Turn 69 - Third Man on the Y14

This Wednesday promised 60 mph winds and drizzle, just the day you want to be on an 1880's loco with an open cab. However, I was out with chums Driver Dave and Fireman Gary, which promised to be a fun day out - and added to that, Fireman Gary agreed to let me spend the full day on the shovel. He's great like that; he's been firing on the NNR for 16 years and says he enjoys teaching newbies as much as firing.

So, I prepped the loco from cold and fired the whole day - including all the watering, a lot of the hooking off & on and some of the tablet exchanges.

After clearing the ashpan, I was a bit wet and left the loco to get changed while fitter Alex ladled a bucket of coal in the tender. Earlier, I had used a rake to flatten the coal in the tender so that I could get to it and so we could get another load in.

The first couple of trips were pretty good, with Fireman Gary doing some coaching to make sure I didn't get into too much trouble but I was forgetting some basic stuff from time to time - some things which illuminate problems I cause myself. For example, I'll often find myself going up a hill and arriving at the top without enough steam, because I won't open the firehole door with the regulator open for fear of cooling the boiler. Whilst this is a good principle it needs clarification - don't open the firehole when regulator is open in full gear - wait until driver has notched up. This way, the draw on the fire is less and you will cool the boiler less. Essentially, if you are firing out of a station wait until the loco is at the section starter by which time the driver will have notched up, you will have seen the train out of the station and you will be sure the signals are not against you. Oh - and you will have seen the train safely across the AOCL at the Golf Club.

When you are on your own, you must prepare for leaving the loco. If you are taking on water for example, perform all the steps you need to ensure the loco does not blow off, or the fire die.

Make life easier - when you are approaching a station, I often have the injectors on. Don't turn them off before you get in only to turn them on again when you realise you do need them - leave them on until the loco has stopped and you are sure of the water level, and concentrate on what you should be doing which is seeing the train safely into the station. On the Y14, the injectors are different - the drivers side injector is bigger than the fireman's side injector, so you will not overfill your boiler if you leave the small one on for another 45 seconds while you approach the platform.

As others have said, you should fire to the needs of the boiler and ultimately the needs of the driver. On other locos I often make use of the dampers to control primary air and the heat from the fire - fireman Gary's approach is slightly different. He leaves the damper open one notch all the time, to be used as a last resort to bring the temperature down if you need it. He doesn't shut dampers on the run, so this 'insurance policy' can get you out of trouble.

I need to make sure I keep my eye on the chimney. Usually, I fire and then leave the door ajar knowing that I will need secondary air eventually - another way is to fire, shut the door, and open it when you have black smoke. That approach, useful on a small engine I guess, avoids cold air going in when you don't need it - you open the door when the new coal is hot enough to need the extra air.

On my third up trip, I over fired out of Sheringham and blew off over Dead Man's. I recovered quickly with second feed, but it's a good idea to count your shovelfuls - on the fourth trip, I had it sitting at 155 whilst going up the bank in second valve, and it was perfect though I had actually put on about four shovelfuls too much according to Driver Dave, who has been working this loco for 16 years...

So that was a good end to the day. We worked it gently back down and arrived at Sheringham, with the boiler full and a level fire, which I built up a bit more for the run around and the Light Engine trip back so it was sitting at 150 psi or so as we prepared to leave the head shunt. Driver Dave left his seat, motioning me into it to drive the trip back. I'd not driven the Y14 before, and was delighted to use the steam I had made with a spirited run up the hill. We were signalled wrong road into platform 2 at Holt and I managed to stop by the box, where we dropped the token, before reversing back to the headshunt and onto the pit. 

I managed to make the loco safe to leave but forgot one thing:

Cylinder Cock Lever

A grand day out with some good mates. I love this railway.