Sunday, 1 June 2003, Canberra

After all the fun and games with pressure pumps and leaking belly plates, 1210 was granted its boiler certificate on Friday, May 30.

Therefore Saturday meant putting all the bits together for Sunday's Bungendore trip.

David Malcolm eventually managed to get bolts through two cladding sheets, one cladding strip and into the fixing point on the boiler.

This is harder than you think; often requiring two. Hence we see Shaun Barker with David on the firebox top.

And for those with eagle-eyes, yes, the cab roof is not the correct position for the turbo-generator - that went into place after the cladding was secured.

Meanwhile Kerry Mellor was bringing the brass and copper ware up to a high shine.

Now a small point should be made here about who gets the dirty work and who gets the pleasure.

These three are doing the yukky bits and some other things not shown here.

Try a boiler wash-out in a Canberra winter with the wind coming straight off the Snowies.

David and Shaun are passed Firemen while Kerry is a Fireman/Trainee Driver.

All three are signaller, guard and shunter-qualified to DOT and RIC standards. These qualifications were obtained and are maintained through ARHS (ACT Division).

Not many railway societies operate on the public rail network with their own qualified crews.

Whistle out was not until 9.45am on Sunday, June 1, and 1210's boiler was pre-warmed with a light wood fire on Saturday night. That meant a sleep-in for the light-up crew, with only a 6am start (it is usually 5am) Shaun Barker and myself did the honours with John Cheeseman along a little later when there is light to oil around.

Before dawn is cold. There was only a light frost, probably too dry to get very wet.

Engines not in steam look dead, lifeless and bleak, even with a warmed boiler, in the cold and very dark before dawn. Even the footplate looks uninviting.

Shaun had just lit the fire but it is only warming the firebox at this stage. He then opens the blowdown valve to lower the water level to just above half a glass; halfway up the gauge glass, that is.

We fill the boiler to maximum level at the end of a day's steaming to bring the steam pressure down, allow the boiler to cool slower and to avoid needing to put in water at the next light-up.

Now is a convenient time to fill the hydrostatic lubricator which feeds oil to the valve chests and the Westinghouse pump steam valve chamber. Being a saturated steam engine, 1210 does not need the valves and the cylinders to be separately lubricated.

First the water is drained from the lubricator. It is this water slowly condensing from steam which displaces the oil in the lubricator's oil reservoir which drives the oil through the lubrication system. Steam oil is then poured into the lubricator's reservoir.

Apart from occasionally feeding wood to the fire it is now just a cold, dark wait until light.

Dawn means that you can see things in the nooks and crannies where they put vital items such as oiling points.

Missing one of these can mean a bearing can become very hot and be very expensive to fix. So with light comes oiling round.

A few points of interest in this view of 1210's right hand big end bearing. 1210's connecting rod lies between the wheel the side rod. Most locos have the connecting rod on the outside of the side rod.

Also, the various parts have numbers stamped on them. The collar holding on the side rod is clearly stamped 1210. The side rod and the brass side rod bearing are stamped RL 1210 standing for right leading (wheel).

The connecting rod is stamped with R 1512 in two places plus 12?? and BP 550? The 1512 is a puzzle.

There was a 15 class but it had only 6 engines in it. It probably should mean 1312 but the 3 punch was missing. The 13 class were converted from the 12 class, so these parts could easily be swapped from engine to engine during overhaul.

The BP 550? probably is an engineering drawing number for the part, with BP standing for Beyer Peacock, the original builder of the engines. It also could be a Beyer Peacock builders number, but this is unlikely.

You will note that each oil reservoir has oil trickling from it. That is because I poked a finger into it after filling it.

I was not just being messy - a too-full reservoir may pop out its cork during running when the oil becomes warm and expands. No cork, no oil, a melted bearing.

You can see the corks placed on their rods. For those interested, these reservoirs use pin feeds to meter out the oil.

The slidebars are next to be oiled. 1210 has four slidebars for each cylinder. There are four reservoirs for the slidebars plus a reservoir for the connecting rod little end bearing.

The slide bar reservoirs use trimmings to feed the oil. These are woollen yarn wound around a twisted wire with long yarn tails.

The wound part goes into the oil feed pipe and the tails go into the oil pool. Capillary action draws the oil up the tails into the wound section in the oil pipe where it drips down into the bearing.

After the trimmings are checked, the oil reservoirs are overfilled. We do not run every day so we over-oil to make sure there is an oil film on moving parts. Note the oil track deliberately placed on the bottom slidebar.

At this stage we had lift-off - the needle has moved! The photo was taken about 7.50am so we had taken about 2 hours to raise some steam with a pre-warmed boiler.

This is about right, for we do not want to be any quicker. Heating a boiler too quickly creates thermal stresses on the boiler seams, the tubes and stays. Eventually leaks and broken stays become a problem.

We continue to burn wood until there is around 50 lbs/sq in. on the gauge. The blower works well at that pressure, creating the draught required for coal.

Eagle-eyes would have noted the electric fan placed on 1210's funnel. This provides the draught for the wood fire. It is not always used but is very useful in rainy weather with damp wood. The fan is taken down before the change-over to coal.

While I was oiling round the engine, John Cheeseman was refilling the tender axleboxes and oiling the spring and brake gear.

The covers had been taken off the axleboxes on the Saturday and the oil reservoirs syphoned out. The boxes are not water-tight and rain and cleaning water gets into them.

Eventually the woolpads fill with water instead of oil, and a hotbox with a melted bearing results.

1210 is easier to oil than some engines her age. We installed a mechanical lubricator between the frames and this takes car of all 8 engine axleboxes and the 4 eccentrics.

The Right Hand trailing Bissell truck axle box has the brass fitting and the flexible hose leading into a cover sealed across the top of the oil reservoir.

With this arrangement there are no trimmings inserted and the oil flow is metered by the lubricator itself.

That took care of oiling around outside. 1210 has its valve gear between the frames and the mechanical lubricator only looks after the eccentrics. So guess where to next.

First, importantly first, tell the light-up foreman where you are going and what you are doing.

The engine must not be moved while you are underneath it!

Each of the two valve gears has 9 oiling points on the sliding links alone. Then there is the weight shaft and the valve rod connections.

While under there I can show you the blow-down valve.

The valve is at bottom left of the picture with the actuating rod going diagonally to top right.

It is positioned on the right hand front bottom of the firebox because it is at the bottom where the mud and scale settles.

- Continued next column

When the valve is opened with the boiler in steam, the intense currents scour the muck, taking it out through the valve.

The round pimples on the firebox front sheet are the boiler stay heads holding inner and outer boiler sheets together against the steam pressure.

A hole is drilled through the centre of each stay going down over half its length. If a stay cracks or breaks steam and water come out through the hole.

The tell-tale steam quickly points out to the crew that there is a failed stay. You may continue to steam with up to 3 failed stays.

We have found that it is best to immediately repair a broken stay because the added load causes stays around it to also fail if left too long.

Off the pit and into traffic, 1210's first task is to pull the cars out of the shed for loading passenger supplies and final checks.

Pulling the cars out into Canberra yard and the footplate has a different feel to it than early in the morning.

The regulator is about one third open, the brake valve is in running position, there is 110 lbs on the clock, half a glass of water in the boiler, 100 lbs in the main reservoir (brake) and 75 lbs in the equalising reservoir and train pipe.

If you look at the lubricator you can see through the middle bull's eye window the oil metering nozzle, while the left hand bull's eye has an oil drop ready to float off the top of the nozzle.

Along the boiler top, the large green can hold the steam oil for the lubricator and the small green can holds the air side lubrication oil for the Westinghouse pump. The oil feeders with axle box oil are on the warming tray above the fire hole. Warm oil runs better.

Just to show we do have a driver, here is Michael Potter preparing to make a brake application as we move along the North Shunt.

1210 then propels the cars through Canberra yard towards the station.

Looking back where we have been, we see the sidings and the stored DOT oil tankers once used for loco diesel fuel. To the right we see Frame B, controlling the main line coming in from the middle, the South Shunt coming up from behind the lever frame, the yard entry road underneath the camera and the platform road leading off to the bottom right.

The cars then take the road from the yard up to the platform loop.

Simon Cowling, as Guard, is controlling the propelling movement from the end of the train.

Behind Simon you can see the silver-painted tender tank from 5808 formerly used as a diesel fuel tank.

A driver has to watch his train into a platform, ready to make an emergency stop if someone appears to be in danger. Michael's cap is in the bottom of the picture.

Also note that 1210 is considerably narrower than the end platform cars, and these cars are not that wide anyway.

Once under way, David Malcolm continues to build his fire ready for Fyshwick Bank. And yes, his shovel is upside down.

David has just placed a shovelfull in the back right hand corner of the firebox. To do this, he gives the shovel a right twist with his handle (left) hand while his right hand drags the shovel blade across to the right once the blade is inside the firebox.

Shovelfull doors have more uses than keeping the glare out of your eyes. The glow of the door tells you the health of the fire behind it.

If the colour is even across the door, then the fire is burning evenly.

A dull patch to one side indicates that the fire needs attention to that side.

A darker patch to the bottom and one side means that the back corner of the firebox on that side needs seeing to.

Not a welcome sign when you need to keep up the steam.

Once over Fyshwick Bank you have time to sight-see.

Then it's time to hand over the staff to John Cheeseman, the signaller.

What was that about multi-skilling?

Queanbeyan usually doesn't need a signaller for Bungendore trips, as the train crew can work themselves through.

This time 1210 is turned - sorry no picture, as I was pushing - and we cross the morning down Xplorer.

A signaller on duty means you can leave directly from the loop and savour what little level track remains.

As you approach the Yass Road underbridge, the grade stiffens as the hills loom larger.

The left hand curve past the industrial estate signals the start of the 1-in-40s through the Molonglo Gorge.

Michael has reason to concentrate; Molonglo Gorge has it all - grades, curves, views and tunnels.

1210 steams beautifully against the injector and actually makes water in the glass.

At the same time, the grade is tackled easily. This is with a full passenger loading of 100 tons.

The crest of the grade is a few hundred metres beyond Pine Range No. 1 Tunnel, and there is time to recover during the run down to Burbong Bridge over the Molonglo River.



There follow two sawtooth climbs before Brooks' Bank Tunnel marks the 1-in-40 descent to Bungendore.

The run down can be quite quick as the straighter track further down allows speeds up to our limit of 80 kms/hr.

The flats into Bungendore can then also be taken quickly.

At Bungendore, my wife Jenny purloins the camera and gets me as I am about to leave the signal box.

Also caught are Michael and his family - his mother Margaret, left, holding the baby, wife Michelle with Louise, and of course Michael.

Not to be left out is Daniel ("my dad is the train driver!") Potter - a real family affair.

- report and pictures from Max Fish

See: Other editions of The Kingston Mail

See: Other editions of The Kingston Mail