by David Benton
This is probably aimed at John the Fireman, but anyone s input is appreciated.
A few weeks ago , My 4yo son and I went for a ride on the Weka Pass Railway
https://wekapassrailway.co.nz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We were touring in a motorhome, and I just happened to juggle our schedule so we arrived in Waipara the night before the train ran. Imagine my partners surprise upon waking up in a railway station carpark , with a steam train due to run that day !
Around 8 a.m, I noticed smoke rising in the depot, about 1 k.m away. That confirmed we would be steam hauled. Train due to leave at 11.30 a.m, we drove down to the depot around 10.
The steam loco appeared to be running well( to my amateur eye ), a bit of smoke rising straight up out of the chimney,and a valve behind the chimney blasting off a bit of steam every so often. I took this to mean the loco had a full head f steam , and this was the safety valve popping off.
Shortly, the loco backed onto the train , running perfectly.
We returned to the station , got tickets , and waited for the train to appear . It came around the corner, and pulled up , emitting all the sounds and smoke i would expect . We boarded and set off.
After about 10 minute and maybe 2 -3 k.ms (upgrade), we came to a sudden halt. The message over the pa was the driver was having trouble getting water to the boiler. After about 5 minutes we set off, the problem seemingly fixed. We came to the photo run by point, and the train stopped. We all climbed out , and climbed the hill to get a photo .
It was not be. It was soon obvious all was not well with the loco. Thick brown smoke was just barely rolling out of the chimney, The driver yelled out he couldn't get steam pressure up . It looked to me like either too much coal, or not enough air getting in. One of the crew grabbed a spanner, and carefully opened the firebox(?, the one at the front under the chimney) up , had a look and said something I didn't hear to the driver. I think he shook his head , but couldn't tell if he meant he could see what was wrong , or didn't know what was wrong.
The decision was made to call the back up diesel loco , which came up behind us , and pushed us for the final 6 k's or so . Unfortunately my son got quite upset at this stage , and I wasn't paying much attention , but I think the steam loco was assisting a bit. When we walked past the steam loco , it seemed to be back to steaming normally.
Any ideas what could have caused this? I have some photos and videos , which i might post later.
A few weeks ago , My 4yo son and I went for a ride on the Weka Pass Railway
https://wekapassrailway.co.nz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We were touring in a motorhome, and I just happened to juggle our schedule so we arrived in Waipara the night before the train ran. Imagine my partners surprise upon waking up in a railway station carpark , with a steam train due to run that day !
Around 8 a.m, I noticed smoke rising in the depot, about 1 k.m away. That confirmed we would be steam hauled. Train due to leave at 11.30 a.m, we drove down to the depot around 10.
The steam loco appeared to be running well( to my amateur eye ), a bit of smoke rising straight up out of the chimney,and a valve behind the chimney blasting off a bit of steam every so often. I took this to mean the loco had a full head f steam , and this was the safety valve popping off.
Shortly, the loco backed onto the train , running perfectly.
We returned to the station , got tickets , and waited for the train to appear . It came around the corner, and pulled up , emitting all the sounds and smoke i would expect . We boarded and set off.
After about 10 minute and maybe 2 -3 k.ms (upgrade), we came to a sudden halt. The message over the pa was the driver was having trouble getting water to the boiler. After about 5 minutes we set off, the problem seemingly fixed. We came to the photo run by point, and the train stopped. We all climbed out , and climbed the hill to get a photo .
It was not be. It was soon obvious all was not well with the loco. Thick brown smoke was just barely rolling out of the chimney, The driver yelled out he couldn't get steam pressure up . It looked to me like either too much coal, or not enough air getting in. One of the crew grabbed a spanner, and carefully opened the firebox(?, the one at the front under the chimney) up , had a look and said something I didn't hear to the driver. I think he shook his head , but couldn't tell if he meant he could see what was wrong , or didn't know what was wrong.
The decision was made to call the back up diesel loco , which came up behind us , and pushed us for the final 6 k's or so . Unfortunately my son got quite upset at this stage , and I wasn't paying much attention , but I think the steam loco was assisting a bit. When we walked past the steam loco , it seemed to be back to steaming normally.
Any ideas what could have caused this? I have some photos and videos , which i might post later.
Moderator worldwide railfan , Rail travel & trip reports
The only train trips I regret are the ones I didn't take.
The only train trips I regret are the ones I didn't take.