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?