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!
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