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.