Turn 60 - Third Man on the 9F

Fireman Steve and I have been doing Wednesday turns together for a few weeks, and here we are again. I'm usually ready to get to work when I arrive while Steve, who travels much further changes into his overalls at Weybourne - so I am usually on the loco first.

Today we have the 9F again, with it's injectors repaired - though Passed-Fireman Paul who is on shed today tells me the #1 injector, the exhaust injectors, works on live steam only.

I take a shovel, broom and a torch to the smokebox:

The grate is in a proper state. There's a lot of ash, pushed to the back, and the pan looks pretty full; the footplate is also very untidy. Leave it as you would wish to find it! Fireman Steve tidies it up while I do the smokebox and when I am done, we shake the fire using the rocking grate, but there is too much piled up at the front so I go in and brush it out - unfortunately forgetting to put my hat on...

Fireman Steve goes in the tender to pull some coal forward while I lay the fire - nice and thin, all over the grate with some holes showing. We don't want to choke it.

I light her up, and there's not too much smoke - we have 30 psi left from yesterday so we can get the blower on straight away. Driver James arrives and I climb onto the high running boards to clean the paint - though I am going to leave the landward side in 'Barry Island' condition, as the paint is so poor now.

We get onto the pit just after 07:30, having got as much water in as we can - the tank is about 1000 gallons from full, so we will top up at Sheringham on the second trip.

By 08:30 we are coaled, blown down and are ready to go. I mind the loco while the others go and get changed. I meet them in the platform later, when I have got into clean overalls; I realise that I cannot get my fingers through my hair which is full of soot. This is what comes of going in the firebox (and under the loco) without a hat.

Talking of being under the loco, Driver James asks Fireman Steve to put 30 turns on the axle box lubricator handle before checking the axle boxes. This means they are all full, and he needs only to drain the water from each of the twelve axle boxes.

We go down to Sheringham and the day begins as normal, with me on coupling/point duty for the first two trips. I take over the fire from Steve at Weybourne on the second down trip, and Steve takes the driver's seat. I add my customary four shovelfuls to the back corners and we head down to Sheringham.

I fired for the rest of the afternoon, doing as much of the fireman's other duties as I could while James instructed Steve in the driver's seat, though James hooked on a few times. I also swapped the lamps around for Steve, and learned that the custom while running around is to keep a white lamp top middle at both ends, and then remove the lamp from the end you don't need. 

On the fourth up, I got the train up to Weybourne with a raging fire and the boiler pressure around 220 psi which was set to increase while we waited at Weybourne for the down train. Here, I struggled to get either injector to start - #1 was still prone to dropping out if you got too much steam to it. We waited there a while for the S&T team to flag us past the platform 1 up starter, which was getting a newly painted board and, in Driver James eyes, I could have done with filling in the front and sides a bit more. I'd certainly been a bit weak on the sides all day, when I wasn't concentrating on getting to them.

James took over the fire for the fourth down trip, and conspicuously filled those areas in whilst I had a rest.

We took water again in Sheringham while James readied the fire for disposal, putting far more on than I would have done. After last week, there is a lesson there.

James is always one to encourage swapping roles and today I took over the engine whilst we waited for the Class 31 to come in to Sheringham, sitting at platform 2. I drove up through the crossing, 75 psi in the valve chests and 40% cut off up to Dead Man's, then closed the regulator until the bottom, then open again up the 1 in 80. I backed it off to 15% to pass through Weybourne, stopping to drop the token and then waited for the up platform starter. We stopped beyond Bridge 300 & then it was full back gear and roll down to platform 2; going gently, and we got the signal into the yard before I had to stop. You are back on the 1 in 80 here so I just had to allow her to roll back into the headshunt using the steam brake to bring her to a stop for Fireman Steve to switch the points. A waft of steam and full forward gear took us onto the pit, where I overshot by a couple of yards and had to back up again. 

Another deposit into the experience bank!