A Day in the Life of a Steam Locomotive Fireman.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 เม.ย. 2017
- What does a steam locomotive fireman (and engine driver, loco cleaner and fitting staff ) need to do to prepare a locomotive for a day's work on a 21st century heritage steam railway? This video film documentary looks behind the scenes starting at 6 o'clock in the morning in preparation for the first train at 10.15am then follows the crew through to the end of the day when they service / dispose of the locomotive back at the loco-shed.
Sadly Cliff Perry (the engine driver in this film) passed away this week. He was renowned for his cheerful personality and the almost permanent smile on his face as evidenced in this film. Farwell Cliff, it was a privilege to have known you old friend.
Very sad news. I'm just glad Cliff got to do what he obviously loved.
Rest in peace cliff the driver with a smile on his face nearly all the time
@@genesis070365 i wish i could've met the man
@@genesis070365 nearly nine years ago I went on a steam footplate Experience on the south Devon railway. the engine I spent the day driving and firing was the sole remaining 2251 goods engine. when I was in the cab having the safety talk I accidentally insulted the firing instructor by asking if he'd used fire lighters to get the fire lit that morning. he told me how you get a coal fire going in a steam loco's fire box. the driver's day job was a lorry driver and he was happy that I had a little previous experience of driving model steam engines in the past. I personally believe that the loco crew was surprised that they where teaching a teenager how safely drive a full sized steam engine that day
Rest in Peace Cliff Sir, You are Always Alive In Our Hearts, We Condolence To Your Loved Ones❤️💐
Both driver and fireman are over the age of 70 (not uncommon in the world of unpaid volunteers who keep Britain's heritage railways alive) and will have been up since 4.30 in the morning to book on at 5.30 to prepare their engine for the day. I'd challenge anyone not to look a bit tired at the end of the day under these circumstances! Why do we put ourselves through this? Because we love the job and want to keep the memory of working steam locomotives alive for future generations here at the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire.
Yeah, done it ! But on the railway i worked on, we had steam raisers for lighting up - the crew only booked on an hour or so before duty.
i was a steam raiser/cleaner, so i know all about early starts, filthy dirty locos and fireboxes/smokeboxes.
Andy Bennett
Dear sir,
Please accept my compliments for the great job you've been doing and for having made a fine video of it. I'd like to take the liberty of asking a few, perhaps stupid, questions.
1) How much coal does the tender hold?
2) How far could this train go on a full tender?
3) what kind of speeds does the train run at and how many carriages is it drawing?
4) how much coal does one shovel in every time one stokes the fire? I noticed that the fireman shovels in 7 shovelfuls at a time. I was wondering how many pounds of coal that'd make?
5) how does one know when to stoke? I noticed that this has something to do with the gauge on the top right, but couldn't figure out the details.
6) what do you do about replacements for parts which wear out? I imagine that the spare parts are not in commercial production anymore, since these locos have been decommissioned from large scale use almost half a century ago.
With thanks in advance,
sincerely.
There's no such thing as a stupid question so thanks for taking an interest. For full specifications of the locomotive shown in the video I recommend going to this link :-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Ivatt_Class_2_2-6-0
British steam locomotives varied very considerably in power and size. The particular one shown in the video is a light weight moderately powered locomotive and the crew shown in the film will be used to driving locomotives of all types and power rating at the Great Central Railway. On private heritage railways in the UK we are limited to operating up to 25 mph and at this speed a tender of 4 tons of coal will only last 150 miles or so. Out a main line railway a locomotive of this type would typically operate short distance passenger or goods trains up to about 50 or 60 mph with better fuel economy. A train of 6 carriages weighing about 300 tons would be within the capacity of this locomotive type.
Stoking ("firing" in UK parlance) is an art - maintaining boiler pressure at around 200 pounds per square inch is what the fireman is aiming to achieve (hence the pressure gauge). The fireman will know from the brightness/thickness of the fire and the colour of the smoke at the chimney when more coal needs to be put in the firebox.
When spare parts are required we have the infrastructure in the UK to manufacture new from raw materials or refurbish worn components. In fact new steam locomotives are still being built from scratch. Have a look at www.a1steam.com/
I hope this answers your questions.
Andy Bennett
Dear sir,
Many thanks for having the taken the trouble of writing such an informative reply. The data provided by you will help a great deal in a technical study I am doing on the historical trends in fuel efficiency and engineering innovations therein, in British and Indian railways.
It would be extremely generous of you if you could give me any references /Web links / videos of diesel loco crew having around your level of seniority.
May you man the loco engineer's cab for many years to come.
Sincerely
Good footage, I just volunteered to start on locos at NVR. You start as cleaner and work up. I think I'll be a baby at 37!! Hats off to you all!
It's so immaculate! Clearly a huge amount of pride in the job. My Grandad was a fireman, would give anything to get him out of the nursing home and back on a steam loco
From 1961 until 1963 I spent many days watching the trains pass along the tracks in Newton Harcourt spewing steam, ash and noise out of those magnificent steam locomotives. Such impressive pieces of workmanship and powerful mechanical devices. Never realized how much work it required to keep me entertained as a child. Thanks for the memories.
Absolutely Brilliant. Great enginemen, Great footage. No narration needed - the footage says it all. Thank you.
no23mk2 tvf vf
absolutely, The work actions say it all for sure.
Not quite. The fireman is constantly letting off steam pressure. I'd say it would be fine to over steam in a mountain situation. But this looks to be a pretty flat run. No need to run her that high.
It's bloody hard work! and this fireman is getting on in years, full marks to loco crew.
Great work all round. The crew were not playing for the camera, no heroics, no showing off, just doing the job in a steady and carful way. A lesson in how it should be done. I know it is a long day ( because I have done it) and starts way before any passengers even get out of bed. The bit they never see, or think about.
Great work of showing the full day. Well done for the editing and making a logical story to the day. Amacf
My grandfather worked his way up from runner to driver and retired after 50 years , gold watch and all. Saltley yards. This was 1904 -1954. I was only two when he retired and living in Canada, but my mum told me a lot of stories about her dad and his time there. I have to admire these hard working men. Twas not an easy job for sure. Kids today don't know they're born. :)
I first watched this video nearly a year ago but viewing it again gave me the same amount of enjoyment as it did first time round . This is a class piece of work .
Your comment is much appreciated. As I've probably mentioned somewhere in previous notes this film was made primarily as a momento for my friend David Woodward who was doing his final turn as a locomotive fireman before retiring from the footplate. In the event both David and Cliff (the driver) entered into the spirit of the occasion by just carrying on as normal is if the camera wasn't there. It was only after I had finished editing the film that I found that, almost by accident, I had produced a 1950s style documentary of what it was like (and still is on any one of the UK's many heritage steam railways) to prepare, operate and dispose of a standard gauge steam locomotive. There are other similar films to be seen in my TH-cam collection but for something a bit different you might like to see the unique film of all four of the massive Gimson pumping engines in operation at Leicester's Abbey Pumping Station which is just a stone's throw away from the southern terminus of the Great Central steam railway featured on the film you have already watched.
An atmospheric classic, lack of narration a masterstroke.
Brilliant piece of filming. A treasure for now and future generations I will look on 46521 and ‘see’ the love and work running the engine from now on.
It does indeed - there's nothing quite like the sound of a steam locomotive working hard - especially in the stillness at night!
Perfect harmony. Driver and fireman and the engine . Bosh !
Brilliant video. As other's have mentioned, thank you for letting the footage speak for itself. No music, no narration needed. Thank you.
Excellent video, thank you very much. Retired heritage Railway driver, now a signal man.
Maglona how would I get into that?
I would like to be a railway fireman one day. The Fireman’s job is just as important as the driver.
Absolutely charming and I loved that you let it 'speak for itself' without trying to 'polish' it up.
Wonderful guys and wonderful British people for keeping steam locomotives of my childhood days still alive and my hat off to these people of my age working happily. Bravo keep it up!
Can smell the smoke and feel heat of boiler. Excellent job lads!!
it was hard work but to drive one of these monsters must have been brilliant, well done all.
Really good to see something of what it takes to keep these wonderful machines working. Brilliant work guys.
Hi to all those great steam engine drivers and the great fire men you all are the heroes of the railways I'm enjoying the videos
I think that people have forgotten how much work goes into getting a loco ready for a day's work thank you for posting this and showing us what is involved
Love it. Those guys have some serious stamina. One thing I noticed is a sign in the cab that said max speed 25MPH. Looks like they were going a lot faster then 25 most of the time.
Great video of the hidden doings of a steam loco! Thank you!
Wow. A treat for steam locomotive lovers !
These old boys got life made.
Superb piece of film. Nicely shot. Very grateful, and many thanks.
As a guy who has never seen a running steam engine before in his entire, short existence of 20 years, I gotta say, this was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Sucks being in Montana though, where the only heritage we have is a few bars and some Native American stuff. Gets old kinda quick.
I really do want to do volunteer work for steam, though. Sure, it's backbreaking, hard work, but it seems like it would be an awesome experience, if nothing else!
And thank you so much for this video! This was really awesome to see! Don't really get to see this side of the steam engine.
Thanks for your comments Sean. Yes, our volunteers do enjoy themselves even though the work is hard. You need to emigrate to the UK - check out what you're missing here:- www.heritage-railways.com/
I enjoyed every second of the production! Thanks a lot!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for making this great video and for all that you do to preserve these magnificent machines!!!
Thanks for the footage,my late father worked as a fireman on the G.W.R.28 xx round Stratford on Avon
Bloody fantastic a big thank you to you all.
One of our 'mainline' SWR drivers is 70. Twice as fit as me. Ex fireman - says it all really.
Great work lads a labour of love that is
What a wonderful video! I enjoyed every second of it.
I've helped out with a Swedish steam loco. Doing the initial firing up with firewood among other things, so it was very interesting to watch how an English loco is handled and cared for. Thanks for sharing this!
Cheers from Sweden, Anders
(You'll find a few videos with the Swedish steam loco E901 on my channel if you're interested)
Yep, interesting to see how different is the preparation. In my case (french narrow gauge), we clean the firebox, smokebox and tubes prior to firing up. You can tell who's the fireman as he has a black face, er, as black as all the rest... Amazing to see that the fireman does the couplings, we are required to have a shunting agent for that, and we firemen do not have time for this (small locos are very reactive and we can not afford to leave the boiler without attention).
Yes, such days are exhausting, but they are also fun and we are always ready to do it again !
And yes, it is really important to preserve the heritage of ancient know-how to show it to future generations.
Fantastic footage, I bet you had to be fit as a fiddle to be a fireman on a working train back in the day!
Thank you great video, Keep up the good work!
Excellent video of skilled railway men , I enjoyed every minute .
As a little boy i can remember a steam train had just arrived at Kings Cross, i was with my father and the driver said it was ok to let me see inside the cab, i can recall two blackened faces and heat it was so hot, now at 71 its a good memory to have when steam still ruled. Thank you for tis video.
Thanks for your comment and I'm glad you enjoyed the film. It is a real privilege to still be able to experience what it was like to be a railwayman during the age of steam (which technically ended in August 1968) here in the 21st century.
Trying to create a nice flowing shot underneath whilst trying to keep your footing on the ashes in the pit made me chuckle :) Great video!
Great video. many thanks!
This is amazing!
He's so happy!
David always has a smile on his face and is busy in the workshops restoring locomotives even though he is no longer a regular fireman. He enjoys being a film star!
great video thanks for the work involved putting this together & thanks to all loco crew
Thanks for your generous comment - much appreciated.
The ash and unburnt coal from the locomotive's previous day in traffic will have been raked through the firebars in the firebox into the ashpan beneath (see earlier scene). The fireman is now using the lever at track level to open the doors in the ashpan to allow that accumulated ash to fall into the ashpit below. A fair amount of jiggling the doors back and forth, usually also with someone underneath the locomotive with a hose damping down the ash, is required to to completely empty the ashpan.
Worlds best movie everytime anywhere. All my congratulations!
There are engineers, and there are engineers.
Bless those that designed let alone thought of this
A Nice clean tidy footplate there. Not a bad video it's great to see 46521 in these videos. A smashing loco. :)
Thank you firstly for a wonderful video, secondly for having no commentary or idiotic music track to mask the sound of reality.
In two words: Simply marvellous !!
Thanks for the compliment, much appreciated. Andy
Great video
Can we take a moment to thank Andy for not putting music or narration to this wonderful piece of film.
Many thanks for your comment. My style of film-making is to let the natural sounds do the talking. If you have a look at my film of the four pumping engines at Abbey Pumping Station you can hear each of the engines "talking" in a distinct voice!
esta claro que es un gran trabajo el de los maquinistas y fogoneros // muchas gracias por este estupendo video. //
jose santos arribas alonso asi es. . Una pena que aqui en españa no cuidan de los locomotoras de vapor. . 98% estan en museos y sin funcionar en muchas años.
LA VERDAD ES UN ASUNTO DE CULTURA .... es nada menos que la epoca del vapor... el poderoso VAPOR // LAS FUENTES DE CALOR SIEMPRE EXISTIRAN Y LAS TURBINAS O MOTORES DE ESPANSION SIEMPRE ESTARAN DISPONIBLES
What a happy old man, i want my old days like em
If you love what you do it is not work.
MrRatkilr Lou-Zsu said “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life”
Nicely done.
Excelente video
that loco looks so stunning, maybe because its a mogul or something, either way, love this.
I wish I was a steam engine driver but I am only 12 years old And also great video
J D Get in touch with your local heritage railway, you may find they have a young volunteers group that can set you up well for getting on the footplate as soon as you're old enough.
J D same its my dream job
J D don't worry I feel your pain
Jack D me too, one day I'm being a train driver , everyone wants to be, but school comes first
Neal hudson i wish you the best of luck mate :-)
I love steam engines, but the amount of TLC they require each and every day it's no wonder that BR couldn't wait to go diesel or electric. I'm amazed they survived until 1968 in Britain.
Yes and this particular type of locomotive is one of the newer designs with some thought given to making life easier for crews. Others are much worse!
Superb Skill, based on Knowledge and dedication.
excellent!
Excellent choice of background music.
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!! :-D
Thanks for the compliment. I rather enjoyed making the film - that's me with rag in hand cleaning the boiler casing!
What a fantastic video. Thanks for sharing. No narration or music needed. The only thing missing is the smell....
You can see they are both very experienced as their faces are still clean at the end!
On all heritage railways in the UK we are restricted to 25mph running (with a few exceptions like at the Great Central Railway where this film was made). This means that coal dust blowing around in the cab is less of a problem than in the days when trains travelled at much faster speeds. That said it is rare these days to have the facilities to be able to turn a locomotive round at the end of its outward journey meaning that the return journey will be made with the tender (containing the coal and associated dust) will be in front of the cab and said dust will be blown into the cab and onto the crew. For that reason it is standard practice to douse the coal with water before commencing the return journey to reduce the dust - this is done with a "slacking hose" run from the engine's injector or some locomotives have a perforated piped built into the tender through which water can be sprayed onto the coal.
Nice video for those who know what is going on but a commentary for those of us who don' would be nice!
When im financially independent i would love to experience this and even do some maintenance on them
when I was a fireman at Saltley we had these engines on the Redditch locals
My father George Pearson was a driver at Saltley till around 1970
hard working crew,the fireman's shirt is torn.May God bless them and their children.
Well done, Gentlemen!
Wow the sound of this locomotive running sounds like music to my ears lol
Amazing Men. Someone worth modeling yourself after! They should be more famous than these dopes on youtubes trending page.
Some of the men you see on the film are retired career-railwaymen. Others are employees or volunteers at the Great Central Railway who love their work as it keeps traditional engineering and railway operational practices alive in an era when many jobs are less fulfilling than those of a previous era. I have myself learned to fire these old locomotives after a career driving a desk!
What it says on the tin ! Top men !
A brilliant video and many thanks to all who took part.
As a boy in the early 1960's I thought maybe shovelling all that coal might be a bit much every day.......?
I ended up in a tarmac road gang for 35 years and and shovelling asphalt and tarmac was never as good as seeing the Fireman doing his job.
Still fascinates me today even at 65 and I could sit here all day watching footage like this.
Again.....many many thanks!
Reminds me of when i was a little boy living in Plymouth visiting the local railway station that had a bunch of steam locomotives standing there where i could walk inbetween.
I wonder if you still can...
i thought if the engine will operate the next day, they"bank the fires" and keep a small fire going in the firebox tended by the night watchman so they don't have to heat the bloody thing up the next morning....
The fireman likes to start off fresh because then he knows it's right . As the engine has been used previous day and still warm steam can be bought up quickly . If the engine is cold , it is thought to be good practise to light a fire the previous day and have the engine in " light steam " . This so there aren't the problems associated with different rates of expansion of all the different metals .
thanks for responding...
Across the pond we will make a bank and let the coal coke over. In the morning we will rake the coals shake the grates and build on top of what we have from the night before. The engine I used to fire would drop down to about 165 psi. Overnight with the stack capped.
@@andrewtreece3708 it depends on the working instructions at each depot, some put a bank in, some do not disposal and just rake it level, some rake it through and some drop it completely to start fresh the next day. We leave a fire at the front end to keep it warm overnight, this will rocked/raked the next morning.
As an ex Fireman/Driver at Birkenhead MPD we had men whose job was to Firedrop and set fires.
Hats off to the crew not, easy work and noticed they traded off very democratically. Way to stay in good form.
American locomotives just look better I think. Steam is steam though, and steam kicks ass. Neat post. Thanx.
Firstly where is the list for nominations and awards! Secondly what a fabulous insight into steam engines. More younger members need to be learning from these guys to keep steam alive and relevant.
Hi Clive, thanks for your kind comments. The good news is that I work at the Great Central Railway (where I made this film) and my main responsibility there is to recruit new Volunteers to keep the railway running and there is no shortage of young and not so young men (and a few women too) applying to train as a locomotive cleaner which is the first rung on the ladder to becoming qualified as a fireman and then eventually driver. Have a look at the website www.gcrailway.co.uk and click on the volunteer icon on the home page if you'd like to read up about it.
The best example for team work is the steam locomotive
My Father was a Fireman and Driver in the days of L.N.E.R.& B.R. At West Auckland Shed (51F). In those days the Fireman wouldn’t be responsible for lighting the fire and raising steam. That would have already been done by the Steam Raiser, before the fireman and driver came on duty. In preservation everything is done by the fireman.
Thanks for your contribution Alan. You are of course correct about the role of the steam-raiser in the pre-1968 days when steam traction was still in everyday use. In the present "preserved steam" era locomotive cleaners will often assist with lighting up locomotives as part of their training for footplate work. In the film I was the allocated cleaner for the day so did assist David (the fireman) in preparing the locomotive but as I was also filming he did much of the work!
Great video! Interesting to see the whole start-up sequence from cold. Question: Which heritage railway is this?
The film was made at Loughborough which is the main operating base for the Great Central Railway which runs south for eight and a half miles through the beautiful Leicestershire countryside to the outskirts of the city of Leicester near to the National Space Centre and the King Richard III visitor centre.
I reckon this technology will be used in the future, it can’t be denied
Have no clue what these fine drivers are doing with the controls...love these steam engines... these gentlemen are fitter then me...
It's interesting to see that instead of the speedometer there is just a sign saying "Max speed 25mph". I guess they're judging their speed by feel as they used to do back in steam days? I thought they would be required to have a speedo these days.
You are correct in your observation. All passenger trains on the GCR, and other heritage railways, are limited to 25 mph (there are a few exceptions but that's another story) but it tends to be the larger express locomotives that were (and are) fitted with speedometers. Experienced crews are very good at gauging the trains speed by experience / intuition. Since the film was made all trains now carry GPS so that the speed can also be monitored by the train guard.
The North York Shire Rail Way, I wish I was back there again John
It is actually the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire. Check out their website for all the events they are running throughout the year.
It's BLOSSOM!!!!!
14:07 That rhythm sound NICE
that is a nice steam manifold
Is it normal for steam and water to be escaping from all the nuts and bolts on steam engines?
The phrase, I’m running out of steam still bares the brutal truth
I see that Head-end-power cable dangling off that first coach. :-D
No power cables on this 1950's train. Each coach has its own axle driven dynamo to power the DC lighting circuit and top-up the lead acid batteries. Other than the couplings which connect the locomotive and coaches the only other connections are the vacuum brake pipes and (in cold weather) the steam heat hoses - there are no power cables.
@@andybennett5570 11:27
@@raymondleggs5508 It's the RCH (Railway Clearing House) cable used to control the lighting throughout the train, so if there is, for example, a tunnel coming up all lights can be turned on using one button.
This is what happens in preservation, but not in the days of LNER or BR Steam. The fireman would not have had to light the fire from scratch, that would have been done by the shed’s steam raiser. Nor would the fireman be cleaning the loco, as that would have been done by the cleaners. He would have made sure the footplate and cab was clean and tidy.
I work 12 hrs a day tapping nuts and bolts. Not sure I could do this at 64
I really wish there was a heritage railway that would pay you to work on.
I wonder about what is done in freezing weather about the water in all the pipes and valves.
A good question. Whilst a locomotive has a live fire in the firebox even if the outside temperature is below freezing there is usually enough heat to prevent any pipework from freezing up. Locos may therefore be kept in steam even when not required for traffic. In sub-zero weather conditions if the locomotive is not lit up and cannot be stored undercover there is a greater risk that external pipework, particularly the injectors and associated pipework which feed water to the boiler, will freeze up and can be seriously damaged. To avoid this it is common practice to stand coal fired braziers alongside the locomotive in cold weather. Lagging exposed pipes is also a way of minimising damage as is draining the water from pipework, all time-consuming work but sometimes necessary.
Blossom...a fine little Engine..
Счастливые люди, они занимаются любимым делом....
Happy people, they do what they love. Yes, for over a century working on steam locomotives was "just a job" but nowadays we do it because we enjoy the experience and can pass on the old skills to a new generation.
@@andybennett5570 👍