Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Steam Loco Dept Blog: Freezing Prep Turn

Last week, you may recollect that Eleanor helped out cover the end of a firing turn for me, what I didn't mention at the time was that a deal had been made... and that deal was that I should pitch up long before stupid O'clock on Saturday and help Eleanor with her prep turn. I wouldn't have been so keen to help out had I known that it was going to be so cold on Saturday morning. The temperature was hovering a degree or two above freezing, which would have been perfectly acceptable if it hadn't been for 30 MPH winds blowing straight in from Siberia. The wind chill ensured that no self respecting brass monkeys were anywhere to be seen.

There had been a fresh arrival of old rags appear in the oil store for the purposes of cleaning/lighting up locos, just occasionally, obscure (for want of a better word) items turn up.

That won't keep you warm...

...but this might.

Once I had got a fire going in Foremarke Hall, I stopped in the admittedly draughty cab and cleaned stuff in there, rather than brave the elements outside. I paused merely to make a pot of tea.

Angela, Steve & Jeremy grabbing a brew.

As already mentioned, the temperatures have plummeted and as a consequence the locos have been winterised. For our ex-GWR locos, that consists of...

...hanging weights on the injectors to drain them...

...and opening the steam heat valves to minimise condensation in the steam heat pipes

Raising steam

Eleanor putting lamps on Dinmore Manor

Steve oiling Foremarke Hall

Jeremy working so fast, he's a blur

Angela cleaning Dinmore Manor

Meanwhile, I stood by Foremarke Hall's fire, just to make sure that it didn't go out

We also had a new starter turn up, and to my shame, I have to confess that I've forgotten his name. My apologies to him, however he soon made himself useful making the brass work sparkle.

Blinged at Toddington

As an incentive to the prep crews, bacon is provided, all you have to do is get your mobile BBQ up to ~~gas mark 5~~ 200 PSI and stick it on the shovel. I bought along some sausages as well.

Breakfast cooking on Dinmore Manor

Being keen to stay as near as possible to a fire, I elected to do the cooking on this occasion. The steam loco dept might have provided plenty of bacon, but there was only one knife to be found in the mess coach, which makes separating sausage links or slicing up bread rolls a bit tricky.

The steam loco dept's one and only knife

I mentioned this to one of the daytime crew for Dinmore Manor who shall have to remain anonymous as he confessed that he had taken a knife home by mistake. I think he has returned it now.

Foremarke Hall setting off from Toddington...

...soon followed by Dinmore Manor, light engine though you couldn't tell from this photo except for the lamp code

You'll note that Dinmore Manor finally has some tinsel applied to her hand rail.

As for the prep crew, all that remained to do was drink tea and try to warm up by the radiator in the mess coach... well, OK, it was mostly me hogging the radiator, but there are no pictures of that.

I had family contractual obligations to attend to for the rest of the day, however a swift look around in the David Page shed before leaving revealed that 2807's woes were worse than at first feared, and that the fireman's side piston had chewed up and spat out its piston rings.

Piston ring jigsaw puzzle (photo courtesy of Roger Molesworth)

As Foremarke Hall is now overdue a washout, 35006 has had to be used for the mid-week Santa Specials and also the ones this coming weekend. The 35006 gang got to work finishing off cleaning out the innards of the tender and readying it for service again

The 35006 tender gang, springing into action.

The plan on Saturday was for 2807 to borrow piston rings from 3850 and run with those for the remainder of the season.

2807's piston at the back of the cylinder bore

It was so cold on Saturday, that even the snowmen had to find Christmas characters to cuddle up to in order to stay warm.

Too cold for snowmen, never mind brass monkeys

For a change, I didn't envy the day crews setting off to ferry children from Cheltenham Race Course to the North Pole to see Santa, they appear to have made the best of it though (the next three photos courtesy of Matthew Harris)

Matthew rustling up a suitable hot breakfast...

...Pete, building up the fire to try to keep the crew warm...

...Paul, sheltering from the wind

I have no idea how cold it was on Sunday, however it was Sam's first turn as a fireman since passing out. Reports suggest that he was equally adept at using the shovel for shifting coal into the firebox and for cooking bacon.

Sam, making it look easy (photo courtesy of Steve Parker)

And finally, it appears that it won't be possible to get 2807 running again in time for the end of the season, so it has entered its winter maintenance programme slightly early. The following three photos taken on Wednesday were all provided courtesy of Peter Gutteridge.