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:
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.
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