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!
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