The Cleaner's Lot

Upon being dragged back kicking & screaming to blog writing duties, plan A was to assemble a small team of people who would take on composing blog articles on an occasional basis, perhaps once a month, to spread the workload.  The confessed rates of adult illiteracy however in the steam loco department has come as a surprise to me, with many people who have ostensibly passed written exams on firing & driving steam locomotives suddenly claiming to not know which way round to hold a pen, much less how to write an article on a computer.  So much for plan A.   I am pleased to report however that I have at least been able to twist the arm Eleanor, into composing articles on an occasional basis.  To this end, she has provided the following post on the sort of things that the role of cleaner encompasses.  For ease of identification as to who wrote which article, henceforth, we'll be putting our names at the bottom. As neither of us was able to make it to Toddington at the weekend, the photos used to illustrate the article are all culled from ancient blog posts.  

Ray

The cleaner's lot

The first rung on the ladder to becoming steam locomotive crew is working as a cleaner. Historically this has always been the case. Back in the days of steam, bright young school-leavers (14-year-olds back then of course) with aspirations of becoming engine drivers when they grew up would take on this role. These days of course the new aspirants have significantly more than 14 years behind them, but they share that ambition of becoming an engine driver when they grow up, well, of becoming an engine driver anyway, whether they will ever grow up is debatable.

Cleaners are learning all the time. Today's cleaners have to sit written exams after a course of classroom tuition before they can ever call themselves cleaner. After that they continue to learn the practical skills which they will need in order to work as footplate crew by working to assist the existing crews. When considered ready, and a firing instructor becomes available they can progress onto training as a fireman.  For cleaners of yesteryear the tuition was a less formal process based on "Mutual improvement classes" given by more experienced engine crew who gave these classes on a purely voluntary basis. The young cleaners would progress through a series of assessments and would gradually work their way up the ladder of seniority, eventually acquiring the status of "passed cleaner", which means that they had qualified as a fireman however there was no vacancy for one at the moment. They could act as a fireman if one was unavailable, but otherwise would continue to clean locos.  Many passed cleaners would at this point seek a transfer to another shed which did have a vacancy for a fireman. The progression from cleaner to fireman, then and now, is not a quick one and anybody embarking on the journey should expect several years good, hard, but very enjoyable, graft before attaining their goal.

For all the benefits of classroom learning, there is nothing like getting up close and personal with a steam loco to understand what makes it tick, or if you prefer, chuff, and that is just what a cleaner has to do. When on duty the cleaner behaves as assistant to the fireman and therefore when rostered for a turn needs need to pitch up on shed when the fireman does - 6am for a 10am departure train.

The fireman, being the first member of the crew to arrive, has to check that the loco is in a fit state to run which amount other things involves checking the condition of the smokebox - making sure there are no leaks of water among other things. This done, the ash which has accumulated in the smokebox during running the day before needs to be removed, and yes you guessed it this dusty and rather warm task is just the sort of thing a cleaner comes in handy for.

Once all the safety checks have been completed, perhaps stating the obvious, the fireman needs to light a fire and to do that wood is required. So off the cleaner is dispatched to collect wood in the correct range of sizes in the correct quantity (as specified by the fireman). Thankfully on our railway we have a team (I hope they know how much they are appreciated) who take on the job of cutting up wood into handy-sized pieces for fitting into a firebox so the cleaners' task of collecting wood simply involves going to the wood store and selecting the required fuel. The next ingredient is kerosene soaked rags to give good ignition, well it beats your average fire-lighter anyway.

Once the fire-lighting material have been supplied the cleaner needs to get on with what the name of the role suggests they should do - clean!

Smoke, ash, and coal dust all leave their mark to put it mildly. The first things to clean are the things that are going to get very hot later - the brass safety valve bonnet and copper chimney cap (if you get a posh enough loco to have one) are the first candidates for attention. A suitable metal polish (many good brands exist) needs to be liberally applied with a good dose of elbow grease to get that deep down shine.

Dan cleaning 5542's safety valve bonnet before it gets too hot

The paintwork comes in for a bit of a battering and regular therapy with a heavy-duty detergent is necessary to keep our locos looking at their best. Probably one of the larger shampoo-and set jobs really.

If you stand on a footbridge and look down on a loco you can sometimes see where the cleaner hasn't quite reached the top of the boiler on each side leaving a dark spine along its apex - lets just call it some additional lining and leave it at that.......

At this point the loco crew have probably been on shed for quite some time and it is recommended that the conscientious cleaner demonstrates their potential as future firemen in the ability to boil water - starting small-scale, obviously, the mess-room kettle provides good practice and a route to a refreshing cup of tea for all.

George, not only with tea, but chocolate biscuits too

 Attention returning to the loco, the smoke box is next on the list. Several of our locos don't have painted smokeboxes (which would just need a wash), but have unpainted metal - not all paints respond well to the high temperatures the smoke box gets to (it does not have any insulation on it like the boiler does) so leaving it unpainted avoids any prematurely peeling paint. This requires a coat of oil and kerosene mix followed by a wipe over with a cloth to retain a smart black appearance.

Working on down the rods and wheels are next - these are just about at eye-level when the loco is out of the platforms, so yes the visitors will notice if they don't get done! Some kerosene and oil on a brush followed by a wipe with an oily cloth and they look presentable once again. 

Alex (l) giving a certain blue engine some attention

During all this the driver has been working around the engine oiling up. Oil can have a bit of a mind of its own and a cleaner will be on the look out for any drips on the running plate that need to be expunged.

Once the loco is off shed, the collection of buckets and cleaning tools need to be put away in their proper places - the next day's cleaners won't appreciate having to hunt for what they need to get their cleaning done. The cleaner may be invited to ride on the footplate for one of the round trips at some point during the day otherwise there is always plenty to do on shed until the loco returns - the day isn't over yet......

When the loco returns we have the job of disposal. Driver and fireman check the engine has survived the day and the conscientious cleaner does well to supply tea upon their arrival, but won't get away that lightly. The fireman has been industriously feeding the fire all day and so a generous helping of ash has accumulated in the ashpan and this needs to be emptied out. The exact design of the ashpan and the method of emptying it varies from loco to loco, but it generally involves getting into the pit underneath the loco armed with a hose and a rake. The ash needs to be damped down with copious amounts of water (otherwise the dust gets everywhere and you certainly don't want it in the loco's moving parts, and it cools it too) and then raked out into the pit. A dirty job, but it needs to be done.

Chris emptying an ashpan

Ed(l) and James emptying a pit of ash

With the ashpan empty the loco moves on round to the shed leaving pile of wet ash to be cleared up and put into the ash pile to await removal. And so the cleaner (hopefully assisted by some kind associate) spends (more than) a few moments paddling in the pit and clearing up the slurry of ash. Needless to say the cleaner is clean no longer and, job done, returns to the mess coach to finish the day with a well earned cup of tea. A labour of love it has to be said!

Graham has kindly supplied a selection of photos of 2807 on its Christmas holiday at the Llangollen Railway.  All photos from here on, by kind permission of Graham Bondi.

Eleanor