Turn 98 - Fireman on the WD

 Another Wednesday, another, though unexpected, turn - this time a firing turn on a yellow service, for which we are assigned  to the WD 2-10-0 'Royal Norfolk Regiment'. Unexpected because a roster change at the weekend's Mixed Traction Gala meant that the rostered fireman for today wasn't available, so in response to a request from the Operations Management team I stepped in, eager to get another firing turn in.

Today, as I stroll down the yard with Cleaner Nick, who will be out on a DOTS on a chartered vintage set hauled by the Y14, we find Wissington out in the yard. She's almost finished and has been on test, and she is off to the Middy (Mid Suffolk Light Railway) at the end of the month.

Arriving at the WD, it appears that yesterday's crew didn't take any coal, and to prove it there is a pile of dust in the tender with a few lumps for me to light up. Lighting up goes well and doesn't make much smoke (I use a lot more wood than I used to), but it takes a while to come around; Fitter Alan is after two glasses blown down as the WD is near the end of it's washout cycle but there's just not enough heat - not helped by the lack of water in the boiler when I arrived. I've emptied the tender.

We take coal before we blow down, just to have a fighting chance of getting ready to leave on time.

Blowing down produces sauna-like conditions on the footplate!

Driver Andy and I make four uneventful round trips with no slip ups and no blowing off, though as usual I have the glass full. It's a habit drummed into me by my training and it's proving hard to break, but you just can't run the water too high in the Y14 and the 7F.

There's lots of photographers about.

I say the day was uneventful, but on the third up as we approach the level crossing a pedestrian, who has been waiting at the lights, decides it's a good idea to walk out in front of an approaching train. I see him first as he is walking from my side and yell to Andy to stop - Andy has seen him too and operates the vacuum brakes to bring the train to a halt 100 yards short of the crossing. The pedestrian gets a lecture, which as usual falls on deaf ears. Safety is number one priority on the railway and crews are taught to avoid distractions, like firing, in dangerous locations such as this.

After the fourth trip, we take the loco light engine back to Weybourne where, in a change of plan, we are relieved by the crew of the Fish & Chip train. We had been scheduled to dispose the WD but the shed staff have decided to use the WD for the chipper rather than the Y14.

There's a sign of things to come in the yard, as coal becomes difficult to find - a lorry load of eco-coal:

I wonder what that will be like?