The uncertain weather on Saturday morning matched my mood: I was nervous and excited for my first turn as a newly-passed guard, especially as this weekend would be one of our busiest events of the year, Surrey Hills, with thousands of visitors expected at the museum. The loco crew were already on site, having started steaming up a couple of hours earlier, and I was very happy to see that they’d assembled the rolling stock: five of our six operational carriages, the brake van, and Simplex 8981. To save time at each end of the line we’d be running top-and-tailed rather than running the loco around.

I checked all the couplings and air brake hoses; a split pin was missing from one of the pins in the sprung drawbar coupling the Simplex on the end of the train so I replaced it, and we fitted an adaptor to the drawbar on the front carriage to match Elouise. With all the necessary equipment in the van—guard’s log sheets, two sets of flags, my whistle and hi-vis jacket—and the steam loco ready to go, we started up the diesel and I shunted the train down the line and clear of the points to allow Elouise to be coupled on. With that done I gave the green flag to the diesel driver at the rear, and once he’d acknowledged and taken off his brake I gave the lead driver the green flag, and we were on our way up to the top station.

The museum opened their gates at 10am; we heard the message over our radios and got ready to start welcoming our first passengers. It was more of a trickle than a flood to begin with, and we only had about a dozen on board when I dispatched our first service of the day at 10:15. From there it picked up steadily and by the time I finished my shift and was relieved at 1pm we were running mostly full trains about every 15-20 minutes. Everyone I spoke to enjoyed the experience. Even though we were busy I had time to speak to several interested passengers about our railway, and even escorted one dad with two little lads down past the end of the platform so they could get a closer look at the Simplex.

It was all over too soon and I was a little sorry to hang up my whistle and hand over to my relief, but I had something equally fun to look forward to after lunch: I was down for another training turn as fireman! This would be my second time firing Elouise, so I felt more confident that I could handle the job and stay on top of everything. This time out we were using some of the last of our Welsh steam coal, and it was a delight to fire with: burned steadily and I managed to keep the steam pressure right where I wanted it between about 150-170 psi throughout, running the injectors regularly, firing little and often. I felt like I was on top of everything throughout almost all of the turn, only feeling a little uncertain towards the end: I asked the driver when she thought I should start letting the fire burn down before we finished for the day and returned to the yard.

This was my first time disposing a steam loco. After we’d been uncoupled from the train I shunted Elouise over the pit and raked the remaining fire to the edges of the grate. I put the injector on to top up the boiler ready for the morning and use up some of the remaining steam, and then raked out the ash pan while the driver hosed down the embers in the pit. Finally I closed the water gauge cocks and drained the glasses, checked that the loco was in mid gear, the regulator was fully closed, and the handbrake was firmly on before leaving the footplate.

After an early night I was up at 5 and back at the railway for 6:30 to rejoin my driver and prep Elouise for another day’s service. First job was to clean the smoke box and grate, then check the plugs and tubes were dry, open the water gauge cocks and check the water level. I shovelled a layer of coal to cover the grate, then piled some scrap wood that driver had helpfully fetched on top. Oil-soaked rags on top of that, then a last oily rag on the shovel held in the fire hole and lit before being tossed on top. My aim was a little off so I used the rake to pull the burning cloth to where I wanted it, then closed the door and left it for the fire to become established. A look at the chimney showed we were drawing well, so it was time for me to clean while driver oiled the motion.

Back to the oil store for a bucket with a mix of oil and diesel and a clean rag, and I set to work on the loco body and pipework, removing the dirt from the previous day’s running and making sure she looked her best. As the pressure began to climb I put the blower on and added coal to the fire, and when we were up around 80-100 psi I tested both injectors to make sure they were working properly, a vitally important step for safety because you have to make sure you can put water in the boiler. Up to this point I’d been firing with the Welsh coal, but it was decided that we’d instead use some Colombian household coal acquired from the museum that they provided for the traction engines, so we emptied the loco’s bunker and refilled it with 3 cwt of this new coal. We immediately noticed that the lumps were considerably smaller, about half the size of what we’d normally use. I didn’t think anything more of it at this point: after all, coal’s coal, right?

I finished raising steam, firing with this new coal, and it all seemed fine. We coupled up to the train and once everything was ready the guard gave us the green flag and we headed up to the top. The fire was burning very well and we were making plenty of steam on the way up the line, and I put the injector on just before we came into the platform. There were a couple of holes in the fire so I added a couple of strategically-placed shovels, and kept an eye on things as we waited. I had to run the injector a couple of times to keep the pressure in check, but I had plenty of headroom in terms of water level.

In complete contrast to Saturday’s steady firing, on Sunday morning’s turn I struggled throughout and never really got to a steady state where the pressure stayed where I wanted it. This coal burned fast and hot, and would produce thick, black smoke unless there was a good through draught of primary air: I had the blower open moderately wide and the damper halfway open, and kept the firebox door half open most of the time, trying to get some cooling secondary air into the mix. I was a little reluctant to keep shovelling coal on, but it was burning so quickly that the one time I tried to leave it alone the whole way up the line we arrived at the top with nearly half the fire bars visible! It was a battle, but I did manage to maintain the water level throughout, there was always enough steam for the driver, and despite the safety valves fluttering several times I only hit the red line and blew off once.

I know some of my troubles will have been a result of my inexperience as a fireman: it takes years to really develop and hone the skill. It’s certainly impressed on me that all coal’s different, and you have to learn to read the fire, anticipate how it will respond, and know in advance where and when the driver will need steam. Driver and fireman work together as a unit, and I very much appreciated the back-to-back shifts with the same driver this weekend: I think we made a good team and I hope I’ll end up on the footplate with her again soon.

I finished off my weekend back in the loco shed, repainting the smokebox of our other steam loco, Emmet. Got the first coat done in time to head up to the top station after the last train, joining my colleagues for a ride down the line and a well-earned ice cream to round off a successful weekend. We carried over 900 passengers each day, which was our second highest ever total for an event. This was Elouise’s last run before we start stripping her and washing out her boiler for her annual boiler exam: that work begins next Saturday, and I’ll likely be guarding on Sunday.

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