Blowbacks & dropped fusible plugs etc.

I had a clack stick open yesterday. Luckily we were at a station and the loco had an accessible clack. A quick clonk on the cover with the coal hammer cured it. Worrying for a few seconds though.

 

Sorry but I don't believe your comment about dropping a fusible plug is your own fault is a fair one. I think there are a fair few circumstances where its not obvious what might happen like 35028's incident where I believe the locomotive priming was the main cause.

 

I believe that dropping a plug would usually be the end of a drivers career in the days of steam unless there was a really good reason. Priming certainly wouldn't fall into that category, nor would injector failure as the driver, as the one in charge, should have taken action well before the water level reached crisis point. I doubt that it's any different on any of our heritage railways. The two drivers who I knew that dropped plugs never drove again.

 

Apart from the mechanical failures mentioned earlier, another way that could cause a plug to drop is breasting a summit. Combine the effects of going over the summit with closing the regulator and, perhaps, braking and there is a situation in which you can lose a full glass of water in a flash. Of course you should have made sure that you have plenty of water coming up the bank but it can still catch you out. Particularly in an unfamiliar loco maybe with short gauge glasses.

I agree with the sentiments relating to the provision of only one gauge glass. With two you have a ready, at-a-glance, indication of any problems with the indication and can therefore do something about it. I have never used the try cocks but, please correct me if I'm wrong, you wouldn't expect steam from one and water from the other as water at 200psi instantly turns to steam when reduced to atmospheric pressure. I guess you are listening for the hiss from one and the roar from the other?

Ian

 

You can tel lthe difference between steam and water with the try-cock. Although you get steam issuing from both, you get a dribble of water if it is present. The secret is not to open them fully, just crack them. Always open the bottom one first; it's not an easy task if you have opened the top one first as you tend to get scalded by dripping water!

I don't know whether you are on the footplate but it amazes me how many footplatemen never test the try-cocks whereas they religously test conventional water gauges.

If you drop a plug in breasting a summit, the blame lies directly with the driver. No excuse.

 

Thanks for that Steve. Very interesting. I guess that with experience then it becomes more obvious.

I am on the footplate just not GWR footplate. We had a GW loco a while back when I was a cleaner and I hadn't advanced to the arcane subjects from Swindon in my training at that point.

 

Why Driver and not fireman. I would have thought the blame was shared. The fireman being directly responsible for the level of water, the driver, is, obviously responsible for the entire loco

 

The driver is responsible for everything concerning the loco. Including responsibility for everything the fireman does.

 

Correct.

 

While he has ultimate responsibiliy, and would definately be aportioned a good proportion of the blame, i was questioning the 'blame lies directly with the driver'. Surely blame lies with both of the crew?

 

By tradition, and in practice, the driver is considered the senior person on the footplate. In passing out as driver, after a protracted training which includes passing through all the other grades, the driver assumes the responsibilities of supervising the people working to the grades below. Ideally, they should all be working as a team, led by the driver.

So when a fireman makes an error, even if the driver's not on the footplate at the time, it's still the driver's responsibility to be aware of what's been going on. Rough justice on occasion, but that's what drivers sign up for when they take their ticket.

In H&S investigatory terms this is mirrored by starting at the top of an organisation when something goes wrong, and working downwards to reach the first person with direct authority to be responsible. On the footplate, that'll always be the driver.

Roger

 

Tenwheeler has responded but, to add a bit of detail, a driver should also be looking at the water level and all else that is going on around and, if there is any doubt as to whether there is enough water, he should instruct the fireman to put on the injector(s). If necessary, he should stop the train to avoid a worsening situation. The driver might get away with blaming the fireman for having to stop the train but not for the consequences of low water.

It's pretty much the same with overfilling the boiler. The driver should instruct the fireman accordingly.

 

blame != responsibility folks....

Personally, to go back a couple of pages, I think the spectacular verbosity of modern reports is probably as much as anything to do with the inspector not having to write his report out longhand before it goes to the typist/printer as a victorian inspector of accidents would have to do. The length of reports (with the exception of WW2 ones) on the Railwatys archive increases as the technology improves, first typists, then shorthand, then dictation machines, then word processing, then desk top publishing...

 

Blame is with the fireman for poor boiler management but responsibility is fairly and squarely with the driver and he would take the rap. He will be monitoring the situation and can, as has been said, stop the train for a blow up before the top. No harm done apart from being late and a very embarrassed fireman!

 

I would also think a certain amount of responsibility would lie with the Owners Rep whilst out on the mainline as he/ she is there to make sure the engine is not mishandled.

Jamie

 

Sorry, but that is wrong. The owners representative can offer advice/opinion, but is not responsible for anything. The driver can request assistance of course, but it's the driver who is responsible at all times. And as a matter of fact the same applies to any footplate inspector that may be present. They are not responsible for the locomotive, but of course they can report on matters subsequently.