Turn 72 - Cleaning the 7F

Having spent a lot of recent turns on the footplate, with one turn luckily converted from a cleaning turn thanks to fellow cleaner Nathan, I thought it was only right that I give one of my cleaning turns to new cleaner Jacob, who's not had many Third Man turns so far.

And so it was that Jacob and I turned in at 06:00 to ready S&DJR 7F '53809' for service one fine morning. Jacob took the smokebox, with a bit of help from me as the door insists on closing on you when you stand in front of it, and while he cleaned the paintwork I lit up and looked after the fireman's duties until fireman Henry arrived.

She's quite easy to light up, with her narrow box and drop grate and she steams very well.

With the crew on board, I continued the cleaning job stopping to wind up the Silvertown lubricators with about twenty turns. It's useful to prime the pipes to make sure there is oil in the cylinders from the beginning of the day and that the axle boxes are topped up. On this loco, only the pony truck is oiled by hand.

Fireman Henry asked us to shine up the running boards. We made sure to dry them off - we don't want to generate a slip hazard.

Fitter Alex was there to coal up:

And they're away - my job is done.

I spent the next few hours chopping rags, collecting rubbish from around the yard, clearing the pit, tidying up the coal heap and filling a barrow with lighting-up wood for the next day. A simple day, short and very relaxing.

I like cleaning turns once in a while.