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On the GWR near Cheltenham Race Course (taken earlier with a different train!)
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The Morning Run
We “took over” the foot-plate at Winchcombe with me working as the volunteer fireman. Ian explained the role of the fireman and we went through the drill. Basically, the fireman keeps a good fire under the boiler to provide steam at the right pressure as well as the essential vacuum for the driver to control the train. It is the fireman’s job to stoke the fire with coal from the tender, keep the boiler topped up with water and watch the pressure gauge. He also watches the left (near) side of the train and is in constant communication with the driver and the guard when stationary. |
| The job is not easy! Maintaining the fire means shoveling a lot of coal quite precisely through the relatively small fire door, filling in holes on the grate to keep an even spread of fire from corner to corner. The coal in the tender has to be brought forward from time to time and water has to be added to the boiler using the injectors (that are themselves steam-powered. This is an important point - nothing on a steam locomotive works without a head of steam. There’s no electricity on the City of Truro!)
The road out of Winchcombe has a slight incline up to the summit and I had to work hard to bring the fire up to scratch and then build pressure in the boiler before we entered Greet Tunnel. Inside the tunnel the fire illuminated the steam and smoke from the engine and it was a wonderful sight only to be seen from the foot-plate. By the time we had passed the summit all was in good order and we used the injector to add water from the tender to the boiler. All too soon we were pulling into Gotherington and it was time to hand over to team three! |
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At Cheltenham Race Course station the locomotive was detached and run round the six coaches. As the next fireman up it would be my job to connect the front of City of Truro to the train. The first time you do this it feels very awkward and the vacuum pipes and couplings are very heavy to move in a confined space. But I got it done and then went onto the foot-plate to check the fire. The second time round everything seemed a lot easier but with a long steady incline to climb there was a lot of coal being consumed!
In the old days a footplateman began his working life as a cleaner in the sheds, learning from his seniors about the locomotives and generally imbibing information. After a while he would move to the next rung on the ladder, that of trainee fireman and would next be assigned to a lowly shunting engine. The apprenticeship is much the same today and it is likely that a fireman’s apprenticeship will take at least five years on any of the preserved steam railways! And only when you become a fireman can you consider starting the apprenticeship to become a driver. This can take another five years or more and involves both classroom work and hands on experience under the tutelage of a fully qualified driver. I made a quick mental calculation and realized I would be well into my retirement years by the time I could qualify as a driver! But I will be happy to just stay on the bottom rung or two! |
| Here is a picture of the inside "motion". City of Truro, like many locomotive designs of its day, kept a simple looking outward appearance (compare with a typical North American loco of the same period and there is a tremendous difference). I have read that locomotive design engineers wanted their designs to be clean regardless of the difficulties this brought about with maintenance. With abundant cheap labor available (the railways were a huge employer) the engineer could dictate his terms and get away with it.
Under the boiler and between the frames are located the two cylinders, the crankshafts, the valve gear and the counter balances. Only a small part is visible in this photo and to get to it you have to disappear under what seems to be a living machine! By the way, the cylinders drive the front axle and power is transfered to the rear axle by the outside connecting rods. |
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| Lunch Break
By the time we returned to Toddington it was 12:30 p.m. and we were hungry! Fortunately the railway has an excellent café and they laid on a superb roast chicken lunch followed by strawberry pie and cream. After shoveling all that coal I abandoned all thoughts of diet and stuck in! At this point we all got to know each other a little better and swapped stories of our childhood memories relating to the steam era. But in truth we were all itching to get back on the foot-plate! Next, the Afternoon Run (when I take on the role of driver) |
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The GWR Team The Fire and Drive Experience would not be possible without a considerable volunteer effort and I would like to name the entire team who made this day so very special. Without their dedication it would not be financially feasible to provide this wonderful day out. Resources Internet Links
Resources for Fire and Drive Preparation
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1 - Part 1 | 2 - Part 2 | 3 - Part 3 |