Turn 147 - Driving the Y14

This week’s blog post has a bit of an odd title for a firing turn but the reason will become clear. After signing on and reading the notices I joined Third Man Brad on the footplate of our steed for the day, the GER Y14. The fire was blazing, we had three hours to go and the boiler was already at 40 psi - heaven knows how it got up so quickly, though it’s quite a small boiler and it had been out the day before. 

We agreed that Brad would fire the first two, and I would fire the last two. Brad must be near passing out, so we planned that he would do the whole job including hooking on, tablet, signals etc. as well as firing so there was little for me to do for a bit: I filled the tender axle boxes, checked the loco axle boxes and replace one of the trimmings, ashed out and cleaned the pan:

I spent a bit more time learning about the brake pump. This is the oil filler for the air side:

You fill the little priming cup with Westinghouse oil twice.

For various reasons we were late off shed and had very little time in Sheringham. RO Peter was waiting with our breakfast, and I hooked on; we left minutes later. Brad made a great job of the trip up.

Back in Sheringham, Driver Chris offered me his seat for the 2nd trip, and then again for the 3rd. I decided that with two complete trips under my belt including running around, taking water and buffering up I would suggest that Brad make a day of it and fire to the end, so he had a full day on the shovel; I mentioned this to Driver Chris and he suggested I take the 4th up as well.

The weather turned itself around nicely - during prep it rained more or less solidly for three hours; when we went off-shed it stopped and the day was warm and sunny. 

So, with three more trips driven (after one last week) the Y14 pips the 4MT as the loco I have driven most - hauling passenger trains, that is. Here are the statistics:

What did I learn this week:

• I remembered not to wind the reverser to the end - it didn’t get stuck, and I didn’t have coffee, tea or Henry’s clock in the way of the handle;
• The reverser securing chain comes loose in some positions, which Third Man Brad drew my attention to;
• You need the regulator in second port going up the 1 in 80 hills, otherwise it’s all a bit sedate. When you come out of second port, you close the regulator fully and whack it open again to full pilot port; however, sometimes you will catch a cushion of steam somewhere and it won’t shut. I’ve had this happen on the 4MT as well. The secret is, at least on the Y14, not to open it fully in second port.
• Controlling the vacuum brake is easy with the little trigger on the handle. What I didn’t know was that if you push the handle towards the front of the loco, it operates the large ejector which obviously brings the vacuum up quickly, but wastes steam (and makes a lot of noise) if you leave it on. 

• Due to a spring problem on the 9F, the Y14 is passed it’s due date for washout, and when this happens the boiler, whose water is contaminated is more prone to foaming. Now, Driver Christian had warned me that after going into second port I must notch back the reverser very gradually to avoid the boiler pressure dropping too fast and allowing the water to foam, which is dangerous (liquid water in the cylinders leads to hydraulic damage). I was successful at this several times until, on one occasion, the boiler was blowing off and the injector went on, which serves to churn up the surface of the water and bring on foaming. You get a dense exhaust with small particles of liquid water (not like priming where you get water on the windows) and soft fluffy chuffs. When this happens, you open the cylinder cocks, switch off the feed, notch up and close the regulator. 
• During the day, stopping was a bit variable. Each time I went onto the water crane I stopped in the right place; I learned from the DRS Drivers that the secret to stopping in stations was to come in on minimum regulator, slowly and under control and ease yourself to a stop - at one point, realising I was going to stop short I gave the engine a bit of regulator and moved it further before we came to a stop; I stopped on the down home twice and once at Kelling very successfully. What wasn’t so good was buffering up - I was giving the loco either too much brake or too much regulator and stopping short or coming onto the train too hard. Next time, I will leave some brake pressure on if I need to nudge it onto the train.
• I’d been passing Sheringham West Box quite slowly, since there  is a 10 mph speed restriction over the AOCL. Driver Chris suggested I speed up towards crossing as you don't want to encourage people to go in front of you. I was only doing about 5 mph…

Lastly, I need to develop and document some routines - for buffering up, standing, squeezing, ready for the right away. More of that later.

Back in Sheringham for the last time, Driver Chris took the set into the loop and we topped up the water tank. Back in the seat again for the last time I took the loco up to Weybourne light engine where we run through the station & back down into the yard, stopping nicely on the pit. 

Following my usual routine, I ashed out and cleared the pit while the guys stabled the engine.

A grand day out, again. Next it’s the NNRYDC meeting on Saturday, followed on Monday by my first DMU Driver Training turn.