Going Great Central: Day 13...

Evening all. After a brilliant morning shift on 9F No92214 on New Years Day at Loughborough, I returned today for another cleaning turn to add to my steadily growing file. The A1 "Tornado" was rostered today for the GCRs passenger services and, as she comes with her own support crew, there would be no need to get involved with her. However, also in service was Ivatt Class 2 No46521 which needed preparing for the 13:00 Sunday dining train: the "Elizabethan". I arrived a little while before 08:00, in good time to meet the crew who were due in for 08:15. When the fireman arrived, myself and fellow cleaner Dave joined forces to make preparation of the mogul as simple as possible. Whilst the fireman cleaned the grate and checked the locomotive over, Dave went off on wood duty whilst I grabbed a couple of barrows of something that we won't see for much longer: Welsh steam coal from Ffos-y-Fran. Loughborough engines have lit up on Welsh for a long time, reducing the smoke nuisance on shed...

Dave then helped to light the embryo fire whilst I volunteered to clamber up onto the tender to check the water level and trim the coal. The tender had plenty in for 46521s singular trip of the day but it was all at the back. After a few years on the Tyseley support crew, chucking the majority of a tender forward is no hardship. I recall fondly a trip to Lincoln with beautiful 5043 and having to get a few tons forward during the layover! Coal trimmed, I went off on lamp duty. This involves checking, filling and cleaning the appropriate lamps (two headlamps and a frame lamp) before fitting them to the engine. Before changing onto actual cleaning duty, I searched around the shed and eventually discovered the "Elizabethan" headboard...

Between the four of us we had the pretty little Ivatt: built at Swindon in 1953: in good order well before her 11:30 off shed time. Here she is simmering on No1 road at Loughborough shed in sunny but bitterly chilly conditions...

It just so happened that Mum was booked on the diner today so, in good time before boarding, I popped up to the station to say hello. 46521 was busy steam heating the stock on this cold afternoon. The wind was really biting...

The A1 meanwhile was pulling a strengthened train of nine coaches and even then it was standing room only! A few of us joined her on her 12:50 departure in order to get to Rothley where we would perform a line walk to Swithland for some training on the impressive lower quadrant signals. We returned to Loughborough on "Tornado"s final train later in the day. Thanks all for reading...

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