Tuesday 9 February 2016

Steamy!

48 years since Sentinel 7109 was last believed to have been steamed (and 56 since it was definitely known to have been steamed), finally a fire has been lit in the grate of this unique double-engined Sentinel locomotive.
Steam rising


An early start on Tuesday 9th Feb. 2016 saw Andy Chapman, Nigel Dickinson and Graham Findlay (with a cameo appearance from Justin Goold) applying the match at 08:30am.
Oily rag activity
Activity began slowly.
Slow start
A whimper from the rooftop:
Fumes fuelled the fire
Raging inferno in the making
With commensurate reaction from above.
Quadruple chimneys' worth
And more fuel for the fire.
A handful of coal
With more reaction from above.
Close atmosphere developing
Not such a cold day after all.
A nice fire to sit by
But getting a little foggy inside!
A real pea-souper!


Inevitably a new machine brings its own noises. The cab-mounted Worthington-Simpson steam driven water pump gets some exercise - what a wonderful sound! (Also on YouTube).


A brilliant day of progress and a joy to see and hear 7109 coming back to life with enthusiasm!


Note: water hoses and fire extinguishers were close at hand during the whole operation.

3 comments:

  1. Fantastic - a major milestone reached :)

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Totally uplifting.
    Well done Andy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations. It's been a long time coming!

    ReplyDelete

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