Turn 77 - Third Man on the 9F

 This turn is my last NLE for the 2021 season - next week it's a Santa, followed by two Mince Pies

Fireman Alan had cleaned the smokebox and laid the fire - all I had to do was fetch some rags and paraffin and light it. I spent a happy couple of hours cleaning the cab while raising steam, and fending off friendly banter from Driver Paul. Cleaner Jacob, meanwhile, was pulling coal forward and filling the tender.

Next stop, the ash pit and Jacob and I are treated to a lesson in draining and topping up the 9Fs many axleboxes from Driver Paul. Fireman Alan is topsides, preparing for blowdown. 

Driver Paul breaks from the usual routine and we ash out; he moves the loco back for coaling and we clear the pit ready for the loco to come back for blowdown. While Fireman Alan recovers from losing all that water, I head off to get changed and collect the token to let us out of the yard.

Re-joining the loco in platform 2, we set off up the line to switch on the generators, and this week remembered to switch the lamps on the front and rear when we changed direction - last week we had an impromptu stop part way down having forgotten - fortunately there was no-one to see us.

Down in Sheringham, we took on water before tying on to the train and stopped to order our dinner. Unfortunately, with 240 visitors, we had to wait - we should have ordered it much earlier. No matter, we all had sandwiches with us and plenty of tea, so it was the usual routine of chatting to passengers and building the fire. We agreed that Alan would fire the up trips and I would fire the down trips.

And so it was, and I learned something new: Fireman Alan likes to play chicken with the safety valves, and so we spent the trip up with a big wedge on the grate and the needle near the red line - no shortage of steam here. My first down was a bit lighter, around 200 using the dampers to keep the pressure up, but I laid it on a bit thicker after dinner on my second down, around 220. No blow-offs, but it was a bit close on run around at Otterndorf Green (where you are not allowed to use the injectors) - I had the dampers tight shut, the door open and the blower almost closed to keep it under control.

As usual, the last bit of the day was to head up to Aviaries to switch off the generators. It's at this point I wish I was a bit taller - climbing off a loco onto the sloping ballast is tricky for someone with short legs! We were signed off by 10:30, and a good time was had by all. The evening was pretty warm, cloudless and heading toward a full moon which produced some great views of the landscape and stars, with plumes of steam from the loco as we charged up the hill. 

Magic.