Driver for a Day (or two…)

The 27th and 28th of June 2009 was a very auspicious day for me, as this weekend was scheduled for the theory and practical examinations that had to be passed in order for me to achieve my “steam ticket”, or accreditation to operate a boiler and reciprocating engine.  The theory turned out to be a full day of testing, with over 100 pages of questions to be answered.  Thankfully, the practical test, while a little nerve wracking as I wasn’t sure what was to happen, turned out to be far more enjoyable, with the chance to drive PB15 No. 448 out on the Box Flat branch being the way of assessing our prowess in handling a boiler and reciprocating engine.  There were a few of us on the course, and we all took turns to fire and drive.  I was fortunate  at being one of the first to have a go, so managed to spend the rest of the day riding the train while the others were going through their assessments.  This recording is of 448 running tender first from Box Flat, up one of the steepest grades on any current Queensland 3’6″ line, with sections of 1:33 in places.  We start off from Box Flat with the cylinder cocks open which are soon quickly closed and the engine is opened up for the first steep climb.  With 100 tonnes on the drawbar, the engine is worked reasonably hard, but not thrashed up to the point where we reach a short downhill grade where she is shut off.  We then hear the sound of the snifter valves releasing vacuum to the cylinders until the throttle is open again and we move along at a reasonable pace with the typical “whistling” chuff that PBs make when they aren’t being worked to hard.  This soon changes as the grade steepens again, but the engine settles down to a reasonable beat and the grade is soon crested and we coast into Swanbank station accompanied by the whine of the Pyle National light generator and the Westinghouse pump. 28 June 2009

Accompanied by the sounds of crows and lorikeets, we hear PB15 448 pushing back her train into Box Flat yard, so that the crew can have their meal break.  It’s so nice to be able to record a stephenson valve geared loco in Queensland again, being nigh on 12 years since we last heard those sounds in our state.  28 June 2009