Lisa and Jan on the footplate of 'Royal Pioneer' at Peak Rail on 14th January 2007 (photograph by John Archer).
I was driver at Peak Rail on Sunday. My fireman, Chris Ward (an ex-Annesley fireman from B.R. days) was there early to light-up. I turned up about 07:00 to oil-round. This is a messy and uncomfortable process, particularly with an inside cylinder engine like 'Royal Pioneer', where you usually end up climbing between the frames to reach the oiling points on the inside motion. At least it's easier than a Great Western 'King' or 'Castle'. These 4-cylinder engines have been praised by generations of enginemen for the way they pull and cursed for the contortions necessary to get oil in all the right places on the inside motion.
Although the first service train was not 'till 11:00, the loco is required for 08:30 for 'Driving Experience' where one or two people, mainly men but sometimes women, fulfill what is often a lifetime's ambition to drive and fire a steam locomotive. It's a popular birthday present for major birthdays. I was involved in what I think were the first commercially-organised driving experiences at Birmingham Railway Museum, but most preserved railways now offer this format, and I've supervised trainees at a number of railways on lots of different steam engines (and a few diesels). I believe my personal total of trainees is now over 5,000! Well, we had a pleasant couple of hours with our trainee who seemed to enjoy his time with us, well photographed by his family from the trackside, before moving across to the four coaches in the platform which formed the service.
We're in the steam heating season so, as well as attaching the screw coupling and vacuum hoses (invariably referred to as 'bags'), between the locomotive and leading coach, the fireman also coupled up the steam heating hoses so that he could warm the train. Then we were advised that the Church Lane signalman had arrived to find that a tree had been blown down by the high winds in the night. The tree had damaged one corner of the roof of the signalbox and was now blocking the track. We were told to expect a half-hour delay whilst a work party cut up and removed the obstruction.
In the event, we finally got away around 11:20 which meant we arrived at our Northern terminus, Rowsley, at about the time we should have been departing in the opposite direction. We uncoupled the engine and ran forward to the water tank to replenish the locomotive's saddle tank (even an 'Austerity' 0-6-0T is quite a big kettle and a thirsty beast, particularly when you're making steam to keep the passengers warm). We then ran round, coupled onto the other end of the train, set the loco lamps and "blew up" the brakes (that is, create the regulation 21 inches of Mercury partial vacuum in the brake system to release the continuous brake throughout the train). We ran round in a little less than the 20 minutes allowance, so we left Rowsley having "pulled back" a few minutes of the late running.
There's not much opportunity for fast running "on the road" - the Line Speed Limit on most preserved lines is 25 miles per hour and there are lower limits at various points along the route, where speed has to be reduced to as little as 5 miles per hour. Visitors to the footplate are often surprised to find that the majority of steam locomotives are not fitted with a speedometer, although substantial numbers of large passenger locomotives were so equipped. Instead, drivers took pride in the use of a variety of techniques to estimate their speed. In the old days, you could normally be sure that, if a train was exceeding the designated speed restriction, the driver was doing so deliberately. Nowadays, of course, with portable GPS commonplace, it's not unusual for interested passengers to keep track of your speed. Only last week, I had a report from a passenger that I'd been going 25 m.p.h. towards Matlock and 22 m.p.h. coming back (uphill) - perfectly legal!
However, a combination of keeping up the speed on the road and smart station working at our intermediate stop at Darley Dale meant that we were only about ten minutes late on arrival at our other terminus, Matlock Riverside. The best way to pick up seconds is in uncoupling, running round the stock and coupling but the allowed ten minutes doesn't give much scope for improvement. Safety is paramount - you don't pick up time by rushing with couplings or dashing about with the engine, but by working intelligently, avoiding wasted effort and stopping the engine accurately. Keeping a good lookout for the Guard's "rightaway" (green flag and whistle) helps, so that the train can depart promptly once authorised. We had a good run in the 'Down' direction (usually, but not invariably 'Down' is away from London, 'Up' towards London) and shaved a few more seconds on our stop at Darley Dale so that we pulled into Rowsley again only a few minutes in arrears. More smart working on watering and running round meant that we were ready to depart at 12:35, as booked.
Chris drove the second round trip and the afternoon fireman, Lisa, came on early to fire, leaving me with a watching brief. For the third trip, Chris left us and Lisa fired to me. One always refers to a fireman "firing to" a driver - indeed, the way a driver handles an engine makes a big difference to the task of the fireman. Ideally, teamwork allows the crew to work together and enjoy a much better trip. In the old days, some drivers were referred to as "mankillers" for their lack of consideration to the fireman in their use of steam.
Lisa and I completed the day on time and without incident. I think this may be the first time Peak Rail has fielded an all-female crew, although I've done it before at Birmingham Railway Museum, the Avon Valley Railway and the North Norfolk Railway.
Incidentally, the morning fireman, Chris Ward, has an excellent collection of photographs at http://christopher8062.fotopic.net/ and recollections of his B.R. days at http://www.annesleyfireman.com/.
