This may seem childish, but I feel the need to brag a little!
Today was my first day assigned as engine crew at the Georgetown Loop. First duty was of course the bottom of the engine crew, Fireman. And its not really a grunt job, its hard work! Basically, at least on an Oil Burner like our little 12, your in charge of the Fire, Water level, and Steam Pressure (no shoveling needed!!). And I was taught the 4 basic rules of firing from my good friend and long time Steam Fireman, Phil Reader.
1. Steam is a Luxury, water is a Necessity
2. One step at a time
3. Think about what your doing
4. Have fun
And boy did I have fun!! I watched and listened for the first run down and up the hill, then was set loose with supervision on run 2. After a brief surprise when the fire went out coming out of the yard, I slowly got the feel for the old girl. She is really a great engine. Easy to steam, very easy to control, just a notch or two makes a huge difference in how she fires. The tricky part was getting the oil on in time for Throttle movement, and shutting it off in time to not smoke out the train. That took a few runs to work out. Going down the hill is easy, going up, thats another story all together
Even with the Diesel helper (4 cars over weight limit for 12) the engine really works. You really have to react quick, and watch, smell, and listen to everything the engine tells you. She will tell you what she wants, you just have to understand.
First run up the hill I trimmed the Injector back, ran it up the hill almost all the way, it was on about 80% of the time. Got to the top, had plenty of water.
Second time up was a little tough, the injector did not want to prime, it started spitting water and steam, so we can up a little low on water, and had to build on the way down, but by the time we reached the Silver Mine stop, plenty of water was in the boiler, backed her down to a nice spot fire.
3rd trip down was easy, had a little bit of building do to, but not much, but at the bottom, the check valve on the branch pipe got stuck. But we fixed it quickly, towards the top though it cut out again, and we had to use the engineers injector
4th and final trip of the day, the check valve gave up completely, was find going down hill, just a little bit of building. But at the Devils Gate Station, it got stuck and we could not fix it. It spit steam and water, so we shut the injector off, and I had Kelvin run his injector on the way up, came back a little low on water, but not bad considering. Spent a little extra time building water in the shop area, but finally got her up to pressure, up on water, and shut everything off.
But boy what a fun day, its a childhood dream come true. And I know they offer fireman and engineer schools across the country, but I got paid to do this!!! After today, I can't imagine spending $1500 to spend 8 hours doing what I did for 10 hours. I'd much rather get paid!!
Today was my first day assigned as engine crew at the Georgetown Loop. First duty was of course the bottom of the engine crew, Fireman. And its not really a grunt job, its hard work! Basically, at least on an Oil Burner like our little 12, your in charge of the Fire, Water level, and Steam Pressure (no shoveling needed!!). And I was taught the 4 basic rules of firing from my good friend and long time Steam Fireman, Phil Reader.
1. Steam is a Luxury, water is a Necessity
2. One step at a time
3. Think about what your doing
4. Have fun
And boy did I have fun!! I watched and listened for the first run down and up the hill, then was set loose with supervision on run 2. After a brief surprise when the fire went out coming out of the yard, I slowly got the feel for the old girl. She is really a great engine. Easy to steam, very easy to control, just a notch or two makes a huge difference in how she fires. The tricky part was getting the oil on in time for Throttle movement, and shutting it off in time to not smoke out the train. That took a few runs to work out. Going down the hill is easy, going up, thats another story all together
Even with the Diesel helper (4 cars over weight limit for 12) the engine really works. You really have to react quick, and watch, smell, and listen to everything the engine tells you. She will tell you what she wants, you just have to understand.
First run up the hill I trimmed the Injector back, ran it up the hill almost all the way, it was on about 80% of the time. Got to the top, had plenty of water.
Second time up was a little tough, the injector did not want to prime, it started spitting water and steam, so we can up a little low on water, and had to build on the way down, but by the time we reached the Silver Mine stop, plenty of water was in the boiler, backed her down to a nice spot fire.
3rd trip down was easy, had a little bit of building do to, but not much, but at the bottom, the check valve on the branch pipe got stuck. But we fixed it quickly, towards the top though it cut out again, and we had to use the engineers injector
4th and final trip of the day, the check valve gave up completely, was find going down hill, just a little bit of building. But at the Devils Gate Station, it got stuck and we could not fix it. It spit steam and water, so we shut the injector off, and I had Kelvin run his injector on the way up, came back a little low on water, but not bad considering. Spent a little extra time building water in the shop area, but finally got her up to pressure, up on water, and shut everything off.
But boy what a fun day, its a childhood dream come true. And I know they offer fireman and engineer schools across the country, but I got paid to do this!!! After today, I can't imagine spending $1500 to spend 8 hours doing what I did for 10 hours. I'd much rather get paid!!
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