Events of Saturday, 2nd March 2013
I was rostered as driver with Richard as fireman, Mike as operating officer and Peter as guard at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. 'Agecroft No. 1' was waiting on the pit for us, having recently returned from a short visit to the Ribble Steam Railway. While Richard put a fire in the locomotive, I started oiling-round.
Mike suggested that we assembled the train whilst steam was being raised so we opened the door to the Power Hall (a purely manual operation at present since recent maintenance has resulted in disconnection of the electric motor which used to drive the door).
The Battery Electric shunter was already coupled to the two four-wheel passenger coaches in the Power Hall allowing me to draw the coaches out and place them in the railway compound. Once the gates were secured, we could complete the shunting without crossing areas open to the public. The Battery Electric has recently received a new set of batteries, giving it a new lease of life. Having 'pinned down' the coaches, I moved the shunter to 'Agecroft No. 1', picked it up and put it on top of the coaches and moved the whole train back to the platform. The shunter was then stabled for the day in the railway compound clear of the running line.
The 20-ton brake van had been left on the buffer stop at the end of the platform and Peter elected to run with the brake van attached, allowing him to light the stove in the brake van in order to keep warm.
The Museum is using a new source of Welsh Steam Coal and this performed very well. We were able to do our 'test run' to ensure everything was in order quite early and our first passenger train left around 11:45. Although the day was cold, the sun came out making it quite pleasant and we had plenty of passengers throughout the afternoon. Each time we completed a run, Peter quickly 'ticketed' the next departure (Guards are, once again, manually collecting fares and issuing tickets, since the modern Automatic Ticket Machine at the end of the platform has been taken out of use) so we had little time to relax between trips.
At the end of the day, we detached the brake van and moved the train down the running line to the Disposal Point where we 'knocked the fire out' and emptied the ashpan. Then, I moved the Battery Electric to the head of the train, drew the train forward to clear the Power Hall points and propelled the lot into the Power Hall. An enjoyable, if tiring day!
Monday 4 March 2013
Saturday Steam
