Tea and Thunder

35006 is now back in service, an issue with a clack valve having been identified and corrected.  She should be running on Tuesday (today as I write this) & Wednesday as well as this coming weekend.  These will probably be the last days she runs now until the 2017 season.  Unusually on Saturday, she was running as train 2, which only gets 2 round trips as opposed to train 1, which gets 3. 

Jonathan, being a fan of all things Southern Railway was delighted to be getting a turn on 35006:

Jonathan checking 35006's fusible plugs.

 Yes, the temptation was strong!

John, being the manager of Foremarke Hall, might have preferred to have swapped locos for the day, as she was the other loco running.

John boarding 35006

I was rostered for the day on Foremarke Hall, with Chris (trainee driver), Andy (his instructor) & James (cleaner).  As always, a steam loco's crew are powered by prodigious quantities of tea:

Chris (l) and Andy with the first brew of the day

Jonathan, delighted to be out on 35006.

James cleaning Foremarke Hall...

...whilst Neil cleaned 35006...

...it seems that cleaning 35006 is a two man person job

 The most recent weather forecast that I had seen suggested that the day would start off with light rain, which would get progressively heavier as the day went on.  I took the view that putting up the storm sheet would be a sensible course of action.

Storm sheet just fitted.

 Just to prove that it's all we ever do, yet more tea was consumed:

(l-r) Neil & Jonathan

(l-r) Chris, Andy & Jonathan

We had a bit of a conference regarding the weather, conflicting forecasts on mobile phones were consulted and the decision was taken that it probably wasn't going to rain after all and the storm sheet could come down.

The maroon rake had been left overnight in the north siding.  Just as we were about to go off shed and hook onto our stock, the Duty Operations Officer decided that we needed to go to the north siding and pull the maroon rake into platform 2, and then hook onto our own stock. 

Pulling the maroon rake out of the north siding

 Andy had arranged for OTC to deliver (yet more) tea to the footplate, along with bacon rolls for breakfast when we arrived at Cheltenham Race Course station.  Thanks Andy.

A very welcome delivery

 As you have probably worked out by now, I prefer to remain largely anonymous, the man behind the camera.  I wasn't expecting to be asked by somebody if I wrote the steam loco dept blog.  I denied it of course.

Chris & the chap who had rumbled my identity.

I remained cool, calm and collected, and despite the distraction, called for Chris to shut off the water supply at just the right point.

Full, but not overflowing.

Chris checking for hot bearings

 Just to make a change from tea, I bought us all ice creams

Chris & Andy, engaging Clive in conversation.

In my usual inimitable style, I let James have a go at firing for the second trip and attempted to put him off by distracting him with ice cream, just as he was building up the fire.

James

Off on the second round trip

 At the end of the first round trip and the start of the second, there was a drone flying near Hayles bridge.  There are of course a number of regulations regarding drone flight, this one as far as I could tell was being operated perfectly responsibly.

No, that's not a spider on the camera lens.

 James made a pretty good job of firing the second trip, we never lacked for pressure or water, nor was there any blowing off.

James firing Foremarke Hall.

The lineside drainage team were in action near Chicken Curve.

 It was actually quite warm, the coal needed plenty of damping down with the pep pipe to suppress the dust.

James damping down the coal

We weren't the only ones to be found drinking tea of course

James uncoupling.

Bill, in Toddington signal box

 It was at this point, that James dropped down off the footplate to head over to the mess coach and fetch us even more tea, whilst we carried on to our stock back in platform 1. No sooner had I hooked the loco to the stock and clambered back up into the cab, than the heavens opened. The downpour was heavy enough to obscure the section signal.  Needless to say, the storm sheet was refitted in a hurry.

It's somewhere out there.

 Some of our visitors were still keen as mustard, one carried on taking photos from the shelter of a tree at the end of platform 2.

Keen!

 It is a little tricky to depict the intensity of rain in a photo, but here goes:

Coming in under the storm sheet...

...Dripping down off the cab roof

A flash of lightning, extremely closely followed by a clap of thunder was more than a little disconcerting.  In theory, the cab of a steam loco should act very much like a Faraday cage, and the crew should be entirely safe.  The theory is all well and good, but I wasn't too keen to put it to the test.  Mercifully, although the rain continued unabated for a while longer, the lightning didn't return.  Damping down the coal with the pep pipe was no longer a necessity.

In spite of the torrential conditions, not only did James make it back with the teas, but Andy also braved the weather by going back to the restaurant car and getting us all cake.  He returned muttering something about getting the tender modified to have a corridor connection.

(l-r), Chris, Andy & James with our afternoon tea.

Found the section signal at last!

The rain was still coming in sideways under the storm sheet

 We took shelter in Greet tunnel, where it was significantly drier.

Dry at last

 Emerging from the other side of Greet tunnel, we found that the rain had stopped and we continued in the dry.

James' gloves drying on the warming plate

 Seeing where you are going when running tender first with the storm sheet up is not the easiest of tasks.  Using the coal rake as a prop to hold the storm sheet up and provide a small window to see through is about as good as it gets.

A room with a view

For reasons that weren't at all clear to me, there were a few balloons outside the TPO coach that houses the model railway at Winchcombe.  Was it somebody's birthday?

It caused some amusement anyway.

The end of the day, Chris checks for hot bearings one last time

 The day wasn't quite over though, normally we'd push the stock into the north siding and go to dispose, however the electrical generator under the buffet car was playing up.  Some representatives from the Carriage & Wagon dept wanted the buffet car pulling onto the crossing at Toddington, where they could get at it and effect a repair.

C&W Waiting for the buffet car to arrive

Loosening the generator

Dragging it out onto a trolley.

 Once that was sorted, and the stock pushed back into the north siding, we set off to the pit for disposal.  Hardly had I finished raking through the fire, and checking the smoke box, than Jamie kindly disappeared underneath Foremarke Hall to empty out the ash pans.  Many thanks Jamie.

Jamie, a blur of action underneath Foremarke Hall.

Once more, tea was graciously provided for the hard working crew, this time by Eleanor.

Tea with a smile

Needless to say, Jamie got a well earned cuppa when he emerged.

 I had been assured that a number of people would send me photos of the various activities on Saturday, including continuing work on 3850, 2874 & 2807 plus the foundations for some new containers that will be delivered soon.  Sadly my spies have all let me down on this occasion... I will of course be docking their pay!