Turn 127 - Firing the 4MT: Norfolk Lights Express

 Here it is - the last turn of the season. It's the Wednesday before New Year and the railway is running Mince Pie Specials during the day and Norfolk Lights Express trains in the evening; after the Christmas festivities are over, Driver Christian, Third Man Henry and I sign on at 15:30 to relieve the Mince Pie crew on their third down trip.

The yard is choc-a-bloc with Horace the Crane, the B12 chassis on the exit road, Ring Haw's boiler and the B12 boiler, whose tubes are all out.

All we need to do is collect our lamps and jump on the loco when it comes down. Henry has not fired to dispose before, so to give him that experience we agree that I will fire down to Sheringham and first trip, and then he will take over for the second trip and the Light Engine trip. We have a chat about preparing for disposal, so that he can get ready.

There's half a glass and a cool fire when we get on, so I set about firing and getting it warmed up again to get some water in for the 1 in 100 up Dead Man's, but it's obvious the grate is clinkered.

We run around and take water in Sheringham before setting about the grate with the irons. It's no surprise that the fire is completely clogged with great dinner plates of clinker which are cold and black on the bottom. Fortunately we have plenty of time to rectify the situation and by the time we are off she is steaming well again and we sail up to Holt having a jolly time. 

We seemed to have a lot of visitors at both ends of the trip, with passengers on the footplate at Holt and at Sheringham whilst poor Henry was trying to prepare for the second trip.

Back in Sheringham again and after hooking off we took our photo-call, but by now it was getting late and we didn't have many footplate visitors. I piled into the tender, intent on helping Henry get ready to fire the Light Engine trip and making sure he had enough coal to prepare well for disposal. Christian offered me the driving seat which of course I relished, and I tried to take heed of his suggestion from last time that I should take it easy with the regulator.

He didn't say anything through the whole trip - I hope it was OK!

Henry was well prepared for disposal and we arrive with 200 on the clock, with the fire hot and the boiler well up. There was still a lot of clinker on the grate which he dealt with with the irons:

There was loads of ash. The ashpan sprinkler was put to good use, and I stayed behind on the pit to shovel it out:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that for 2022, my third year on the railway. The plan for 2023 is to crack as many turns in as possible, to bring my total firing turns up to 60 and to consolidate experience. No other aims, though it would be nice to achieve full Fireman at some point - I have to complete two more cleaning turns and do an assessment, but that's all.

Happy New Year!

Turn 126 - Firing the WD: Santa Special

Well, this is a new one - almost a full 12 hours, the Santa B turn. It’s three round trips, signing on at 07:15 and off at 19:05; the B train finishes in Sheringham platform 2 and starts in platform 1, so there is a shunt every trip - not much time if you are watering as well. There’s a 40 minute break in Weybourne on the way down, where you can chill for a bit - or clean the fire if you’ve got some ovoids in the mix.

Third Man Brad had turned in at 05:30 and lit up - since he would have to leave before the end of the turn (he’d run out of hours before Driver Nick and myself) we agreed he would fire the first trip.

Leaving Brad on the footplate, Nick and I oiled up & performed the drivers inspection. Nick took care of the areas above the running plate while I oiled the valve gear and coupling rods, the pony truck and various other points. On the pit, I checked all the axle boxes, draining the water and checking the oil levels as I went along.

Part of the oiling up process is to eyeball every nut, split pin, taper pin, spring and everything else for absence or damage - I didn’t find anything apart from a wobbling oil pipe.

Brad fired the first round trip to Weybourne, which set the scene for the day - we were held on the down home at Weybourne waiting for the ‘A’ train to clear the station and we took the opportunity to rake the first signs of clinker out of the back. We’d been warned by CME Keith that clinker had delayed their disposal considerably the day before, and with plenty of personal experience of that I wasn’t going to let that happen to me.

There always seems to be delays around Santa Special workings and this turn was no different - you just have to keep the fire hot, leave some space in the boiler and be ready to turn the wick up when the whistle blows - easy on the WD. Not only were we delayed getting in to Weybourne, but getting out as well.

I fired the 2nd and 3rd which were pretty uneventful, and the buffet crew brought us two mince pies each which kept my fire going for a bit.

We lit the lamps towards the end of the second trip and got the Bardics out, and it was fully dark for the 3rd. We said goodbye to Third Man Brad at Weybourne and when all the passengers were back on board we headed down to Sheringham to get ready for disposal.

I cleaned fire after every trip - the irons were pretty hot when they came out:

Down in Sheringham we needed to shunt the set from platform 2 to platform 3, so I had a bit of time to sort some coal from the dust and get the fire hot enough for disposal. I had the boiler well up before we left and arrived with it very high, but the regulator on the WD leaks a bit and uses a surprising amount of water.

I was pleased to find it still high once we had reached the level pit, and when I had cleaned the fire for the last time I still had 180 on the gauge. A good disposal.

And that was that, home by 8. The next turn will be the last for 2022, a Norfolk Lights Express next week. All that remains is to wish my readers a Merry Christmas!

Turn 125 - Firing the 4MT: Norfolk Lights Express

 Another day, another NLE turn, this time starting from cold - there was no lunch train or Santa so Third Man Lewis arrived at 12:00 to light up, followed by me half an hour later. Lewis already had the fire going, so all I had to do was put the hose in the tender first checking to see it wasn't frozen solid, and fill up the guage lamp with paraffin. We set about the cab with rags, polishing the brass with Peek, nattering, comparing shovels and debating how much coal to take as we brough the boiler up to pressure to prepare for the two glasses blow down requested by Fitter Alan.

Having run out of coal once this year and suffering the associated heckling (probably for years to come), I wasn't too keen on 'winging it' with what we had in the tender, however tidy Lewis had made it: 

In the end, we had that plus two more bucketloads which I trimmed forward to minimise our raking later. This may have been a bit of a mistake it continuously ran onto the cab floor whenever the shovel got close to the coaling plate...

We decided to take it in turns firing and as I wanted to prove to myself, after last week's debacle, that I could properly prepare the loco for disposal Lewis took the first trip and I headed off to the ground frame. There's a loco behind that cloud:

We trundled off up the line as dusk fell, flushing three red deer out of the undergrowth on the heath. I switched on the first three generators, and was abandoned at the third while Driver Christian went off back up the line to investigate a bang he had heard while coming down over Wind Pump.

Unfortunately, that trip yielded a bit of track damage - we took some pictures and sent them to the RO, and carried on down the line to start up the other generators.

Beyond Weybourne, we entered the microcosm enclosing Sheringham and it's peculiar weather system, and the sleet came down. The fourth generator was surrounded by a stinging 25 mph wind and driving sleet, the fifth wasn't much better but was a bit more enclosed in the trees. Lewis did the last one - perhaps he was worried about the hexagenarian fireman getting cold.

Down in Sheringham we filled up with water, hooked on and started the steam heating. I took over the fire and fed it a bit so we could get it warming up while we had tea and ordered our dinner. 

It was ready by 16:50, a bit early really, but I kept the lid on it for another ten minutes without any blowing off but it wasn’t long before the crunch came - Driver Christian appeared with a second round of coffees and the news that the evening service had been cancelled.

So that was a short day.

By this time we were a bit famished; fortunately the lovely buffet crew wanted to make sure we were fed before we went, so we tucked in to our pizza, pastie and chips before heading up the line to turn the generators off.

With Lewis driving, we went up to switch off the bottom four generators since we couldn’t get to the top two and by the time we were done I had the boiler really full and the fire blazing; the boiler was still well in the top quarter when we were on the level pit for disposal. There was a lot of ash and a fair bit of clinker - it wasn’t steaming so freely on the way up; I’m going to have to work out how to deal with that. Last time I ran any length of time on ovoids I cleaned the fire every other trip.

As I write this, whilst the NLE service was wiped out for an evening the lunch service ran today (perhaps only to Weybourne) and I’ve just heard the problem has been fixed - good thing, because Passed Cleaner Lewis has his PC-Fireman assessment tomorrow.

My next turn is a Santa B on the 22nd - a very long turn with Driver Nick and Third Man Brad.

Turn 124 - Firing the 4MT: Santa Special

An early start for a change, with frozen sludge in the yard and the promise of slippery conditions everywhere, I arrived on shed to find Third Man Brad lighting up the 4MT for the Santa 'A' service, which is three round trips with relief at Weybourne on the third down by the NLE crew.

The day stared pretty smoothly, with Brad and I sharing the fireman's duties. The 4MT's regulator is passing a bit at the moment, and with the cylinder drain cocks open the position of the engine filled the shed with steam:

On the pit, I ashed out after Driver Chris had finished his inspection. The rear hopper door wasn't closing too well:

I cleared the pit while Fitter Bob coaled the engine, and we went forward to blow down while I trimmed the coal. It was a bit foggy...

We were off shed in good time, and ran down to Sheringham with Brad firing - we planned to swap at Weybourne on the down, so he'd get two firing trips and I would get one; I was quietly hoping I would get to drive the last trip. Arrival in Sheringham was a bit surprising, with the home signal set clear and the road set for platform 2 - unbeknownst to me, Driver Chris had arranged for us to go on the water crane when we arrived.

We had the usual hour to warm up the train and have our breakfast, watching the fog ebb and flow: it would need to be a lamp departure - there was no chance of seeing flags - so the loco lamps were lit and the Bardic came out.

When the time came, we were going nowhere. The cold weather had frozen the points at the end of the loop and the signalman could not pull off the section starter; we waited so long to get it fixed we ran out of time to get to Holt and had to run directly to Weybourne - and even then we were flagged over the crossing (which won't initiate if the section starter is not clear) and through the signal at danger.

On the way down, while waiting at Weybourne we learned the tablet machines for the Weybourne-Sheringham section were having problems, so in accordance with the rules we resorted to Pilotman working - Third Man Brad spent the next couple of hours as Pilotman, while I fired the next trip.

Of course by the time we had got down it was time to come up again, so after filling with water I hastily built the fire for the up trip. By the time we left I hadn't recovered enough and I was adding a lot of coal on the way up, but by the time we reached Weybourne I had a blazing fire that for some reason wasn't creating steam pressure as fast as it should. Driver Christian had a look and immediately spotted I didn't have enough in the back corners. If you don't keep the back corners well covered, the cold air goes straight into the tubes and cools the boiler. It's really important on this loco.

Back down in Weybourne I had some time to spare and went through the back with the irons - we had a mixture of coal and ovoids, and there was a lot of ash. I moved the grate on the rocking lever to shake some more through and it really woke up.

Pilotman Brad appeared on the B loco, 92203 Black Prince, and he fired down to Weybourne and back up while I drove, a bit quickly but at least my braking is improving. Running around though it was clear the loco wasn't happy with a groaning coming from the drivers side. This proved to be a loose lubricator connection to the forward piston valve. Tightening the union followed by several manual turns on the lubricator had the groaning gone and the loco sounding well again.

Next one is another NLE in a few days time.

Turn 123 - Firing the 4MT: Norfolk Lights Express

 This had all the promise of a good turn - an easy start with no prep, recent experience of the loco, and decent weather. It wasn't exactly a fine day, but there was no rain forecast and it wasn't predicted to be too cold as Driver Keith and I waited for the BR Standard 4MT to come up from Sheringham.

Relieving the lunch train crew we had a tender full of water and about half-full of bituminous coal - a promising start. The boiler was half full, with the fire just going over so I filled in the back and sides to go up with RO Josh to start the generators.

As the sun set, not that we could see it, we started all the generators between myself, Josh & Keith - fortunately, unlike the last time, all the light displays were working and we were on time as we drew into Sheringham to tie on to our train.

This bituminous coal lights up very easily, and provides some heat pretty quickly but it burns through equally quickly. Since I'd started the steam carriage warming system I'd expected to have to look after the fire & boiler water level through the hour we had to wait until our departure time of 17:00.

I'd made my mind up to try and get my usual over-firing under better control and as I built the fire in the last 15 minutes before the 'right away' Driver Keith warned my to leave myself some water space.

I tried to keep that water space all night, and to fire a bit lighter but in the event I went up on the first trip with the back end too light, and by the time I got to Dead Man's I decided to fill the back up to ensure I could use the injectors when I needed them.

We got up and back perfectly OK and the second trip was OK all the way. Starting out from Holt, we couldn't raise vacuum beyond 13" - I hastily checked the vacuum bag couplings I had made up when I hooked on, to no avail. A walk down the train revealed the answer though - one of the Pas-Com valves on the third coach was half open and audibly passing air. Closing that fixed the problem immediately.

We ran around again at Sheringham pretty quickly, took on water and headed up on a cooling fire to switch off the generators: this was where the evening started to go astray. I hadn't pulled enough good coal forward - the bottom of the tender was mostly dust and I was struggling to make heat. I had the boiler full on the way down, but it was still too cold and I forgot to account for the level pit, so when we arrived I had half a glass and the fire was way too low with 160 on the gauge.

Schoolboy error. How many times have I said that you can always get rid of a big fire on disposal but it's an uphill struggle to warm a cool one?

So, that was the first time I had made up a fire on disposal. Fortunately the 4MT will come around pretty quickly but it's still not so good to cock up when we wanted to go home. Another lesson learned the hard way!

Turn 122 - Firing the 4MT: Norfolk Lights Express

Another NLE turn, and another jolly evening out with Driver Christian on the BR Standard 4MT. Today there has been two Santa service trains, and we are relieving the crew - Paul, Richard and Tom - of the ‘A’ service at Weybourne on their last down trip. The loco is in fine shape, with a full tender & boiler and a hot fire - and best of all, a load of proper coal. All we have to do is get our lamps on board and keep the fire hot for half an hour until it is time to go down to Sheringham.

Of course, this is the winter season and there are delays - this time waiting for all the children and Mums, Dads and Grandparents to get back on the train after their visit to Santa’s grotto. We are about ten minutes late but we are rolling down hill and there’s little for me to do beside keep the fire hot and the boiler full - the steam heat is on and as usual it’s surprising how much water it uses. Surprising? Didn’t it do the same thing last week, last month, last year?! 

Down in Sheringham, we run around and hook back on to our train which will become the first Norfolk Lights Express service when the last Santa service comes in at 17:27, hauled by the 9F. I set about building my fire while Driver Christian sorts out the lamps, gets his briefing from Guard Phil and orders our dinner.

The appointed hour comes and there is no sign of the 9F - just a visit from the RO; the 9F is held up at Weybourne and will be at least 10 minutes. Time to shut the dampers, turn down the blower and open the door, in an attempt to calm the fire and avoid blowing off. I’ve left enough water space and the dampers are pretty effective and by the time the 9F arrives I have to build the fire up again, but it’s still very hot and goes easily.

There’s no time pressure for the fireman on these NLE services - there are so many slow sections that there is plenty of time to fire and add water just how you want to - and you need to make sure you have plenty of water as some of the slow sections are downhill.

As a consequence of our tardy departure from Sheringham, there is little time to entertain visitors at Holt and we are soon back down again to collect our dinner. This time, we take on water and settle back onto the train to eat pizza and chips, washed down with tea.

After a good first trip with the water in top quarter all the way and pressure over 200 the second down trip was a bit lighter after another very quick turn around at Holt where I let it drop down to 180 whilst I dragged more coal from the back of the tender. Boiler pressure was well recovered by the time we got to Weybourne, but generally I need to fire a bit lighter next time, and keep water a bit lower. The loco has not been on the road for long since washout - if there had been much more sludge in the boiler, the high water levels I was maintaining would probably have had it priming. 

Back in Sheringham we hooked off and ran around, stopping for the usual 5 minute photo-call under the footbridge before taking water. In another railway first for me, I drove the light engine trip up to switch off the generators. My first drive in the dark.

Next - another NLE in a few days time.

Turn 121 - Firing the 4MT: Norfolk Lights Express

After a four week break, filled with building work, it's a pleasure to return to the railway for the beginning of the Norfolk Lights Express service. There's been a lunch train, so there's no prep for Driver Graeme and myself - we just show up and relieve the early crew at 15:00.

After a bit of a briefing from RO Peter on the positions of the lineside displays, we head off to start the generators. This year there are six - three between Weybourne & Holt, and three between Weybourne and Sheringham and we set off light engine up the line to get them going. On the way down, Peter & Graeme wrestled a recalcitrant boggit back onto his mushroom:

 There was pasties & chips waiting in Sheringham, which I demolished on the first trip up, between feeding the fire. Feeling very relaxed & enjoying myself, I built a nice big wedge shaped fire concentrating on keeping it the pressure and water levels up - we had steam heat on and RO Peter had warned that the display on the 1 in 100 down the Dead Man's cutting would have the water low, and for a while - we would be going down there at walking pace and not at the usual 25 mph, so a shortage of water would endanger the firebox crown sheet. I wasn't going to terminate my railway career with a melted fusible plug.

It turned out to be the perfect turn, over 200 psi at all times with a full glass. The coal was dusty and made a lot of ash but there was absolutely no clinker when I cleaned the fire later.

The gauge lamp didn't even blow out!

Turn 120 - Firing the 9F, Second Man on the 31

The sun was still hidden deeply under the horizon as I made my way to shed on Wednesday. Expecting to have an easy day firing the 4MT, a little foray onto the NNR Volunteers Facebook page revealed that the 9F would be out for a week to test the newly repaired No. 1 injector. I didn't hang about as I guessed she might not be too warm...

In the event, prep was very easy, as it is with the BR Standard locos with their rocking grates and hopper ashpans. The smokebox was spotless, having received the attentions of the NNR Youth Development Club at the weekend, and the spark screen was clean too - I made sure to check it, after waiting for hours for her to wake up several weeks ago when the screen was sooted up. Learned that lesson!

I lit up under the arch and then when that fire was going I built it out and back with more wood and small coal, feeding the fire with small coal and with the scoop out until I could get the blower working. 

She was getting through the coal very quickly, but I wanted to make sure she was good and hot for the first trip up. I dropped the pan on the pit as it was pretty full - I guess she had had a lot of yard testing as the tender tank had been a long way down as well.

Whilst I had her up to the red line when we were on the pit, with a hot fire, after our run down to Sheringham, hooking on, collecting the tea and having a bit of breakfast she was very thin again so I set about building a big fire; in fact, I was feeding her on the down trips much as I would on an up trip, it was burning so quickly. 

As we were testing the exhaust injector, Duty Fitter Alex came out with us for the first trip, and it was very handy for me to have him along as he performed the 'Third Man' duties as I worked the fire. We got up to Holt OK, but the run up Kelling took it out of her and I was down to 160 psi by the time we got to the top. Thin in the middle.

The No. 1 exhaust injector had been OK - Chief Engineer Keith asked us to favour it, and for the first part of the trip it started well enough, though by the end of the first trip Alex and I had spent a lot of time hanging out of the window, watching the overflow and fiddling with the steam and water valves. Here's another of Mick Ladner's pictures: 

I was very glad Alex was there to witness it playing up - it would be up to him and Driver Andrew to fail the loco as we couldn't carry on with an unreliable injector - you are obliged to have two independent means of putting water in the boiler, and if injector No. 2 had failed we would have been in a risky situation.

Sitting under the bridge at Weybourne we decided enough was enough and called the RO. We would head up to Holt, come back down to Weybourne and the Class 31 would relieve us there.

Back in Weybourne I unhooked the 9F and we took her into the yard; I transferred my kit to the 31 and while Alex and Andrew put the 9F on the pit for disposal Driver Peter and I hooked on to the train.

You don't have to do much as a second man - basically its the fireman's job without the boiler and fire management, so just observation, hooking on, and handling the token. And the tea of course!

A very easy afternoon - or so it seemed. Having completed the 2nd down trip to Sheringham, we heard, when we arrived in Weybourne on the 3rd up, that the 9F might be OK and that we should prepare to come off the train on the 3rd down - this would be a short day for Driver Chris who had arrived to replace Driver Peter, who had to resume his many other duties. In the event, the 9F's injector was still playing up and Chris and I finished the day on the 31.

Back in Sheringham though, Driver Chris relinquished his seat and gave me the opportunity to drive the Class 31 back to shed - which I leapt at of course, taking it into the yard and stabling it nose to nose with the Class 37.

That's another 15 minutes on my Second Man Driving Record.

The poor 9F is on the naughty step again. Will I see her when I am back on the railway in a month's time, for the first of the Norfolk Lights Express turns for 2022?

Turn 119 - Firing the Y14: Autumn Showcase

This summer's heat wave brought about the cancelation of the usual NNR Steam Gala, and the plan was to run the gala in conjunction with the October M&GNJRS Member's Day, when the risk of lineside fires had receded. In the event, no suitable visiting locos were available to add to the home fleet, so the Member's Day was extended to become the NNR 'Autumn Showcase' with the M&GNJRS owned Y14, WD and EE Class 31 supplemented by the 7F.

For me, the day promised another Grand Day Out with a full 12 hour shift firing the Y14, with the vintage set on the back - with some warm sunny weather to top it off. I signed on at 06:30, as the diagram had us booking off at 18:30 - we can't do more than 12 hours. Fitter Bob had lit up the Y14.

She'd been out the day before, so all I had to do was raise steam, get some water in the tender and clean her up a bit. 

Driver Ed and I made our way down to Sheringham, waiting in platform 1 whilst the 7F hauled the Quad-Arts out of platform 2. Our set was waiting behind them, so we had to move back over the points and into platform 2 to tie on. The great thing about the vintage set is that there's a lot of space to stand while you are hooking on, even if you have an audience from the veranda of the Wisbech & Upwell Tramcar!

We made four uneventful round trips; I was pleased to arrive at Holt on the first up with 150 psi on the clock and a full boiler. After the second trip, I had the irons in the fire breaking up clinker. I wasn't going to have a repeat performance of the last time I was out on this loco, and as suspected it was building a nice thick layer at both the front and back of the grate.

That's ovoids for you.

On the second down trip, Driver Ed requested that I aim for 1/2 to 3/4 of a glass, rather than the full glass that I normally end up with. I decided with his agreement to let the engine blow off some steam to bring the level down, and we spent the rest of the day at a lower level - it's tricky though, I found the pressure yo-yoing on the down trips as I fed it lightly to avoid having to use the injectors to control the pressure - I used the blower, the door and the damper to keep the fire under control, using the injectors only when I was sure he would use the steam. 

As is usual for a gala weekend, or call it what you will, there were lots of people about to chat and ask questions, lots of people taking pictures, and two little chaps with their Nan who asked if I remembered them when they came last time when I was Second Man on the Class 37. As it happened I did - they were both very engaging and delightfully bowled bits of coal into the firebox for me as we waited for the goods train to come up.

I cleaned the fire again on the 3rd trip, whilst waiting in Holt, and again after the fourth while waiting in Sheringham for the set to be pulled off. Both times it was worth doing, and all I had to do at disposal was break up some of the biggest lumps.

We'd arrived with a full boiler and 140 psi on the clock, which easily replaced the water lost while we cleaned the fire for the last time.

A great turn.

Turn 118 - Firing the Y14

Well, I'd been looking forward to a nice easy day out with Driver Graeme on one of the three steam locos that are in service at the moment - the 7F, the Y14 or the WD. Keeping my eyes open the day before revealed that the tool of choice was to be the Y14, so we were in for a fun day out: nothing unusual, just prep, four round trips and dispose.

First surprise was finding cleaner Jacob in the car park - it's great to have some help, as I probably wouldn't have done so much cleaning without him. He started on the smokebox while I got myself ready to light up. There was a lot of clinker in the box, so with a return to traditional methods I dived in and cleaned it out, pulling a couple of firebars and brushing it all into the pan.

Lighting up involved a lot of wood as has become the norm, and in deference to Driver Alex' comments last week I left the scoop out until I had 30 psi on the clock, which as the loco had been out the day before was pretty quickly.

It wasn't entirely smoke free, but that's mostly paraffin burning off... 

A couple of hours later, Jacob and I had got it nice and clean and the boiler pressure was coming up well.

Jacob's looking proud of his handiwork!

There was a bit of coal left in the tender after steam raising and we took most of a bucket from Fitter Alex. Later, I was to wish I had taken two - like I usually do! It was mostly ovoids, which is OK if you know what to expect.

We ate breakfast at Sheringham, from the splendid railway buffet: 

The Wednesday S&T team admired our shiny engine:

Today we were hitched to Set A, with four Mk1s and the RBR - five full size coaches in all. Until last week, when I was driving the WD with four on the back and had started thinking about stopping distances, I hadn't paid much attention to what we were hauling about the countryside. More of that later.

The day started pretty well, full boiler and a good fire starting out but a bit light on water and steam on arrival - not atypical for the first trip but had I fired it on all three hills it could have been better - a good tip for the weekend, when I have it again.

Adding coal on the way up the various hills and using the chuffs to get the new coal burning, I managed to over fire on the second trip, blowing off but I didn't have any water level problems; this trip was mostly bituminous coal, and the heat was coming around much more quickly. I cut back a bit on the third, paying more attention to my instinct, and the fire, water levels and boiler pressure were fine. I'd spoken to yesterday's crew about cleaning the fire part way through the day, and they had had the irons out twice even on a mixture of bituminous coal and ovoids. Talking about this with Driver Graeme we decided that we didn't see the need - she was steaming well. We didn't have a huge amount of coal but it was so hot that I wasn't worried.

The fourth up was fine as far as Weybourne - I mean, we had seen the rain clouds forming on the way down and we were congratulating ourselves that we would be heading into it protected by the cab, and hoping that it would pass by the time we had to come back, but the rain start to tip down. It was very wet by the time we came to leave Weybourne, and although I had built a good fire and we were full of water ready to leave we could not get past the crossover for slipping.

Having tried to get going several times, we gave up and had to come up with a new plan. With the help of Signalman Phil, we backed down into the station and had another go.

I built the fire up again, because all that slipping and full forward gear action had taken heat out of the fire and water out of the boiler - slipping causes the blast to increase dramatically. We still couldn't get past the crossover: we had the railway's smallest engine on the largest set of coaches - and wet rails.

I've been through the Y14's toolbox many times, checking flags, gauge glasses and stuff - and the lightbulb went on. Under the driver's bag, under the rags and under the canvas tarp lies a bag of sand. Leaving Driver Graeme in the cab, I walked off up the line pouring sand over my feet and over the rails, as far as the crossover. 

There weren't going to be too many more chances - people had been talking about cancelling the remains of the trip - but we had two coach parties on board and the train was full. So, with one last chance I built the fire up again, 150 psi and close to blowing off but full of water. I'd used about half a bag of sand.

We crawled gently out of Weybourne, very slowly but without slipping, and we got through the crossover and beyond the section I had sanded and we finally started  to climb the hill. 

All was not well however. The trip up the hill was taking a lot out of the boiler and the fire was not keeping up despite further investigation. As we went up, pressure quickly dropped and we were getting short of water. We stopped to recover after Aviaries curve. We were now very short of coal, we had only ovoids left and it was all soaking wet.

We arrived in Holt to a row of cheering, clapping passengers who must have been warned that we were struggling. 

We stopped and cleaned the fire. It was a mass of clinker all over the grate, with fire on top and no air getting through at all. We'd had the dampers fully open on the way up, which had no effect - this is always a sign of a problem. 

By the time I had cleaned the fire and built it up again, there was very little coal left:

Earlier in the day, we'd been asked if we would shunt the Quads and the Vintage Set from the loop to Platform 2 at Sheringham, but there was no way that was going to happen - we just didn't have the coal. If we hadn't made three attempts at the hill, we wouldn't have used so much. The RO decided to mobilise the Class 31 to relieve us of our train - so all we had to do was get back to Weybourne. 

Lessons learned? Well, I won't be going anywhere without two scoops of coal in the tender. And second? In three years I've never had to put the irons in the fire before the end of the day, but now? I think I might do it every time.

Turn 117 - Firing the 7F: Silver Driver Experience

 Well, I must admit I was a bit nervous about this one. The Silver Driver Experience is an evening service offering two round trips to two paying visitors. The idea is you have one visitor driving and one firing on the first round trip, and then you swap over for the second. It's all light engine and there is nothing else in service, so there is no hooking on or running around, and the boxes are open at Sheringham and Weybourne so your firing visitor can do the token exchanges as well.

We picked up the 7F from the day crew on their 4th down - the fire had been raked through which was a bonus but not so good was that the tender was full of ovoids.

We trundled down to Sheringham, putting a bit on the back to keep the heat going and hooked off. 

I spent the whole evening helping our two guests, John and Howard, fire the loco and very good they were too. Howard was more cautious with the regulator than John, with the result that we had a lot of heat on the second trip and a bit of blowing off. The workshop had reset the safety valves after the last washout, and they now reset within 5 psi of blowing off, which is ace. They used to need about 20 psi difference to reset.

Challenges? With four people on the footplate you can't easily see around box, and you have to rely on others to place coal. This is tricky - you end up with holes that you can't see and you have to ask your visitor to get out of the way while you fix the problem. This is a good lesson - I can remember people doing this to my fires earlier in my railway life.

The other problem of course is that footplate visitors distract from your fireman's duties - whilst coaching the visitor on the second down Driver Christian came over to my side to retrieve the token I had forgotten!

At the first stop, we took on water and asked our visitors to light the lamps. Day Driver Joe had thoughtfully left us a gauge lamp, which for once was very good until someone knocked it off.

Back in Sheringham, it was time to say goodbye to our visitors and do a bit of shunting to prepare for the morning, moving Set B from the loop into platform 2.

Driver Christian and Guard Seb handled the shunting using radios, so I had a few minutes to build a decent fire for the trip up. My boiler was already pretty full but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of heat to dispose the loco, and so it turned out. We were full on the pit, but I used the ashpan sprinkler to wet it all down while Driver Christian did his inspection. As usual, I stayed to clear the pit out while Christian stabled the loco. It builds good biceps.

So that was a highly enjoyable turn - another new experience on the railway. I'll be quite happy to do more of these and to look after Third Men - which I haven't done yet.

Next turn? Another yellow service next Wednesday with Driver Graeme.

Turn 116 - Firing the WD

Well, let's get the apologies out of the way - there aren't going to be too many pictures in this post. Excuses:

• we were very busy
• it was chucking it down 
• I was doing a lot of concentrating

Last night, I wandered up to the railway to see if the blackboard which customarily sits outside the ticket office at Sheringham could be seen from the station car park, because it would tell me what engine had been in service that day and would hint at what we would be rostered to today. It could, and it did - it showed the 7F, 53809.

So it was with a bit of a surprise that I found we were rostered to the WD, and that the 7F was assigned to the lunch service. No worries, I had arrived in plenty of time and set about preparing it for service. The grate was nice and clean and so was the smokebox - no worries there, but why was the grate clean? Eventually I twigged that she hadn't been out the previous day and there hadn't been a warming fire lit, so I added to my heap of wood and got her going as usual, adding coal and wood as needed to build a decent fire.

She took ages to come around - she often is a bit slow. I tried using the dampers but adding primary air at the back caused a lot of smoke, especially from the fire hole - Driver Alex later suggested that if I had waited to put the flame scoop in until I had enough pressure to work the blower, I could have used the dampers without the smoke from the door.

Ho hum. Every day is a school day.

I had about 20 psi on by 08:00 or so, way too late really. We managed a bit of a blow down, but not the full glass Fitter Bob was after; one thing worth watching at low boiler pressures is the blower valve - just crack it if you don't have much steam, you can waste a lot of steam through it if it is too wide open.

With a tender full of ovoids, we went off shed at 09:55 - with the first train due out of Sheringham at 10:00. I fired heavily on the way down, we were full of water and eventually got the first train away at 10:20 - we hadn't had a drink since 07:00 and hadn't ordered any breakfast, but RO Josh had it sorted for the second trip.

I'd fired pretty thoroughly through the first trip, such that we had 180 psi and a full glass by the time we got to Holt, ready to turn around and come straight back. We were catching up.

I kept on it all the way down, and we ran around in Sheringham stopping long enough to pick up our breakfast and by the time we were back in Weybourne, the DMU was waiting for us and the signalman had our token ready, so we were only there for two minutes. By the time we reached Holt we were on time.

Driver Alex is a busy chap who doesn't do many turns, and was keen to fire. As it was raining, he decided it would be good experience for me to try driving with wet rails. I drove the 2nd down, the whole third trip, and the 4th up. I took the shovel again in Holt for the 4th down to prepare for disposal.

Now, I'm getting the hang of braking a train - it's made easier, as Driver Christian told me once, if you keep your eye on the vacuum gauge as you will not have enough experience to do it be sound and feel alone - but there are procedural things I need to get in my head, things like easing couplings, and opening the blower religiously before you shut the regulator. I'd like to write up the driver's instructions for these daily tasks: 

• Driving light engine 
• Approaching the train and hooking on 
• Moving off with the train 
• Stopping and restarting the train 
• Stopping the train and preparing to unhook 
• Watering

Another fun thing we had to contend with was a temporary speed restriction of 5mph around the up distant into Weybourne, in both directions. It was there all day until the 4th up, which we did with a bit more gusto.

I must learn the speed limits:

• Normal line speed 25 mph
• Sheringham - 3 mph while running around at Otterndorf Green
• Crossing the AOCL - 10 mph
• Weybourne - Sheringham end crossover, both directions:
• 10 mph through platform 1
• 5 mph through platform 2
• Holt - Weybourne end crossover, both directions
• 5mph into platform 1 
• Entering a terminal platform - 15 mph (entering a through platform is 25 mph) 
• Shunting - 5 mph

The other thing to remember is that a speed restriction applies for the full length of the train, so you must watch the end of your train through the end of the limit. 

Other useful stuff I picked up:

• Use reverser to get the loco moving if the valves stop in wrong place
• Operate reverser notch by notch to find optimum running position 
• Regulator is just a two port on/off valve - use the reverser to control speed.
• Use the curves, points and slopes to slow you down and speed you up. You don't always need the brakes, and you may find enough pressure in the steam chest to start you moving 

Back to braking again, it's tricky to know exactly how far your loco will roll and how quickly it will stop - getting the loco in the right place for watering, when you are light engine, seems to be more difficult than stopping in the right place in a station, though you must remember stopping lengths and positions for the length of your train.

This is the Gresham brake valve & ejector fitted to the WD. The big hexagons are the access plugs for cleaning the ejector cones, and the little lever on the left operates the small ejector. Vertically down is off, and vertically up is the running position. The big lever on the right applies the brake - it is shown here in the normal running position; push it up towards vertical and it will start the large ejector; pull it down and it will apply the brake.

You keep the vacuum handle in the full on? position when running light engine (i.e. vented train pipe) to guarantee that when you hook on or off the train wont move. No vacuum in the train pipe will also bring the steam brake on. Need to check this paragraph! 

When you arrive at the end of your trip, you bleed the vacuum reservoir using that red toggle while you wind the reverser. This is to ensure that the whole vacuum system is vented and that the brakes are on all along the train - you don't want the train to move while you squeeze up. When you've done that, you can give the regulator the merest squirt to move the loco a little and then get straight on the steam brake. Leave everything as-is whilst uncoupling. 

I'd been talking to Driver Alex about the ovoids off and on through the day and had mentioned how they clinker, so I was pleased to see him get the bent dart out at Holt on the 3rd up and pull it through the back - and there was the usual plates of clinker which he broke up on the grate. This paid dividends later - the loco was steaming well and there was hardly any clinker on disposal.

Next challenge? A Silver Driver Experience in two days time.