Blown on the Steel Breeze

The weather forecast for Sunday was grim.  It would start off grey.  Only the one shade, which would be as near as makes no difference black (the other 49 shades must have gone somewhere else) and slow moving heavy rain would soon set in for the day.  A little thing like the prospect of heavy rain doesn't put off the dedicated team of volunteers in the GWSR's steam loco dept.  They might try and wangle their way off of a loco with an exposed cab onto one with a nice enclosed one, but it doesn't put them off.  Once again I was the only cleaner present, so I set to work cleaning both the day's locos, 5542 and Foremarke Hall.  Andy has now given up on nagging to get a pot of tea made (well he only had the one loco to light up, I had two to clean) and once he had got his fire lit in Foremarke Hall, he fetched us all a brew:

Andy... capable of operating kettles large and small.

Having made us all a brew, he demonstrated just how it should be drunk

Meanwhile, Phil took shelter just in case the forecast rain started suddenly

 My spy in the 35006 camp had clued me up to the fact that progress is being made on her smoke deflectors.  They're now in undercoat:

Primed smoke deflectors

A chance encounter with Andy Marshall at the end of the day revealed that work had focused on fabricating the brackets for the smoke deflectors.  Apparently there are quite a few brackets involved and the original Bulleid design required that they were robust enough to keep the smoke deflectors in place at speeds of 100 MPH or more.  Andy rather hoped that none of our drivers would regard that as a challenge. 

Sunday as it turned out was also a 'Classic Vehicle Day'. For volunteers in the steam loco dept, this means that you're supposed to park out of sight behind the Flag and Whistle rather than in any of the prime spots next to the yard entrance as those form part of the display area.  To get from the yard to my car to retrieve my footplate gear now meant walking through the assembled collection of vehicles, so even though classic cars are not really my thing, I thought I'd grab a few photos.

Ok, you got me, even I would like an E-type Jag?

Having seen me take a photo of the E-type, a cheeky chap in a mini (car not skirt) parked next to it suggested that I should take his photo too.

The lady in the passenger seat was rather embarrassed and hid her face

Of much more of interest to me was the collection of classic motor bikes.  For instance this rather tasteful 1000cc Ariel Square Four definitely caught my eye:

Ariel Square Four

I had spent a while chatting to the owner of this BSA A10 a few weeks ago.  Many years ago I used to own a BSA B33, which shared many common parts with the A10:

It's got a Norton front end and a Japanese carburettor, but still looks gorgeous

Behind the A10, was a BSA B29 De-Luxe of something around 1929 vintage.

BSA B29 De-luxe

Again, she's rather gorgeous.  I love the fish-tail silencer.  Strictly a utilitarian machine in its day, meant for commuting rather than high speed burn ups to the coast.  Although recognisably a motorbike, the girder forks, rigid rear end, 250cc side valve engine, drum brakes, acetylene lamps, hand operated gear lever and magneto ignition all hark back to days long gone.  Like modern motor vehicles, the lubrication system is fully enclosed albeit driven by a hand pump mounted on the far side of the petrol tank. 

Closer view of the B29's engine

This all got me to thinking, this for its day, was a cheap and cheerful commuting bike, built down to a price rather than up to spec, yet it had a fully enclosed lubrication system. This B29 is of a very similar age to one of our locos, 5542 (built 1928) and is far older than Foremarke Hall or 8274.  All these locos and even newer still BR standard locos all persisted in using total loss lubrication systems right up to the end of BR steam loco design.  It just seems rather odd to me that some sort of enclosed lubrication system wasn't dreamed up by some enterprising young CME. I know that Bulleid initially fitted enclosed chain driven valve gear on his pacific locomotives, but they were not exactly a success and were removed when the locos concerned were subsequently rebuilt.  No doubt one of this blogs better informed readers will come up with an answer as to why this was.

By contrast with the BSA B29, this is one of the big ends of 5542.  Not enclosed in an oil bath like the B29, but exposed to the elements. 

Just pop out the cork and fill it up.

 Lubrication is provided by the driver removing the cork and topping up the oil reservoir underneath which will retain enough oil to last the day and will need topping up before the next days use. Just in case anybody from the environment agency is looking in, removal of the oil after use is fully automated and done in strict compliance with Charles Collett's regulations on used oil disposal. The slide bars just receive a squirt of oil on the slide bars themselves and in a few filler pots scattered above them and on the cross head:

Which on a wet day turns into an emulsion like this

8274 features a pair of Wakefield lubricators on the driver's side running plate, but once again there is no oil return path.

No wonder there is so much cleaning needs doing on a steam loco. On the plus side though, it makes them far less prone to rust.

Apparently the classic vehicle event is open to machines over 25 years of age.  There is a small army of people nagging me to get my beloved 1977 Triumph Bonneville back on the road again. Perhaps one day.  At least then I'd be able to park by the entrance to the yard rather than be relegated to a spot behind the Flag and Whistle..

I was invited out onto the footplate of 5542 for the day by Steve & Phil.  5542 has a rather nice fully enclosed cab and is the perfect place to spend what is forecast to be a rainy day.

5542 indulges in a spot of shunting before the first service

Foremarke Hall disappears off with train 1 whilst we head onto the ash pit

 At the first hint of cold weather, the guards start asking for the steam heating to be connected up.  That caused a spot of bother.

Plenty of steam, but not where it was wanted

It turned out that not only had the steam heat bag on 5542 been recently changed with the connector misaligned, but that also several coaches had been in and out of the maroon rake and some of the inserted ones had the steam heat cocks shut.  By the second round trip we had it sorted, but the first trip may have been a slightly frosty one for the passengers.

I don't have many photos from the footplate as Phil more than kindly threw the shovel at me for the second and third round trips.  I think I caused him so much amusement after my first attempt, that he decided that it would be more fun to watch me foul it up again rather than fire himself.

Steve and Phil in the office for the day

Steve takes shelter from the leaking water delivery pipe at Cheltenham

On one trip, I managed to drop the token during the exchange at Winchcombe.  It's a double token exchange, so you drop one off and pick one up at the same time at the Toddington end of the platform.  I feared that when we stopped at the far end of the platform I'd have to walk all the way back to collect the token however Neil, the signalman on Sunday put in a surprising turn of speed as he ran after us down the platform to pass me the token.  I was extremely tempted to produce my camera and grab a photo of Neil chasing after us, but decided that it would probably put him off and then I really would have to walk back up the platform.  I've never dropped a token before, at least I chose to do it at Winchcombe where we were coming to a halt rather than at Toddington or Gotherington where we would have been pulling away and I'd have needed to get the train stopped so that I could collect it

Permit holding lineside photographers are expected to wear orange hi-viz when out and about on the lineside.  That message has failed to get through to at least one of them.

Sniper in the woods

 To be fair, he was only just off the platform at Toddington, but you don't usually expect to find them wearing camouflage.  It's a technique that I might be forced to employ myself if I'm to continue getting photos of certain members of the steam, loco dept who run and hide as soon as I appear.

An interesting exhaust trail as Foremarke Hall restarts after being checked at Winchcombe

Not only did we have a classic vehicle display at Toddington, but we also had a beer festival taking place on platform two at Winchcombe.  I had visions of lots of classic vehicle owners weaving along the nearby country lanes and failing breath tests at the end of the day. I trust that the drivers of the classic vehicles managed convince themselves of the virtues of temperance or at least nominate a designated driver. I'd have definitely taken the former approach if that lovely E-Type Jag had been mine.   

Ben turned up to rub in the fact that he wasn't on duty and could therefore partake of the pleasures of the beer tent:

Ben living dangerously.... and I'm not referring to his proximity to the gun powder van

Last time I had been out on 5542, I had rather overdone the firing at Toddington and had her blowing off much of the way to Winchcombe, with the rest of the trip being fairly ok.  This time round I was ok coming out if Toddington... but rather over did things at Cheltenham.  I managed to build up a fire big enough to get us all the way out to Honeybourne, never mind Broadway, though to get anywhere past Laverton we'd have needed to engage in a little on the move track laying in the style of Wallace and Gromit.

All too soon, the day was at an end and it was time to dispose of 5542 for the day:

A final top up of water

Phil empties out the smoke box

Needless to say, the weather forecast had remained inaccurate as usual right up to the point that I was emptying out the ash pit.  My being out of the cab was the cue for the heavens to open and I got soaked. 

And finally, next week's exciting installment will if all goes to plan, feature me getting a firing lesson on a certain 'really useful engine'.  What will happen and what the fat controller will make of it all is a matter for conjecture.  Somehow, I'd like to think that somewhere on the heritage railway celestial, the rev A.W. Awdry will be amused.