A short turn this one, relieving the day crew and taking the BR Standard 4MT out on a fish & chip service.
Driver Grahame and I turn up at 16:25 on a sunny afternoon and we wait for the loco to show up. It's full of coal & water and the boiler is up to pressure, so all we have to do is wait in the headshunt for the 'B' loco, the 7F, to finish it's trip and for the DMU to come down from Holt.
Down in Sheringham, we hook on and wait, getting the fire prepared and chatting to passengers. I go down to the buffet car to collect our food.
Remembering the last time I was out, I build a good fire and then feed it again before we get to the signal box, and add a couple more shovelfuls to the middle after we are over the crossing. I'm pleased to be up to pressure and to have the injector on going up Dead Man's; I feed the fire again on the way down and we arrive in Weybourne with plenty of water.
We've been feeding ourselves on the way up as well.
We stop in Weybourne for a few minutes to let the signalman switch out the box, and we are on our way. I've built the fire up around the back and sides again, and we are full of water but I am disappointed to see the pressure dropping to 180 psi as we crest Wind Pump - I've not got enough coal on and it's very thin, almost gone in the front by the time we get up.
Several times, Driver Grahame has opened my firebox door as the smoke has darkened. This isn't smokeless coal!
Back in Sheringham with a full boiler and plenty of pressure we have to wait for the train to be unloaded and for the pilot to pull the coaches off - we are in platform 2 and the 'A' set is in platform 1 ready for the morning. We wait ages - Grahame checks the water in the tender and decides refilling is a job for the morning.
We head back to Weybourne for disposal and home. No dramas, a bit of clinker but nothing much and as the sun sets we are done for the day.
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