Turn 113 - Firing the 7F - Fish and Chip

 It's Wednesday and I'm back on-shed, expecting one round trip on the Fish & Chip service - but when I arrive, the shed crew are standing around discussing a problem at Holt, and joking that I am not going anywhere. There is track damage at the crossover apparently.

I also discover that the chalkboard loco roster suggests I'm on the 4MT - but the WTT says I'm on loco B, the 7F, and here she is.

The day crew have left her ready for me to take over - there is a level fire, 180 psi on the gauge and the boiler is full though the tender is well down. The only problem is she is making steam, so I stay on the footplate to keep it from blowing off - I don't fire, but I have to run the injector a little and I minimise the water I add by giving the footplate a good clean.

Since we have had a failure, I'm uncertain about whether we will follow the timetable, so I let the fire die down a bit - though of course I still have no water space. After eventually getting the RO on the phone - there's a lot going on - Driver Bryan tells me that we will go down to Sheringham as planned but that we will make two round trips to Weybourne rather than one to Holt. 

Well, I didn't fire on the way down as there was far too much water in the boiler, until I realised the pressure was dropping like a stone and the fire was deceptively cool. I didn't want to overdo it though, as we had over an hour to go and the last thing I wanted to do was get it too hot, so I fired very sparingly on the way down.

Unfortunately, I ran the pressure down too far - a lesson for next time. You need more than 100 psi on this loco otherwise the vacuum will start to drop and the steam brake won't work - this loco is a real test for me, but I am getting the hang of it.

I recovered OK for the first round trip to Weybourne, and the rest of the turn was fine, though it was dark for the second trip and not making much steam on last one. When I cleaned the fire, there was loads of clinker in the back.

I must get the irons in myself next time, just to make sure the grate really is clean when I take it on - then at least I will know if the clinker is mine or if it is hanging over from the day's running.