What have you done today

Had a great day today reliving all my years on the footplate as a locomotive fireman and driver. A long time friend and railway buddy who is a fireman on the Great Central Heritage Railway invited me to join him and fire the loco with him on two round trips from Loughborough to Leicester . The last time I did this was 12 years ago almost to the month since hanging up my cap after 31 years as fireman and then driver . It was like riding a bike or falling off a log , you just don`t forget . A ll the old techniques came flooding back . Our locomotive was 6880 Bretton Grange , a newly built recreation of a class of Great Western Railway locos that never survived the scrap mans cutting torch . At barely 18 months old since completion it was a rare treat although not without a few teething problems and not helped by crap quality Polish coal that has a propensity of forming clinker under the bed of the fire that chokes the flow of combustion air through the fire bars of the grate .This required a few hard prods with a heavy `pricker ` bar to break it up and liven up the fire to keep steam pressure up . The ` disposal` at it is known at the end of the day took an hour and a half to break up the clinker and shovel it out through the fire hole door with a heavy 12 foot long long iron Clinker shovel and equally long and cumbersome iron rake . That was the part of the job I don`t miss anymore !!
Les the driver shoveled out all the ash from the smoke box while this was going on then it was time to climb into the ash pit underneath the loco and rake out vast amounts of hot ash from the ash pan . And we do this for fun ?? It was well dark and we very grubby by the time we finished . Still good fun though to have the opportunity to relive the good old days .

Tell us all Chuffer.......stokeing-up the 'fire' on the engine.......did you prefer it during freezing cold winter weather......pr was your preference summer temperatures?

Sounds to me like you had a very enjoyable day mr chuffer

Roscobbc said:

Tell us all Chuffer.......stokeing-up the 'fire' on the engine.......did you prefer it during freezing cold winter weather......pr was your preference summer temperatures?

Click to expand...

Contrary to popular belief Ross , it is not always toasty warm on the footplate in the winter as the wind and slip stream from the loco can make it very chilly , especially for the driver . At least as a fireman you are doing very physical work shoveling coal into the white heat of the firebox but as soon as shut the fire hole doors its like turning the central heating off . You run the loco most of the time with the fire hole doors shut to prevent cold air being drawn into the firebox which chills the fire and thus reduces the potential to keep steam pressure up in the boiler .
Also some locos have less enclosed cabs and tenders than others and the crew are less protected from the elements , especially when running tender first which is always the case on heritage railways that do not have a turntable at both ends of the line . The Great Western Railway were particularly fond of not providing creature comforts for the crew . This was the case with the design of Betton Grange I was on yesterday with only one cab side window and no doors so the wind and rain blow through the large open spaces . It`s also quite alarming being so high up above the track and seeing the world whizz by with nothing but a vertical grab handle to stop you falling out !!
The seats provided are by the dear old GWR are a joke too . Just a hard wood pull down flap bolted to each cab side and it`s impossible for a driver to operate all the controls and see the track and signals ahead whilst sitting down .
The Great Western did provide storm sheets that you can attach to the cab roof and anchor by powerful springs to stantions on the tender to cover a bit more of the footplate but they tend to flap like a sail in a gale when going tender first and be PIA !! We had the sheet up yesterday as it rained on and off in the afternoon and you will see by the photo how little protection it affords . Sorry the photo is a bit iffy but it`s hard to hold a camera steady as the loco vibrates ,bucks and sways about .

On hot summer days the heat can be relentless and you soon become drenched in sweat and need to have lots of tea and bottle of water with you to keep fluid levels up . I have been close to exhausted de hydration on more than one occasion . A nice sunny Spring day is just about perfect .

Nassau65 said:

Sounds to me like you had a very enjoyable day mr chuffer

Click to expand...

It was great to be back `in harness` again . All except the `Disposal` at the end of the shift like I said : bloody knackering and filthy work . You can just see the orange dust jacket of my may mate down the pit under the loco raking the hot ash out of the ash pan through the narrow damper doors with a long steel rake . I did that many times in the past years both late on a winters night in the dark or on a hot summers evening . It is the less glamorous side of playing with steam locos and no wonder British Railways struggled to recruit staff by the late 1950`s early 60`s to carry out such dirty and physical work in all weathers and antisocial shift hours when you could get a job in a factory etc on regular hours and go home clean every day .

Went to the Indigo at the O2 for a British Blues festival yesterday. One of the acts was Toby Lee (who owns a C3 and is apparently a club member), he was very good, but unfortunately didn't notice me wearing my CCCUK sweatshirt.

TimP said:

Today I received a Photobox album in the post that documents the birdcage rebuild on my car. Thought it would be a good way to mark its completion - the album has come out pretty well. About 120 soup-to-nuts pictures set out on A3 pages showing what was done. £35 well spent but I'm biased.
View attachment 29337

View attachment 29342 View attachment 29335

Click to expand...

After Tim posted this a few weeks back, I thought it was so good I'd have to get one myself. It arrived today and whilst mine is not as big as Tim's I'm very happy with it. Think I'll leave it in the car for when people ask about it, I always have trouble trying to find the appropriate photos on my phone.

Sat down tonight with a LARGE Brandy and watched the late great Gene Hackman ( RIP ) in the French Connection movie made in 1971 . Have watched it several times over the years but never loses it appeal . More Yank Tanks in the New York / Brooklyn street scenes than you can shake a stick at , not least the Frog 1`s brown Lincoln the cops rip apart looking for the heroin shipment . The car chase with the subway train is a classic too ! I always rated Gene Hackman for his tough , no nonsense characters in the time before the PC and WOKE brigade stifled all that stuff .

Chuffer said:

Sat down tonight with a LARGE Brandy and watched the late great Gene Hackman ( RIP ) in the French Connection movie made in 1971 . Have watched it several times over the years but never loses it appeal . More Yank Tanks in the New York / Brooklyn street scenes than you can shake a stick at , not least the Frog 1`s brown Lincoln the cops rip apart looking for the heroin shipment . The car chase with the subway train is a classic too ! I always rated Gene Hackman for his tough , no nonsense characters in the time before the PC and WOKE brigade stifled all that stuff .

Click to expand...

BTW
That car chase part was much better than the Bullet one where you see the same faded green VW like 5–6 times during most of the chase

My cousin Billy Friedkin directed that French Connection movie and others like the Exorcist

teamzr1 said:

BTW
That car chase part was much better than the Bullet one where you see the same faded green VW like 5–6 times during most of the chase

My cousin Billy Friedkin directed that French Connection movie and others like the Exorcist

Click to expand...

Wow ! That`s some family connection . Totally agree about that the car chase is much better than Bullit but I guess that`s the one that sticks in many peoples consciousness .

Chuffer said:

Wow ! That`s some family connection . Totally agree about that the car chase is much better than Bullit but I guess that`s the one that sticks in many peoples consciousness .

Click to expand...

Billy, known to the public went by William, he died last year
Interesting, when he was only in his 20s
he worked in a mail room for a kids show on WGN-TV in Chicago and by luck met the right guy at the right time
and set him to early success as a movie director

The other screwup I thought with Bullet was in the chase of the black, think was a Dodge Charger, wheel hubcaps kept flying off, more than 5 times and before crash the wheels looked fine and not sure, but I think that car came with rims so not hubcaps ?

teamzr1 said:

Billy, known to the public went by William, he died last year
Interesting, when he was only in his 20s
he worked in a mail room for a kids show on WGN-TV in Chicago and by luck met the right guy at the right time
and set him to early success as a movie director

The other screwup I thought with Bullet was in the chase of the black, think was a Dodge Charger, wheel hubcaps kept flying off, more than 5 times and before crash the wheels looked fine and not sure, but I think that car came with rims so not hubcaps ?

Click to expand...

Your cousin sure was in the right place at the right time for a career break like that . You can pick so many holes in the Bullit car chase as you say . Hub caps flying off and miraculously re appearing in the next shot , cars dented but then re appearing undamaged . Plus I lost count of the times they pass the same VW Beetle parked by the sidewalk in one street !!

teamzr1 said:

BTW
That car chase part was much better than the Bullet one where you see the same faded green VW like 5–6 times during most of the chase

My cousin Billy Friedkin directed that French Connection movie and others like the Exorcist

Click to expand...

Seem to recall the same team did the car chase, albeit with later emission era cars in the film Seven Ups.......good car chase too!

johng said:

After Tim posted this a few weeks back, I thought it was so good I'd have to get one myself. It arrived today and whilst mine is not as big as Tim's I'm very happy with it. Think I'll leave it in the car for when people ask about it, I always have trouble trying to find the appropriate photos on my phone.

View attachment 29544
View attachment 29545
View attachment 29546

Click to expand...

Hi John,
That looks terrific! Despite the age of phones and iPad's I agree it's good to have a nicely produced book of pictures to tell a story.

Chuffer said:

Sat down tonight with a LARGE Brandy and watched the late great Gene Hackman ( RIP ) in the French Connection movie made in 1971 . Have watched it several times over the years but never loses it appeal . More Yank Tanks in the New York / Brooklyn street scenes than you can shake a stick at , not least the Frog 1`s brown Lincoln the cops rip apart looking for the heroin shipment . The car chase with the subway train is a classic too ! I always rated Gene Hackman for his tough , no nonsense characters in the time before the PC and WOKE brigade stifled all that stuff .

Click to expand...

Quite a few years ago I was working in Belgium but coming home each weekend via the channel tunnel in my Belgian registered car. More times than I liked to think of I was asked by UK Customs to pull over into their 'shed'. After you stop the engine the doors front and back are shut and then a Q&A begins to make sure everything is as it should be. Once when I was in there a car next to mine was being pulled apart just like the Continental in the French Connection. The car had been completely emptied and they had all the door cards off - they were clearly just getting started. I wasn't in there long enough to see if they found anything or not but the owner didn't look very happy.....

TimP said:

Quite a few years ago I was working in Belgium but coming home each weekend via the channel tunnel in my Belgian registered car. More times than I liked to think of I was asked by UK Customs to pull over into their 'shed'. After you stop the engine the doors front and back are shut and then a Q&A begins to make sure everything is as it should be. Once when I was in there a car next to mine was being pulled apart just like the Continental in the French Connection. The car had been completely emptied and they had all the door cards off - they were clearly just getting started. I wasn't in there long enough to see if they found anything or not but the owner didn't look very happy.....

Click to expand...

And if they damage the car stripping it out.......and find nothing?
Many, many years ago a one time fellow college student asked me to go round to his place and take a look (and advise him) about a MGB that had spent a few years out in Spain before coming back to the UK and getting sold (to him!).
The cills both sides needed replacement being somewhat rusty. Cutting the old cills away he found the space had been packed with 'weed' in plastic bags and new cills welded in place and painted. He didn't know the best way to proceed. Why did he ask me? Perhaps 'cos of my supposed then 'Hippy' identity? - true I had rather long hair and listened to prog rock bands, and yes I did smoke fags, roll-ups, cheroots, a pipe and perhaps 'experiment' with herbal 'tobacco' occasionally (nothing more I'm admitting to).......someone did try the weed and seemingly it was very old and had 'gone off') I chose to keep well away from him......never heard whether he had visits later from the boys in blue or some 'heavies' looking for their ancient 'stash'.

Roscobbc said:

And if they damage the car stripping it out.......and find nothing?
Many, many years ago a one time fellow college student asked me to go round to his place and take a look (and advise him) about a MGB that had spent a few years out in Spain before coming back to the UK and getting sold (to him!).
The cills both sides needed replacement being somewhat rusty. Cutting the old cills away he found the space had been packed with 'weed' in plastic bags and new cills welded in place and painted. He didn't know the best way to proceed. Why did he ask me? Perhaps 'cos of my supposed then 'Hippy' identity? - true I had rather long hair and listened to prog rock bands, and yes I did smoke fags, roll-ups, cheroots, a pipe and perhaps 'experiment' with herbal 'tobacco' occasionally (nothing more I'm admitting to).......someone did try the weed and seemingly it was very old and had 'gone off') I chose to keep well away from him......never heard whether he had visits later from the boys in blue or some 'heavies' looking for their ancient 'stash'.

Click to expand...

Someone missed out on a big stash then . Shame it had gone off as it would have paid for the MGB`s repairs .

TimP said:

Quite a few years ago I was working in Belgium but coming home each weekend via the channel tunnel in my Belgian registered car. More times than I liked to think of I was asked by UK Customs to pull over into their 'shed'. After you stop the engine the doors front and back are shut and then a Q&A begins to make sure everything is as it should be. Once when I was in there a car next to mine was being pulled apart just like the Continental in the French Connection. The car had been completely emptied and they had all the door cards off - they were clearly just getting started. I wasn't in there long enough to see if they found anything or not but the owner didn't look very happy.....

Click to expand...

That French Connection scene took me back to a scary experience I had in the old Commer 15cwt van me and my 5 mates had share in back in 1971 . We had driven over to France and down to Andorra over the Pyranees and into Spain . Those were still the days of the Franco regime when things were scarily controlled over there . Definitely not a life style of sex and drugs and rock n roll over there then ! . We were crapping ourselves at the border post wondering what reception a van load of 6 long haired lads would get from the border guards and the heavily armed Gaurdia Civile . They pulled us over and emptied out everything on the ground . We had jerry cans of spare petrol on the twin roof racks along with spare wheel and rattled and shook the lot . They even unloaded our food supplies and shook baked bean tins to see if we had stashed anything inside . They felt round the roof lining but didn`t rip it out thankfully but did un clip the door and wall panels . We knew we were clean but didn`t trust them not to bang us up for the hell of it . Needless to say we were the centre of attention for all the other travelers passing through . We had no such hassle with the French customs as they were typically laid back !

Chuffer said:

Someone missed out on a big stash then . Shame it had gone off as it would have paid for the MGB`s repairs .

Click to expand...

Perhaps they did/who knows/who cares? - I certainly kept well away. Interestingly perhaps at the time the guy concerned owned a PA Cresta and I had an early Mark 3 Zephyr 6 (later fitted with a Raymond Mayes 12 port ally head) - we both were running 'banded' steel wheels with wide tyres. I remember he did himself a 'nasty' cruising through the main street when the Cresta's front propshaft UJ shattered and the 'loose' end fell and dug in the the road surface effectively pole vaulting the rear end of the car up in the air and bringing it to a very sudden stop. With no seat belts I believe he lost a couple of teeth when hitting the dashboard with his head!

Another day spent in the BIG TOYS box today and very much a diesel day as the work on the steam locos takes a back seat for a while . Both of the diesel locos we are custodians of are currently cheek by jowl in the workshops receiving attention as a big push is on to have them back in service for the Great Central Railways ` Diesel Gala Event at the end of April . No pressure then !!!
Will go into more detail on `Different Train of Thought ` thread tomorrow as too weary , too full of Indian Curry and red wine to do it tonight !!!