The 2013 season of Peak Rail 'Santa' trains started on 7th December, when I was the driver of 'Lord Phil', with Dave as fireman. When I arrived, the locomotive was on the outside pit facing south, ready to top-and-tail the 'Santa' train with 'Penyghent'. Dave already had matters well in hand as far as steam raising went, so I busied myself oiling round. Roger brought us the train staff and we were ready to come off-shed at the booked time, 10:00. The Special Traffic Notice had said we'd have a 7-coach train, but there were only 5 coaches standing in the platform, because the 2-coach 'Palatine' restaurant set had been shunted onto the 'Third Line'. This meant that we had to reach our train by leaving the depot via the 3-lever ground frame at the north end which is released by the train staff. We then headed south on the run-round loop, 'trailing' the trap points at the north end of the run-round loop which are controlled by a second ground frame. I came to a stand at the ground disc signal controlled from the 3-lever ground frame at the south end of the loop. The white signal disc has a yellow bar, rather than red, so as to permit movements into the headshunt when the signal is 'on'. Dave walked forward to the ground frame, reversed the crossover and cleared the signal. I moved the engine forward onto the single line, Dave restored the points, removed the train staff from the frame and climbed back onto the footplate. We then moved up to the waiting 5 coaches, Keith the guard called us on and Dave 'tied us on' and started steam heating the train.
'Lord Phil' at the head of the 10:45 'Santa' train.
Steam Heating
With British weather, carriage warming during the heating season is important. Warming is carried out by passing an auxiliary supply of steam from the locomotive via flexible hose couplings between vehicles to radiators in each coach, typically at a steam pressure of about 30 pounds per square inch. This is only a fraction of boiler pressure so steam from the boiler is admitted to the heating system through a Reducing Valve. It takes a while for steam to work its way through the train so it's usual to open the steam heat cock on the back of the train until steam can be seen escaping, assuring that all the intermediate cocks between carriages are open and the steam heating hoses correctly coupled. Ideally, this process should be started well in advance of departure to give the coaches a chance to start warming before the passengers board. Since the train was rather cold, we were asked to increase the pressure somewhat to improve matters. Once steam heating is started, the fireman needs to account for the extra demand for steam which will increase water and coal consumption.
Of course, as originally built the 'Austerity' locomotives, like 'Lord Phil,' were not provided with steam-heating or vacuum brake facilities but restored locomotives used for passenger trains on preserved railways have had these features added.
There's a little more about steam heating in my article here.
In the old days on the 'big railway', it was common practice to allocate a special locomotive to the task of pre-warming rakes of coaches. At some carriage depots, stationary boilers were provided for this purpose. These were usually old boilers removed from locomotives (or even fairly complete locomotives). A stationary locomotive boiler does not have the advantage of the steam blast which, on a locomotive in motion, discharges used steam through the blast pipe into the chimney, enhancing the airflow through the fire. To make up for this deficiency, tall chimneys were usually added to create sufficient draught.
Working the trains
The timetable called for four trips top-and-tailed to Matlock Riverside, leaving Rowsley at 10:45, 12:15, 13:45 and 15:15. Dave and I had time for a bacon bap before we left with the first train.
Dave enjoys a bacon bap.
I usually concentrate on describing working on the locomotive but, of course, there are many other people required to keep a passenger railway running, including Signalmen, Guards, Stationmasters, Platform Staff, Ticket Office and on-train Ticketing Staff, Shop Staff and Catering Staff. These 'front line' roles are backed up by a host of support staff working on maintenance of the Permanent Way, Locomotive and Rolling Stock, Signal and Telegraph equipment and buildings. The majority of these roles on a preserved line are carried out by volunteers and the railway's Management has to ensure that volunteers are suitably trained and examined for the roles they undertake in addition to ensuring compliance with the myriad rules which apply to a passenger-carrying railway. It's hard enough to fill all these positions at any time of the year but the 'Santa' trains make extra demands because of the larger number of passengers normally carried and all the extra help needed to support Santa as he brings his special 'magic' to the railway.
A festive-looking John and Jan pose alongside 'Lord Phil'.
Both 'Lord Phil' and 'Penyghent' initially had a little trouble with 'dragging brakes'. This improved later in the day, possibly following 'pulling the strings' on all the vacuum brake cylinders of the coaches. By the time we were on our last round trip, it was becoming dark, showing up the illuminations on the platforms at Darley Dale to advantage. All the platform lights on the Up platform at Darley Dale were lit up, making the station look very inviting. Although the cast iron columns for similar lighting on the Down platform have been fitted and painted, they await the lanterns.
All the trains during the day were either full or well-loaded - there were certainly plenty of people around. Once we arrived back at Rowsley on the last train, we uncoupled and made our way across to the shed where Harvey coaled us, ready for the following day's service. We then stabled the locomotive on the outside pit and completed disposal. There's a general description of what's involved in disposal in the article MIC - Disposal. Once these duties were complete, Dave and I could 'sign off' after a satisfying day.
Related posts in this Blog
Santa Specials.
On the Footplate (Part 2).
My Pictures
Peak Rail 'Santa' trains 2013
Lord Phil.
