser in mid-gear and apply the locomotive steam brake. I go between to unhook. Fireman Gary, who has miraculously recovered from his feigned heart attack, takes the driver's seat again to run us around.

Gary's happy driving, so I continue with what turns into my second full day on the shovel.

Sitting watching me on the third trip, Driver Josh pulls me up - he says when I approach Holt, I've just worked the engine up the hill and I use the remaining steam, with little addition, to get to the station where I rebuild the fire, letting the boiler pressure drop. Conversely when I approach Sheringham I am conscious of rebuilding for the next up trip and tend to keep the pressure much higher, putting myself under pressure to control the boiler pressure to avoid blowing off - which I do. His point is that with such a big engine I could be a bit more relaxed at Sheringham and let it go down to 180 psi or so.

My fourth trip causes much amusement. In Sheringham I raked a load of coal forward and then set the tender sprinkler on while I washed the floor; later, we are going down Dead Man's when we all get wet feet - it looks like I left the sprinkler on too long as the tender floor is now awash...

Back in the yard, I clean the fire - but drop the fireman's side in the pan. This is a no-no - the black book tells you not to drop the fire until you are over the pit and the have the hopper doors open, so the hot embers don't sit in the pan and damage it...

Not something you want to do in front of an inspector. Anyhow, it's been an excellent day - we have had a good time together and I've done another full day on the shovel, and driven a train full of people for the first time. After last week, I have applied for my firing test and hope to get it before Christmas - I have my 1-2-1 verbal assessment at the end of the month, so I had better get the books out!

Turn 56 - Third Man on the WD

Another Wednesday, and another Third Man turn on a yellow timetable - this time on the WD.

Having cleaned the smokebox, which had very little ash in it, I cleaned grate with fire irons which is easy on this loco as it has a rocking grate. I laid a very thin fire all over the grate, with lots of gaps remembering the black clouds emanating from the fire hole the last time I lit this up. This time, there was very little smoke; it lit up well with no further attention until we had 20 psi on the gauge and we could start the blower.

I left the fire with Fireman Harry and went off to show new Cleaner Jacob how to clean the paint with oil & paraffin, followed by a guided tour of the dampers and ash pan, via the pit hose.

We were off shed on time, and I spent the first round trip and the second up trip coupling and exchanging the token for Fireman Harry. Harry kindly handed over the shovel at Holt so that I could build a fire for the third trip, and I started my firing day on the down journey of second trip.

After the Standard 4MT experience last week, I fired the WD using a deep back end, covering the sides and front allowing middle to go to holes as required. I fired for the remainder of the day. I was pleased that for the most part I managed the water levels in the boiler successfully, and this time I had the ashpan sprinkler cracked all the time. I'm not sure I would do that again as the valve needs to be at least half open to wet the ash - perhaps I would do that on a hot day where there is a risk of fire. 

The footplate had got a bit messy in the morning, with bits of spilt coal on the floor. I used both the slacker pipe and the tender sprinkler to effectively manage this and cleared the coal up when I had spilt it. The bucket wouldn't hold more than a few inches in the bottom though - the WD moves about all over the place. Driver John said it drives like a duck!

Slacker pipe, ashpan and tender sprinkler valves

The only failing for the day was on the fourth trip. I'd worked the train up to Weybourne for a six minute layover, keeping the pressure and the water levels high but managing the pressure while we waited for the DMU to arrive and the signalman to do his thing, but on getting the 'right away' I didn't fire sufficiently - or I used coal that was too small - in preparation for Weybourne to Holt section. We romped up the hill OK but we arrived with between 160 & 180 psi in the boiler and the water low. When nearing the end of the day there is a lot of dusty coal, and you must remember that a round of dusty coal is not a round at all. It will produce heat quickly but it won't last.

I fired to disposal and arrived on the pit with the glass 3/4 full and 180 psi in the boiler, making steam slowly. I'd filled in holes and put a light round on when we left Sheringham and Driver John had brought the loco up to Weybourne quite gently. Using the bent dart I found part burnt lumps in the back but no clinker. It probably would have been better to run with the dampers open to burn this through, but aside from that it was a pretty successful day.

Bring on the next one.