Turn 129 - Firing the 9f: Silver Driver Experience

 Ten days to go until my inaugural turn for the 2023 running season on the 4th April, and Driver Peter and I are at Weybourne waiting for the arrival of the 9F with a short set which forms the train for today's Silver Driver Experience

But what is a 'Silver' Driver Experience? The North Norfolk Railway website says:

Our silver experience gives you the opportunity to have two complete round trips over the full length of our picturesque line working one of our magnificently-restored steam locomotives at the head of a train between Sheringham and Holt. You will drive one trip and fire one trip spending 11 miles doing each. You will learn about the workings of the engine and the operation of our railway under the guidance of our fully qualified crew.

This package is offered on several dates throughout the year and we take two participants and their guests on each half-day experience.

The morning session begins at Sheringham at 9.00 where participants are welcomed with a bacon roll and mug of tea before meeting the engine crew and climbing aboard the footplate for two full round trips to Holt and back.  There’s then time for a light lunch before catching the train to Weybourne for a guided tour of the Engine and Carriage Sheds before returning to Sheringham. The session ends the presentation of a certificate as a souvenir of the day.

Participants may bring up to six guests to spectate (they will not be able to ride on the footplate) but they arrive at 11.00am travel in one of the carriages on the train, enjoy lunch and join the guided tour. Guests are charged at £25 each.

Afternoon sessions start at 12.30 at Sheringham for participants and their guests. After checking in, you will travel by train to Weybourne to take a look behind the scenes on a tour of the Engine and Carriage Sheds. After travelling back to Sheringham, participants will meet the engine crew on the footplate followed by the chance to drive and fire the locomotive during two return trips to Holt. Guests can ride in one of the carriages of the train during the first of these trips and have free time in Sheringham while participants complete the second run. The afternoon ends with tea and cake for participants along with the presentation of a souvenir certificate. Guests are charged at £25 each.

Peter and I relieved the morning crew, Phil and Paul, to find a hot fire, full boiler and tank, and a tender full of large lumps of Polish bituminous coal - the ingredients of a good afternoon on the footplate. We ran around and hooked on, having 40-odd minutes to get ourselves ready while the participants completed the works tour. We ran down to Sheringham letting the fire cool a bit and making some water space, having tested both injectors.

On arrival in Sheringham our Driver Experience participants appeared on the footplate - they had travelled down after their shed tour and we introduced ourselves, asking how they came to visit and what they wanted to achieve. Sometimes visitors want to drive a bit and admire the scenery, some what the whole fire, drive, hook on hook off experience, some have done it before and know steam engines intimately, some have never touched a lump of coal. Everyone has a better time if they know what the other wants. This time, they both got stuck in and both proved themselves very adept at driving with some very smooth stops that I would have been proud of. We were a bit short of steam on the first trip as there were holes in the back corners - it's a job to keep on top of it when you are trying to complement what another fireman is doing, especially when the back is very hot in the middle and you can't reach the corners! The second trip was much better after some sandwiches and tea, as I built the corners right up not expecting to see to them again before Holt.

With our visitors departed, with happy smiling faces, we ran around to take on water while I filled the box again. Peter offered me the driving seat on the way back and as usual I drove too fast out of the station - it's been a while and there is no speedometer on this loco (in fact the 4MT is the only loco with a speedo) but other than that it was a pretty safe journey back to Weybourne. I attempted to coast down Dead Man's in full forward gear until Peter remined me that you use 20% cut-off for piston engines, and I spent a bit of time experimenting with varying cut-off up the hill, coasting into Weybourne around the last bend. I attempted to crawl into the station with the reverser still at 20%, but as Peter pointed out unless you are doing about 80 mph the loco will not do anything with it set that low. I notched back to 35% and stopped under the bridge.

With the token delivered to Signalman Brian, we reversed into the head shunt. I'm not very familiar with stopping points here, which was made worse by the fact that the yard exit signal - which used to be a good marker for stopping on the pit - has moved.

We arrived on the pit for disposal, with a strong fire, plenty of pressure and the boiler in the top quarter. While Driver Peter made his inspection I filled the boiler to see if #1 injector continued dropping out. We ran the ash pan sprinkler for a while which swallowed most of the water - you only need to open it 1/4 of a turn or so - but when we shut it off the injector filled the boiler nicely, until it got to the top of the glass when it dropped out. The 9F poltergeist is looking over our shoulders again.

The 9F has been treated to a new company shovel - looks like one of these, from Heritage Steam Supplies. I didn't use it as I had recently reduced the length of the handle of my old Carter shovel and wanted to test it - it's perfect for this loco, though it does look a bit battered.

Next turn is in ten days time - Fireman 2 on a Red service; that's two steam locos and a DMU.

Careers Fair

The life of a railway volunteer is never dull. Today we are attending the Norfolk & Suffolk Skills and Careers Festival which is an annual event aimed at young people to help inspire them for their future career and to demonstrate the various options available. It's held at the Norfolk Showground, and groups from schools and colleges attend in organised time slots throughout the two-day festival. 

We're here to market ourselves to students and teachers alike, offering volunteer roles and the Youth Development Club. People also ask about work experience opportunities and apprenticeships.

We have a shovel, hats and flags for people to take selfies, and we are running a competition with multiple choice questions and a trip on a train for the whole class of the student who makes the winning entry.

Lot's of people come and talk to us - but not as many as frequent the ice cream machine next door.

Fire Safety

The recent Volunteer Forum included a proposal to add a number of training courses to the syllabus, including Fire Safety, First aid and Working at Height to which many of us signed up. Today, the railway held the first of these, the Fire Safety course which was conducted in three sessions due to the number of applicants.

It was a basic fire safety course, not tailored to the railway other than that it included a tour of the Sheringham site to demonstrate the exits, alarm points and extinguishers.

Operations Training

Towards the end of last winter, the railway conducted a Degraded Operations Training session which I attended and wrote up for the blog. We're gathered here today for this years session which will be a similar content to last year, but the only way to learn about these unusual activities is to repeat them periodically.

With the DMU out of action (the brakes refused to come off on the trailer unit this morning) we went down to Sheringham in a BFK hauled by the Class 37 to learn about shunting and some associated activities.

The plan is to split the CCT and the first coach from this set, so first we have to check the brakes are on and chock the remaining stock. When it's safe, Trainer Alex asks for volunteers to go between and unhook the vacuum bags and the CWA pipes. That would be me then - who thought they would not need their overalls??

Buckeyes are released with this shunter's pole - just a bit of 3/8" round bar with a loop on one end and a hook on the other. You use it to pull the little bit of chain at the top of the uncoupling lever. Top tip - you can check that the coupling is made up when, as shown in the picture below, there is a gap between the lever and the bottom of the vertical lock bolt.

The next picture shows Trainer Alex gazing fondly at a closed coupling:

Using telekinesis, he has caused the coupling to open by the power of his mind:

Of course, we all wanted to have a go at lifting and lowering the buckeye to expose the draw hook, which would be used when coupling a locomotive to this end. Why stay clean when you can get greasy?

This string, whose location is marked with a white star, is used to equalise pressure around the brake cylinder - you'll need this if you have pulled the vacuum down to 25" Hg with a GWR locomotive. You can imagine that you would need these at a gala when you have unhooked your visiting Western engine and then attempt to move the set with a LNER loco whose ejector is set to 21" Hg.

Next, we trundle off up the line to look at the Holt Ground Frame. I've not touched this since C-PC training so it's good to get a look at it.

We headed back to Weybourne for tea, and to find that the Weybourne - Sheringham section Tyers machine had mysteriously failed, and we learned all about Pilotman and Ticket working. 

These are similar concepts, where the Pilotman or paper ticket substitutes for the tablet. The big difference is that Pilotman working can be instigated once and thereafter maintained until cancelled - so for many trains, but only on one section; ticket working however is instigated for one train, in one direction, in one section and the ticket is cancelled by the receiving Signalman when the train arrives. 

Back in Sheringham again, it's time to simulate a failed train - we go up the line to the end of the 1 in 330 and stop. Since there is no Fireman and no Second Man, the driver is left in charge of the train and we accompany the Guard down the line, counting rail joints (they are 60' long) until we reach 300 yards and place our train protection:

We arrive in the Signal Box and brief the Signalman and the Driver of the relieving loco, which is the Class 08 D3935, the Sheringham pilot. The Guard, who has not released the tablet from his iron grip at any point, returns to the 08 and goes off to rescue his train. 

We stay in the Signal Box to experience something new - because the failed train is still in section, the section starter signal cannot be pulled off. Not only will the 08 have to be flagged through it, but the AOCL will not automatically start - we have to operate it manually. 

The key to this box is in the Sheringham East Signal Box, and when you open the door the crossing is disabled. The switch inside allows you to operate the crossing - you just turn it 'on' to energise the lights & the horn, and you switch it off again to put it back to automatic - though it won't work if you don't shut the door. You can't shut the door if you leave the switch in manual.

Secondly, I learned that if you don't make it across the AOCL in the allotted time (3 minutes), there are two boxes either side of the crossing, accessible by the usual key, which enable the crew to initiate another 3 minute period. Useful if your engine is in trouble.

Of course, since the section starter was still at danger, Signal Inspector Steve had to flag the 08 past the signal.

Next, back to Weybourne for a bit of point winding. Nothing new here, apart from almost £300,000 worth of new pointwork. 

It looks a lot better than it did last year!