Driving a Steam Engine

[RichB]

I consider myself rather lucky to have been invited to spend a day playing with trains. More specifically a good friend of mine who is involved with the West Somerset Railway has asked me to spend a day with him on the footplate driving their ex GWR 2-8-0 2884 Class loco number 3850. It's 20 miles each way and we'll be pulling a freight train up and down about 4 times each way during the day. Sounds like being fun, I'll need to dig out my 1/2 pint white enamel tea mug and red spotted neck scarf



West Somerset Railway 2-8-0 number 3850 lifts an excursion from London out of Watchet on its way to Minehead.

Author Geoff Sheppard

Edited by RichB on Sunday 18th January 12:05

[RichB]

ecsrobin said:

This one?

That's it.

[RichB]

WelshChris said:

You'll have a whale of a time - just don't be a poof and wear gloves whilst firing - you'll get coal dust and oil all over the controls and piss the driver off - enjoy!

Wouldn't dream of it. I'll tell my mate too 'cos he's sharing the driving and firing apparently. Mind you I don't know about shovelling coal, we're not so young any more, last time we did this was Clun Castle and that was over 20 years ago. He thought I'd like to try again!

[RichB]

mrmaggit said:

I got a footplate read at the Great Central a few years back, on a Gala day. Rode from Loughborough to Rothley on the 04 63601 on a goods train, returned with the Post Office mail train. Made my birthday, although it was bloody cold when running tender first.

That's a handsome looking engine...



"63601 Great Central Railway (19)" by Duncan Harris - IMG_8601Uploaded by oxyman. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:63601_Great...

[RichB]

As I'll be doing some shovelling I wonder if Chruchward's masterpieces had good sized firebox doors

[RichB]

Did GWR really use such rubbish? I always heard they only ran on choice Welsh coal. Or at least that's what the CMEs of other railways used to say when their precious Pacifics were beaten in the head-to-head trials by smaller 4-6-0s

[RichB]

Well we had a great day in Somerset on Tuesday, 3850 on a freight train running up and down the 20 miles between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard crossing over with the passenger services in the station passing loops. Some running forwards and some tender first, all in all about 8 hours on the tracks. Even the weather was reasonably kind too.