Evening all. Today involved a pleasant morning turn at the Great Central Railway with Dave and Matt. The engine, from a crewing perspective at least, was new to me: it was 78019. Known as No19, this is of course the sister to No18 which I've been lucky enough to get out on a few times already. Years ago I had a footplate ride on 78019 but had never actually crewed it until today, so it was nice to finally tick this old gal' off the list. Now that summer is finally on the way it isn't pitch black when I go out in the morning for an early turn which makes things much more pleasant. Our book on time this morning was 06:00 and I arrived a little before in order to sign in and read the notices. Driver Dave was already there and booked Fireman Matt wasn't far behind us. As I've now completed the GCRs firing course I'm on my assessed turns and so Matt was happy to leave me to it. Having checked the water level, I checked the smokebox before making a start on the fire grate. One of the many beauties of the BR Standards is the rocking grate mechanism which, on 78019, works perfectly...
For the uninitiated, a rocking grate is a grate which allows sections to be rocked from the cab. In the case of the Standard 2, there is a front and back section that can be rocked via a linkage beneath the floorboards. This allows ashes and clinker to be worked through into the ashpan without the need to break it all up with the irons until it's small enough to fit through the bars. More modern engines like this tend to have this style of grate as by now the designers had realised that they could make life ever so slightly easier for their crews! Most older engines tend not to have this feature, such as the Loughborough-based 8F for example which has a fully fixed grate. With everything checked and the grate cleared, I lit the engine up. She wouldn't take long to come around this morning as she still had steam on from last night...
The coal in the tender was of Polish origin I believe. It was very hard and included some nice big lumps rather than the 50% slack ratio we tend to be used to with the softer Welsh coal from Ffos-y-Fran. The only downside to this European coal is the smoke and you do get a bit when there isn't much draw on the fire. Thankfully though the smoke doesn't last long and when you're on the run it clears beautifully...
78019 is still fairly fresh back into ticket, having been released into service after an overhaul in autumn 2022. The cab is still spick and span and is being kept on top of by the volunteers. It's a very nice working environment...
Our morning turn today involved two round trips at 10:00 and 12:00. Dave drove whilst Matt supervised me doing the firing. Thankfully all went well and it was a most enjoyable morning. The engine pulls eagerly and steams freely, riding very well. The main difference over 78018 is the installation of a Kylchap exhaust which creates a different exhaust note and more draw on the fire. I've never had a problem with steaming on 78018 but 78019 seems to steam even better, although pulls the fire bed more. 78019 is spotted here waiting to leave Loughborough with the 12:00 train. Note the Eastern lamp fitted as this was a Kirkby Stephen engine when delivered new in 1954...
Much like her 1953-built sister 78018, this engine also had a role in the British Transport Film 'Snowdrift at Bleath Gill'. No19 was actually one of the rescue engines that attended the scene to rescue her stranded sister No18 after it was lodged in a substantial drift. It's a great little film if you ever get a chance to catch it on Youtube. After another pleasant outing on the 12:00 train, we returned to Loughborough with the lovely little Standard 2 before handing over to the relief crew...
From here the three of us wandered back to the shed as the engine steamed off in the opposite direction in readiness to haul her next train. Having washed up and signed out, we all headed for home after a very nice little morning. Thanks to Dave and Matt for their company aboard 78019 today: I really enjoyed the turn!
Please note any views or opinions expressed in this blog are merely personal and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person, group or organisation.
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