Turn 146 - Firing the Y14

After a few days of rain, it was a pleasure to find a half-decent forecast (warm, dry but not overly sunny) and to be rostered to the delightful GER Y14 with Driver Henry. We had the B service, four round trips, off-shed at 10:00 and back at 17:40 or thereabouts so we signed on around 07:00 to find cleaner Jacob & Fitter Rustle had lit up for us.

A relaxing few hours ensued with tea, polishing and throwing a bit of coal about.

She looked lovely sitting on the Suburban set while we had breakfast.

With a tender full of fossil coal, I fired the first trip, leaving it a bit late at Dead Man's and arrived in Weybourne with half a glass of water and the pressure a bit low. I blame a passenger asking about volunteering five minutes before we we due to depart, and just when I should have been putting another round on... 

The second trip was perfect.

Of course by the time the third trip came around it was all nice and hot (it hadn't been out for a few days) and I was still firing eagerly - it was all a bit much and blew off twice.

I drove the fourth trip - my first drive of this loco for a while, which included the subsequent shunt into the loop and the light engine trip back to the pit. No disasters, but a couple of stops were a bit more abrupt than they might have been and I was short onto the water crane at Holt. The stopping point for the Y14 is the smaller of the black tarmac squares by the cab side.

I learned a few more things that are worth recording for the next time:

• Don't wind the reverser too far into full gear - it gets stuck at the end of the worm
• Don't put tea mugs by the reverser - there's no room for your knees and to wind the handle 
• Don't need to fire to the front 
• Don't forget to open the regulator when shutting off
• You can hold the train on the hill on the vacuum brake and still get moving quite quickly, by holding it at 18" Hg. The vacuum brake takes a while to come off.

The air brake is an interesting thing. It's controlled by a governor, pictured here in the LNER Black Book:

The picture in the BR Black Book must be a later version as it's slightly different. The governor fitted to the loco looks more like the one in the LNER book than the one in the BR book:

There's a displacement lubricator downstream of the governor, which is now fitted with a needle valve to control the flow of oil into the steam flow. Apparently you have to fill that every two trips, and there is a pump isolation valve in the cab between the two injector steam valves.

And the last top tip from Driver Henry? Watch the brake pressure gauge and let the pressure drop to zero before you try to move off.

Next? Another week, another Wednesday, and another Fireman 2 turn.

Driver Training

 No, before you all think I have gone over to the dark side, worrying about going home in a clean shirt, hear me out.

I've signed up for diesel driver training.

What fascinates me about most in life is technical stuff, as you probably know if you have looked at my profile at the bottom of this page. The railway is full of technical stuff.

I also like meeting people and chatting to passengers, so being out and about on the railway is important - I couldn't shut myself away in a signal box (though signalling is full of technical stuff too).

I want to be involved with the railway and be useful - I get a few calls to fill vacancies, or help out if someone has to cancel a turn, though of course this is only for firing turns. Being local and in charge of my own calendar helps here (children, pets, house rebuilds, children and grandchildren aside), and then of course there is the inevitable aging process we all go through - what if in a few years I'm not fit enough to throw a shovel around?

So, what if I could drive as well as fire? I do drive, as you know, sometimes drivers and firemen swap sides and you get a trip or sometimes two. As a passed cleaner though, I'm a while away from being considered for passed fireman training for driving steam engines full time.

To get some driving experience sooner I sign up for Second Man turns whenever we have a failure or steam ban, or sometimes just for fun - and to date I have 6 1/2 hours on diesel locos. Some while back I asked if I could be put on the waiting list for diesel driver training, and I've just been accepted onto this year's intake.

This shows the process for training and assessment. I'm automatically qualified as a Second Man by virtue of the fact that I am a Passed Cleaner in the steam department, so I can roster as such on diesel loco turns, and now I am registered as a trainee driver on DMU and Station Pilots as well.

So, I've now got a diesel driver training schedule, common for all diesel traction, and a DMU traction training schedule. There are various tests to complete, notably the DMU Traction Theory Assessment but I won't have to do the Route Knowledge test or the Footplate Rules test as I've already passed those.

My main focus over the next few months, firing aside, will be DMU driver training but I've also signed up as a trainee pilot driver, on the Class 08s and 11. In practice this probably only means that I will get a very occasional trainee turn at a gala or on a lunch turn - maybe once or twice a year. We shall see.

As I said, the main focus will be DMU traction training, so I have to swot up the DMU traction handbook over the next couple of weeks and try to answer the questions in the DMU theory test, to get the information in my head - I have my first driver training session on the 7th August, with an inspector. On that day my first job will be to prove myself on an empty coaching stock move, since you have to have that signed off to prove familiarity with the controls before you can drive a passenger train.

Hopefully if I can get these knobs and switches in my head (and the stern warnings about being kind to the transmission) I'll be allowed to drive a passenger train. What fun!

Turn 145 - Firing the Y14: Lunch train

 Another Wednesday with a leisurely start, and as predicted Driver Henry and I are rostered to GER Y14, 564. We’ve got no cleaner rostered today so I sign on at 08:30 to light up - she’s been on steam test the previous day and she’s still warm.

There’s nothing in the smokebox, so I use the barrow to collect some dry wood - there’s wood on the loco, but it’s been raining lately and it’s ringing wet; the bucket of paraffin and rags that someone has kindly left is also full of water.

The easiest way to clean the firebox (and inspect it at the same time) on this loco is to get in, so I don mask and gloves and take my torch, pry bar and brush and slide myself in feet first. You pull out two adjacent bars and brush everything into the resulting gap - easy peasy.

There’s not much coal, but I build a bed around the foundation ring and heave a lot of wood into the middle with flaming rags to get it going. It’s not been out for a few days and it takes a while to come round. It’s almost 11:00 before we are ashed out, coaled and ready to go.

I notice that while I’ve been raising steam I’ve hit the handbrake with the company shovel a couple of times. I decide to use the shortened Bulldog instead of my Lucas, which is about 4” longer.

 

Thinking about how I fired the 4MT last week, and how I’ve fired the Y14 in the past I made sure to keep the fire nice and hot and the water half-three quarters full, and to leave the injector on much of the time. This worked out pretty well - we were over 150 most of the time, never less than 140 (unless I wanted to be) and I was never out of control, even when waiting around for the service trains to show up.

A while back Paul got in touch via LinkedIn to say how he enjoyed reading the blog. Paul’s a cleaner at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre and regular visitor to the NNR and Lo and Behold Paul was waiting for us at Sheringham to say hello in person. Nice to meet you and thanks for the encouragement! I do like to keep the blog accurate and honest, despite the fact that occasionally my posts reveal that I have done something stupid. It’s all about learning from your mistakes.

The second down trip was accompanied by dinner - roast chicken with lemon sauce for me and roast beef and gravy for driver Henry. I do like these lunch turns - as Henry says, very civilised.

As usual, we waited around chatting to passengers at Sheringham platform 2, waiting for the pilot to pull the train off and shunt it into platform 3. Then, when the Class 14 appeared with it’s third down trip we were released to go up Light Engine. I put another round on as we left and then again going down Dead Man’s, with the injector going all the way up the hill. The boiler was nice and hot, and full, when we arrived - too hot.

 That’s actually the first time I’ve disposed with too much steam - I could have done without firing on Dead Man’s. We disposed the loco, filled the boiler over the top nut and I sat with it for half an hour after clearing the pit and doing all the paperwork, just to make sure it didn’t blow off and empty the boiler towards the heavens…

Ho hum, every day is a school day. What was I saying about doing something stupid?

Turn 144 - Firing the 4MT: Lunch train

A leisurely start today, on shed at 08:30 to fire a lunch service.

Third Man Dave has been there for a while, and our steed for the day, the 4MT, already has 30 psi on the clock and Dave is cleaning the paint. I busy myself cleaning the footplate and raising steam gently over the next three hours. On ashing out, we find that we can't open the front damper - the hopper is completely full. Using the handle of a small rake, I tease out ash above the hopper door until it will move and we can clean the pan - looks like no-one emptied it last time it was in service.

We go down to Sheringham about 11:20 and head to platform three where the dining set is waiting.

After a bit of a wait for one of the service locos (the 9F and the Class 14) to run around, we shunt the set into platform 2.

It's a while since I've fired a non-stop and I don't want to cock it up, so I pull a lot of coal forward and build a solid fire bed around the foundation ring, a big horseshoe at the back and fill the middle in. With a few minutes to go, she is very hot and raring to go as I put another round on, then another going down Dead Man's, and another as we go around the bend and into Weybourne. With another round as we go under the bridge she's on the red line and full of water and the injector goes on again as we approach Wind Pump. I've got so much heat that I don't fire down Aviaries. We arrive in Holt with a full glass and 220 psi. I'm well happy with that, and take it easy on the way back. 

Third man Dave fires the 2nd trip, following my instruction and he makes an excellent job of it too. I take over the third man's duties and eat a plate of roast chicken - challenging on the move.

Thanks to Cleaner Harry for this picture of a token exchange starring me and signalman Michael. 

Waiting at Holt we are treated to Apple pie and custard, followed by a Panna Cotta with a peach sauce - which is a bit runny, and I there are only three spoons for four of us. Fitter Alan has joined us for a lift back to Weybourne, and it's a new railway first for me - eating Panna Cotta with sooty fingers on the footplate.

There's lots of happy customers to chat to today as we wait for the Sheringham pilot to pull off the stock so we can head back to shed.

Third Man Dave fires the light engine trip up, and we dispose the loco taking care to wash the pan clear.

Dave pulls some coal down for the morning crew:

And that's it! Next week, same turn but probably on the Y14. Hope the weather is nice.

Turn 143 - Firing the 9f

 Wednesday dawns again with a regular red service firing turn on the BR Standard 9F, 92203. Third Man Will lit up for us and went off to clean when I arrived.

I raised steam using a lot more wood and rags and we were ready in plenty of time though Fitter Ben didn't need a blow down, according to the water TDS test results. Checking the ash pan, I decided not to open the hopper. It's a good idea to check the ash when you are raising steam if you can as it's easy for folk to leave the pan partly full with ash stuck in the upper parts of the pan, which will prevent primary air getting in. In any event, you will do it on the pit and on locos with no hopper you will wash them out; locos with hopper ashpans are only washed out if there is excess ash & no space for the day's running. 

Fitter Ben treated us to 1/2 bucket of ovoids overladen with a full bucket of coal. This means you do the first two trips on coal, the third on a mixture and the fourth on ovoids - works nicely as the fire should be nice and hot by the time you use the ovoids.

I fired down to Sheringham, the whole first trip and the second up with no low pressures or water levels. Will fired the second down very successfully then fired the third up, which was a bit light - there was a gap at the front. It was his 7th turn - better than I was doing at that stage!

I fired for the rest of the day.

Heading back to the yard after the fourth trip, we dropped the ash in the pit and were relieved by the  chipper crew.

More next week, when I am firing the Wednesday lunch train.