"Green on the up section"
Today I was booked to work the A31 turn at the Great Central Railway, with a rostered sign on time of 14:15. Upon my arrival at Loughborough shed I found that my original booked driver had ended up firing Black Five No44871 back from Taunton (alright for some) and had therefore been replaced by Rob. Having signed in and read the notices, I wandered out into the yard and happened upon the extensive pile of manmade ovoids. The railway has been trialling two types of this stuff of late, with one brand fairing better than the other. The increasing scarcity of coal (thanks to short sighted UK officials) has meant that retailers are under more pressure than ever to find a suitable alternative. This afternoon our booked steed would carry a tender full of purely ovoids. I was interested to see how they'd go, although an apologetic note left on the signing in desk from last night's diner crew didn't fill me with confidence I must say!...
"The future?"
Having caught up with driver Rob and a few of the shed staff, I learnt that the diner last night had run quite late due to steaming issues with the loco, no doubt brought on by the ovoids. However, willing to give anything a go once, we awaited our turn with them whilst reserving judgement. Our booked locomotive today was BR Standard 2 No78019, built at Darlington in 1954. On shed road two, sister ship No78018 was going through a re-ring of the valves and pistons. The shot below shows the RH piston valve chest and cylinder with covers removed. Behind, the little end has also been split from the crosshead by removing the gudgeon pin. The main piston head can be seen protruding from the bore, with the rings visible in their grooves...
With a whistle heard in the distance, No78019 was soon spotted arriving into Loughborough's platform one with the returning Saturday lunchtime diner. Having uncoupled, the engine slowly made her way down to the shed for some more ovoids and of course a crew change. After several reports that the ovoids were not lasting anywhere near as long as coal, the shed staff were taking no chances and filled the tender right up for us. Over to us then...
Outgoing driver Charlie and fireman John reported that they'd had quite an energetic morning getting the engine ready, having had a fair amount of yesterday's fire to remove. This no doubt explains the note from the previous crew! Myself and Rob then took over the engine and proceeded to leave the shed for our 15:05 working. Usually we would have been hauling a freight on this timetable but we later learned that we would actually collect the wagons from Rothley carriage sidings. Therefore, with the down loop starter having risen to the 'off' position, we departed light engine for Rothley. The engine was a bit cold hearted on the way up and didn't steam brilliantly. I therefore found myself mining ovoids most of the way, spooning these perfectly formed little lumps into the firebox. By the time we reached Kinchley Lane the engine was starting to show willing again and things were back on my side. I think the fire had just gone a bit cold. Leaving Rothley she was back on the mark and it wasn't long before we'd performed a swift run round at Leicester North...
Returning to Loughborough with our short rake of wagons, I continued to work the ovoids according to what I'd heard from others. You certainly needed more to do the job and it almost seemed as if the instant heat that you gained wasn't sustainable. They would light quickly and give you something to bite on but they wouldn't last long, hence the increased quantity used. Once safely back in the down loop at Loughborough, we ran No78019 around the short train before taking it across to the up through for stabling. Here, the wagons were left for the evening...
The 1954-built 2-6-0 was soon back on the shed and I gave the fire a quick rake through before dropping the ashpan. The fire bed was ever so slightly clinkered at this point and so a quick thrash around with the iron brought things back to life. The quick to light ovoids were then used to get us some flames back!...
Below we see a quick snap of the well turned out cab aboard No78019...
With plenty of time on our hands, we decided to leave shed and run the engine round onto the front of the waiting diner stock in platform one. This train would then form our 19:00 "Charnwood Forester" diner. In a scene not too distant from the late 1950s, driver Rob watches over the simmering Standard 2...
One thing we did notice was a feathering (passing) safety valve, which was pretty noisy even at lower pressure. This will no doubt be rectified at the engine's next repair. With pressure now nearing the red line I was reluctant to add any more of the manmade fuel until we were near departure time. Slowly but surely, as the clock ticked around, passengers for our train began to descend the stairs from the booking hall. The diners are always a pleasant experience and people do tend to come up and have a chat with us, with some even visiting the footplate if they wish to do so...
With right time almost upon us, I made the fire up for departure as I normally would, adding some extra ovoids for good measure. The engine sat on the red line (and even blew off once or twice I think) whilst we awaited the green flag from the guard. "Right away" given, off we went. The engine steamed well on the way to Swithland, with the ovoids proving to be fairly responsive against the increased load. The additional draw on the fire no doubt helped matters, although a considerable amount of ash was leaving the chimney. At picturesque Swithland we came to a stop for the usual 15-minutes on the viaduct, allowing diners to look out across the water. As our restart time approached, I added a few more ovoids...
The remainder of our first trip to Leicester North with the diner was pretty successful and we were soon awaiting our northbound departure...
Rob had kindly suggested that we swapped half way through the shift, therefore splitting the turn in half. I of course gratefully accepted: these gestures are never expected but always appreciated. Leaving Leicester on time, I got No78019 underway, tender first for Loughborough. Rob was now on the shovel and once again the pressure needle hugged the red line as we proceeded back to base. Our 20:45 departure felt like it came around very quickly and Rob made up a good fire in preparation. He also noted that we were shovelling far more ovoids than we usually would coal. I drove us to Leicester North, stopping only at Rothley to collect the single line token. Once again, the 2-6-0 steamed very well and is seen here in the dim light at Leicester...
Having run round, No78019 was on the mark again for our final homeward departure. Leaving Leicester however, the engine became a little reluctant. The fire was certainly there in terms of mass, but wasn't producing the desired results. The run home included a final 10-minute break at Rothley's down platform and here Rob began trying to reawaken the fire. By now it was heavily clinkered and in fact a lot of it looked like a molten liquid. Each time he lifted a section with the iron, the remaining mass flooded in and replaced it. The pressure was a little more lively after a stir up and we left Rothley just shy of blowing off. However, by the time we were trundling through Swithland the engine was really starting to struggle and poor old Rob had his work cut out. The state of the fire didn't really allow us the opportunity to add too much more fuel either, as it would have probably just made things worse. Although we never struggled for water, we were right "down the nick" as we say.
Luckily, thanks to the steady downward gradient north of Swithland, we could pretty much maintain 25mph with only a breath of steam on to keep everything tight. The pressure needle stuck to an uninspiring 110psi most of the way, with blow off pressure on a Standard 2 being 200psi for context. As I say, we were by no means in trouble, but it wasn't ideal! Rob used his extensive experience to get us home and I'm pleased to say that we did arrive on time, so we didn't do too bad! Having uncoupled the engine and watered her at the column, we arrived on shed with the same 110psi on the clock. Now it was a case of sorting things out. The fire was a right mess. It seemed almost as if the useful elements of the fuel had all burnt away, leaving just the bonding agent and whatever else. Eventually, we managed to clear things up to an acceptable state and No78019 was left properly disposed for the night. There were cries of "Coal, coal, my kingdom for some coal!" as the engine simmered away...
"End of shift"
Despite our trials and tribulations, it was still a pleasant evening out on the railway. I must thank Rob for his company this evening on the footplate and for the go on the handle. These new fuels are going to become more prominent as the supply of proper coal continues to dry up, so you can't knock any railway for giving them a fair trial. However, on this occasion the ovoids seemed to come up short. I personally think that they don't like the start and stop arrangement, as this seems to introduce clinker. It's a shame because when they were going well, they did go well. The amount of stuff leaving the chimney and raining down on the coaches wasn't brilliant either unfortunately. As always, I offer no official view, just a personal opinion.
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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