Does anyone have a 'Magic Carpet' going spare?

7820 'Dinmore Manor' & 35006 'P&O' being prepared for service at Toddington - 25th October 2022

 

From the outside, especially to those relatively unfamiliar with the heritage railway industry, it would be very easy to surmise that the vast majority of our time is spent 'Playing Trains' more than anything else. However, the reality in an operational steam department is actually quite different. Anyone with a model railway can attest to the fact that 'playing trains', or as it's more jokingly referred to as, 'testing', forms a mere fraction of the overall puzzle so to speak, or should that be layout to be more precise. It's quite a complicated affair.

 

Now of course, we'd all love to spend all day playing trains on our full size layout, week in, week out, and the operation of steam trains is quite rightly considered to be one of the most 'glamorous and fun' jobs on the railway. Nevertheless, there are a myriad of less glamorous jobs within the department which must be done in a timely manner and at regular intervals to ensure that our fun of playing trains is not impeded. If the more mundane tasks were consistently deferred or ignored, then this would cause a 'domino effect' for us all.

 

Sooner of later we'd hit the buffers (metaphorically speaking!) and everything would grind to halt, and by extension, so would the wider railway, thus having a big impact on our very important and valued visitors. It is therefore imperative that the whole department works as one big team to make sure that everything runs as effectively and efficiently as possible. As the saying goes - "Teamwork makes the dream work!"

7903 'Foremarke Hall' on shed at Toddington - 18th November 2022

 

It doesn't matter whether you're a new member, one with years of experience, operational footplate crew - be that drivers, firemen or cleaners, management, support staff, or those heavily involved with restoration projects, we are all members of the same department. First and foremost, the needs of the department come first and it's important that everyone gets involved, stuck in, and mucks in (I mean this quite literally). The washing machine certainly receives some abuse!

 

Aside from special events and galas, the run up to Christmas is one of the most important times of the year. Why the title reference to 'Magic Carpets' I hear you ask? Well, more on that particular subject is to come very shorty. 

 

The Steam Dept can turn its hands to most things, both big or small!

 

 

'Playing with the dog!' - Photo courtesy of John Cruxon

 

Here you see John Hancock, Mark Webber and Eddie Arnold fitting a new spring to the P Way dogfish. Once it was all fitted, the dragbox height was then checked to make sure the waggon sat level.

 

 

You can't beat a good wash! - Photo courtesy of John Cruxon

Here you see two of our regular Wednesday gang members, Fred Ardy in the pit and John Longhurst up top giving No 8 road outside pit a thorough clean. The yellow Steam Cleaner is in the background and if you look carefully, the new high pressure “Patio Cleaner type attachment” on the floor to the right of the cleaner is a new acquisition. The situation is we are having a major effort to clean area’s more effectively and this new kit works a treat. Whether we like it or not, Steam Engines are messy and leave a lot of mess so our housekeeping has to improve. The old steamer would do it but it took forever! This new machine blasts it off in no time. 4270 peeks out of the shed watching the activity.

...roll on Friday, or should I say 'Shuntday'!

 

Friday 18th November brought about a good reorganisation and a clean of the shed. With 7820 being away on her holidays for the winter, we were afforded some additional space within the shed to relocate various restoration projects and reposition certain pieces of associated railway equipment. Having further available space inside during the winter months is a godsend as it allows more items to be kept from the elements.

 

I bring up the aforementioned 'magic carpet' at this point as having one would've certainly made things a lot easier and less time consuming. Instead of shunting, we could have floated things around the shed with aplomb. I hear Aladdin is an avid user of such a contraption, but sadly I've yet to see one in the wild myself!

7903 on shed at Toddington in the early morning sunshine - 18th November 2022

The first task was to extract 7903 from shed No 9 road and place her over the outside pit on No 8 road. As a result, we then had access to 3850 who'd been stabled at the rear of the shed for some time. She was very carefully removed.  

 

 

The photographs above and below show 3850 as of Friday morning - 18th November 2022

The eventual goal was to reunite 3850 with shed No 7 road and specifically the jacks, to allow further restoration work to continue. In order for this to be facilitated, both 2807 and D6948 needed to be removed from shed No 7 road. The '37' has been in the steam shed for some time receiving some much needed repairs, which required the use of the jacks to lift the body from its bogies. I'm pleased to report that things are looking good for 2023 and the latest update can be found here: Is it nearly Winter already??  

A 'floating' 37? The state of play as of 26th August 2022 - Note the rather dirty shed floor!

Moving back to the present time. 2807 was removed from shed No 7 road and duly shunted over to No 10 road in front of the diesel shed. This meant that access could be gained to the '37' which was recently reunited with its bogies. Further work is required, thus the diesel could not be moved under her own power. A shunter was sent in to extract the Type 3.

 

Mark Young gets the shunter ready, 2874 can be seen on the right - 18th November 2022

 

With the 'Big Green Machine' removed, we were left with a completely free shed No 7 road. Thus, the opportunity was taken to give the far end beyond the indoor pit a thorough clean. Having not used the new cleaning equipment before, John Cruxon gave me a crash course in its operation (don't worry, nobody was injured!). However, I will admit that one or two folk may have got a little wet. I'm keen to give the machine a new name, how about 'Cleany McCleanFace'?

How shed No 7 road looked following a good clean. 3850's tender can be seen behind P&O.

 

The new cleaning equipment took a bit of getting used to initially but I soon got the hang of the “Patio Cleaner type attachment”. A bit of adjustment was required to the detergent output, as we rather quickly ended up with something akin to an industrial scale bubble-bath. You're always learning when you work on the railway!

 

It's not often you see an empty shed No 7 road! - 18th November 2022

  

By this point, 3850 had been brought round to shed No 7 road - The cleaner floor was drying out.

 

The floor cleaning was a team effort and an awful lot of crud and detritus was removed in the process. A fair bit of shovelling was required and we filled up two buckets with debris, fortunately no one 'kicked the bucket' so to speak. In between the sunken rails was thoroughly cleaned and we used a number of brooms to try and remove as much of the excess surface water as we could. I have to say that Steve was very adept with the hosepipe, wasn't he David H? Thank you to everyone who helped out as it wasn't a particularly easy job.

Simon Edmunds on 'light-up' duty with Ade on 4270 - 18th November 2022

 
Following a relatively short lunch break, 4270 was taken out of the shed and prepared to be lit-up by Simon and Ade during the afternoon - The 42xx being rostered for a 'Photo Charter' and 'Charity Santa' at the weekend. Luckily the sun was still shining at this point, even if it was a little on the chilly side. 2807 and 7903 were shunted into shed No 9 road. Later on, 3850 was reunited with her smokebox having been with 2807.  

3850 with her smokebox reattached - 18th November 2022

Simon's got the warming fire going as 4270 starts to slowly warm up by early evening - 18th November 2022

 

3850 now back where she belongs and reunited with her smokebox. Her wheelsets can be seen underneath - 18th November 2022

An overall view of the shed. L-R 7903, 2807, 35006, 3850 & 2874 - 18th November 2022

Like a lot of days on shed, things are planned out to a certain degree so that everyone knows what's going on. You could say that it's a bit like choreography in dancing. Sometimes things go swimmingly whilst on other occasions it can be more of a challenge and obstacles have to be overcome. But like I said at the start of this piece, it's the team that you have around you which makes all of the difference. A rather successful day or two by all accounts in my book.

Until next time folks, I'm off to 'play trains' once more, albeit of the model variety this time. Do keep warm!

Alex (the sooty one!).

P.S. If anyone happens to have a magic carpet or knows where I might be able to acquire one, then please shout!

All published photographs are my own unless otherwise stated/credited.