Chapter 51: Heavy Shunting Work
(Monday, September 24th 2012 – 7:45am, Tidmouth Sheds)
The morning air felt slightly cool as Carrie and Simon walked along together out from the crew building at Tidmouth Sheds and out into the depot, ready for another day of hard work again. It was nice to take a week's leave from work and rest, but at the same time it was good to get back to work again. Both of them had a hot cup of tea in one hand as well as a pastry in their other hands, and they were dressed in suitable work clothes, including dark-blue overalls, solid work books, railway caps on their heads, as well as bright orange Hi-Viz safety vests over their overalls. They also had gloves in the pockets of their overalls, which they would put on their hands once they started work, as they kept the coal dust off their hands and offered some protection from the intense heat in the fireboxes.
The weather for this September morning was quite nice, with clear blue skies to be seen, a very light breeze in the air, and the sun slowly rising up into the sky to the east, and the weather promised to be quite good for the rest of the day, although the temperatures would be a little cooler than average, which was a sure sign that winter was on its way in the near future.
"I'll be glad to get back to work again. It was really nice to have a week off work and all, as well as to celebrate my 17th birthday last Friday…but it's always nice to get back to work after a good rest." Carrie said, as she took a sip of tea.
"Me too. I'd much rather be busy and out working for as long as possible on something that I really like doing, instead of just sitting about resting and watching many of the others work." Simon said, as they made their way into the busy depot.
Carrie felt herself smile as they approached the group of those who were in the apprenticeship scheme; her birthday the previous Friday had gone very well with nothing going wrong or anything bad happening that would have caused embarrassment, but now Carrie was eager to get back to work after her week of rest.
After joining up the all the others, Carrie and Simon waited to be assigned to their engines for the day by the yard manager. Just like on many other days, each person was assigned to a different engine by alphabetical order, with some being assigned to freight engines, and others being assigned to work on the big express passenger engines. Watching as the others were assigned to their engines, Carrie wondered which engine she would be assigned to for today, and whether it would be for the morning or for the whole day.
Eventually, it was Carrie's turn to be assigned to an engine for the day.
"Okay Carrie…you'll be working with No.9905 for today, and you're going to be working at doing various shunting jobs in the Knapford yards." said the yard manager, when Carrie's turn finally came.
"Okay, sir." Carrie said.
"But first, let me just assign Simon to his engine for the day, and then I'll take you over to where No.9905 is waiting for you." said the yard manager.
"All right." Carrie said, as she stood aside and waited. The yard manager assigned Simon to work with Gordon for today and, after being given his assignment for the day, Simon said goodbye to Carrie and wished her the best of luck for the day before he climbed aboard Gordon's footplate. After giving a blast of his whistle and also calling out "Good luck for today, Carrie!" Gordon set off out of the yard of pick up his first train of the day.
"Okay, Carrie…follow me this way please." said the yard manager.
"Yes, sir." Carrie said, as she followed him towards one of the other sheds in the yards.
Entering one of the sheds, Carrie saw No.9905, and he was one of the largest tank engines that Carrie thought she had ever seen before. He was an L.N.E.R. S1 Class 0-8-4T heavy shunting engine (92) and he certainly looked like he could move a very heavy load without too much difficulty. The front part of his water tanks on both sides of his boiler had been angled down a little, in order to improve the views ahead from the cab, and his paintwork had been polished down and rubbed by the men who were working around him to get him ready.
"Carrie…this is No.9905, and you'll be working with him at heavy shunting in the yards at Knapford for today." said the yard manager.
"Sounds good to me sir. And what sort of heavy shunting work will we be doing?" Carrie asked.
"Just taking lines of different trucks and wagons and helping to get them sorted into different trains for other engines to take out today." said the yard manager.
"Very well then. Let's introduce me to No.9905 then, and we'll set about getting ready for work." Carrie said.
"Good idea, Carrie. Let's do that." and the yard manager led Carrie over to No.9905 to introduce her to the big tank engine and his crew.
(92): The L.N.E.R. S1 Class (Great Central Railway Class 8H) 0-8-4T tank locomotives were designed by John Robinson, the Chief Mechanical Engineer (C.M.E.) of the Great Central Railway, and were intended for hump shunting heavy freight trains at the then newly-opened Wath-on-Dearne marshalling yard in South Yorkshire. This marshalling yard was opened in November 1907 and was more than a mile long, with two humps and two signal cabins, one at each end, and 15 reception roads along with 21 sorting sidings. This yard had 36 miles of sidings and could handle up to 5,000 wagons a day.
Initially, four examples of the class were built at Beyer-Peacock in 1907 and 1908, and were used for work in the Wath-on-Dearne marshalling yard. They were based off Robinson's previous Q4 Class 0-8-0 (G.C.R. Class 8A) which were tender engines, but instead of two cylinders, the S1 Class were fitted with three cylinders instead, which were seen as necessary for shunting heavy freight trains smoothly uphill. Having three cylinders also reduced the risk of the wheels slipping when they were shunting a heavy load. Due to the additional cylinder, the class was fitted with a slightly wider boiler for providing the steam for the work they were to do, and power reversing gear was fitted due to the constant reversing that would be experienced when working in a marshalling yard.
The three cylinders of the class were 18in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke which, paired with a boiler that was pressed to 180psi and driving wheels that were 4ft 8in in diameter, gave the class a maximum tractive effort of 34,525lbf. When the Grouping took place in January 1923, all four engines were absorbed into the new London and North Eastern Railway (L.N.E.R.).
In May and June 1932, two more G.C.R. S1 Class 0-8-4T engines were built, emerging from Gorton Works. These two engines were No.2798 and No.2799. The first four engines to be built were, by then, numbered from No.6170 to No.6173. The class could carry up to six tons of coal in their coal bunkers, and their side tanks could carry up to 2,680 gallons of water. Fully loaded, they weighed just over 103 tons.
Due to their job of pushing freight trains up the humps in marshalling yards, the S1 Class were given the inevitable nickname of "Humpies" by their crews. But they were also known as "Wath Daisies", and sometimes they were even referred to as "Mickey Mouse."
The initial four engines proved to be very successful at the jobs they had to do, although two engines were sometimes needed to move the heaviest trains up the marshalling yard humps in wet weather. So, in 1930, Nigel Gresley tried fitting a booster to the trailing bogie of the class, which would provide additional power at slow speeds and for added assistance in moving heavy loads. And as the S1s were shunting engines, the boosters they were fitted with were rather unusual as they were reversible, meaning power could be applied in both directions.
In total, three engines were fitted with boosters, these engines being No.6171, No.2798 and No.2799, with the latter two being fitted with boosters when they were built in 1932. The unmodified engines not fitted with boosters were designated as S1/1, while No.6171 was designated at S1/2, and the two newly-built engines being designated as S1/3.
In service, while the boosters did massively increase the tractive effort of the three fitted engines by 12,373lbf to 46,896lbf, some problems were noted, the main one being that the boosters didn't work too well when running in reverse. In fact, the boosters were rarely used in reverse mode, and so No.6171 had its booster modified to have the reverse disabled. Not too long afterwards, the S1/3s had the reversing latches removed from their boosters as well. The boosters were removed from the three engines fitted with them in 1943, although the outside frames on the trailing bogies were kept.
Another modification made to the class was the installation of superheaters to the S1/2 and S1/3 engines, which provided additional power for the boosters. The original S1/1s were also eventually fitted with superheated boilers.
The S1/3s were fitted with side window cabs during their lives, and also had their side tanks altered by having the front part angled down slightly in order to improve the visibility forward for the crews.
For most of their working lives, the class were based at Mexborough Shed for working at Wath Yard marshalling yard, though two engines worked for a while at Whitemoor Yard in March, as well as Frodingham. Eventually, after an unsuccessful time in hauling steel from the Frodingham Steelworks to the marshalling yard, the two engines that had been based at Frodingham were moved back to Wath in 1950 to join the other members of the class.
When Britain's railways were nationalised into British Railways in January 1948, the class were renumbered from No.69900 to No.69905. They were initially given the power classification of 7F, but in 1953 they were reclassified as 6F.
During the remaining time in service, they continued working on their regular duties in working heavy trains over the hump in Wath marshalling yard until 1953, when B.R. introduced 350hp diesel-electric shunters for working at Wath, and the S1s were replaced. Five went to Doncaster, and one was tried out at Immingham Docks for four months, but eventually all six S1s were based at Doncaster, where they were kept in storage for quite a long time, though they were occasionally used on moving lines of withdrawn steam locomotives or other shunting duties.
In March 1954, No.69903 became the very first member of the class to be withdrawn from service, followed afterwards by No.69900, No.69902 and No.69904 in January 1956, and No.69901 and No.69905 in January 1957. Sadly, none of the six engines have survived into preservation, with all of them being scrapped not long after they were withdrawn.
Once Carrie had been introduced to No.9905 and his crew, the yard manager went off to the offices and Carrie helped out with getting No.9905 ready for his day of work, including oiling around the motion and cleaning the forward windows in order to give them a good view ahead.
Soon, they were ready to go and it was time for them to leave the shed and make their way out to Knapford Yards to shunt trucks. Checking her watch, Carrie noted the time as being 8:10am. After climbing aboard the footplate with the crew, Carrie was given the chance to blow the whistle before they set off, which she gladly took and, reaching up, she grabbed the whistle handle and pulled it hard, sounding the whistle for several seconds. After that, the driver released the brakes and opened the regulator to admit steam into the cylinders.
"Here we go! Let's get shunting!" No.9905 said, as he set off out of the shed. Passing by the sheds, where Edward, Henry, Toby, and Emily were seen being readied for their day of work, the driver blew his whistle again as he went on by.
"Good luck today! I'll see you all later on!" No.9905 called, as he went on past.
"Good luck with your work today, No.9905!" Henry and Edward called, as they watched the L.N.E.R. S1 go on by, with Carrie leaning out from the footplate and waving to the engines.
"Best of luck, Carrie!" Toby and Emily called, when they saw Carrie wave to them.
"Thanks, and good luck to all of you as well!" Carrie called, as No.9905 made his way out of the yard, and onto the main line to take them to Knapford Yard.
(At Knapford Yards, a little later on)
It wasn't long before they finally arrived at the yards in Knapford, and Carrie was looking all round as they pulled into the yards. There were lots of different trucks in place inside all the different sidings that were waiting to be shunted into different trains, and in places Carrie could see smoke rising from the chimneys of other shunting engines as they went about shunting trucks into trains. There was a lot more activity taking place in other parts of the yards as well, including vans that were being loaded up at some of the loading sheds along some sidings, repair work being done inside some other sheds where the bright flashes from welding torches could be clearly seen, as well as different cranes lifting things on and off some of the other trucks in different parts of the yard.
"It looks like we're going to have a very busy day today." Carrie said to the driver, as she looked around the yards at everything that was going on.
"Indeed, but then again, it's something that my fireman and I are well-used to doing by now. We've shunted in this yard many times over the years, and we've arranged many trains in that time." said the driver.
"Well, shall we get down to getting things done?" asked No.9905.
"Let's do that, old boy. Let's get to work!" said the driver, as he opened the regulator again.
So, for the rest of the morning, they went about through the yards and shunted lots of trucks about in and out of the many different sidings, and arranging them into trains to be taken away by the other engines as they came and went. For Carrie, it was a little bit repetitive to go about from one siding to another, get coupled up either to a long line of trucks, a short line of trucks, or even just one or two trucks, and then take them out from the sidings before arranging them into trains over in a different part of the yard. Whenever trains were partially assembled, No.9905 would take the lines of trucks over to another part of the yards where another shunting engine would take over assembling the trains together.
During the morning, while Carrie was busy helping out with getting the trucks moved about and assembled on the footplate of No.9905, she was completely unaware of the fact that she was being spied on by three of the officers sent over from Chamberlain. It was taking place at a part of the yards where one of the main roads in the town of Knapford went by the yards, from where just about anyone, including the officers, could look down onto the yards and seeing whatever activity was going on in the many different sidings. The road was about twenty feet above the level of the yards and sitting atop a very sturdy supporting wall, and anyone standing on the pavement that was on top of the edge of the wall that overlooked the yards could see what was going on, as well as all the engines going about with their trains.
The three officers were Irving, Spacek, and King, and they were watching No.9905 work away from a point where there were two gates in the wall that took a side road from the main road down into the yards. The three of them had their cameras with them, with King's camera having a special lens on it for getting pictures at a distance, and they were watching No.9905 as he went about with trucks, either pushing them ahead of him or pulling them behind him.
"It looks like Carrie is very busy in there this morning." Spacek said, as she brought up a set of binoculars to have a look at the footplate of No.9905. Through the lenses, she could clearly see Carrie on the footplate and shovelling coal from the bunker into the firebox.
"And I've gotten some pictures of her working there too. And she seems to be doing a good job of it too, from what I've seen." King said, as he lowered his camera from his eyes.
"I wonder if she's going to be working on that engine for the rest of the day. I think it seems to be likely." Irving said, as she lowered her own camera from her eyes.
"I'd say it's quite likely she'll be working on that engine for the rest of the day. After all, I'd say that arranging all those cars seem to be a full-time job that has to be done all the time." King said.
For a few more minutes, the three officers stayed where they were in front of the two gates and watched the activity going on in front of them, specifically watching No.9905 going about moving trucks throughout the yard. Each of the three officers were very careful to get photos of Carrie, either on the footplate of No.9905, or if they had to get pictures of her in front of the L.N.E.R. S1 0-8-4T, they were careful to try not get pictures of the front of the engine, so as not to see his face.
"Did you get a good shot of Carrie?" Irving asked King, as he looked at the screen of his camera.
"Yes, I did. And a good shot it is too." King said, as he showed Irving and Spacek the shot he had just gotten.
"Quite a good shot to me." Irving said.
Just then, there came the sounds of an "ahem" and a bicycle bell sounding from behind them. Quickly turning round, Irving, King, and Spacek saw a policeman standing behind them. He was dressed in the classic British police officer's uniform, which was completed with the familiar custodian helmet on top of his head.
"Hello, hello, hello." said the policeman ominously, as he surveyed the scene. "And what's going on here?"
For several moments, Irving, King, and Spacek froze and wondered what they should say to this policeman. But then, Irving cleared her throat.
"We were just…getting some pictures of the engines working in the yard, sir. We're over here on vacation and we wanted to get some pictures of the engines of Sodor while we were over here." Irving said, as she kept her eyes on the policeman.
"Oh, you're all American, are you?" the policeman asked, as he looked to Irving, and then to Spacek and King.
"Yes, sir." Spacek and King said.
The policeman looked to the three of them, then he turned to looked to the gates and the yard beyond, and then he looked back to the three standing before him.
"Well, you can't stand in front of this gate, you three. This entrance is in used twenty-four hours a day." the officer said, as he indicated to a sign fitted to the wall to the side of one of the gates. Spacek, Irving, and King looked towards the sign, which said;
Do Not Obstruct.
This gate is in constant use.
Please keep clear at all times.
"Oh, sorry officer. We were so keen on getting pictures, we didn't notice the sign." King said.
"It's all right, sir. I just thought I'd let you know to stand clear of the gate, just in case a lorry drives in or out of the yards. You can get pictures of the yard and the engines working in it off to the sides of the gates, but just don't stand in front of the gates." said the policeman.
"Yes, sir. Sorry. We'll move off away from here." Spacek said, as she, Irving and King moved off from the gate, with all three slightly embarrassed from this minor fuss. The policeman watched them head off on their way down the street, and then, after smiling and chuckling for a moment or two, he climbed on his bicycle and headed off in the opposite direction.
"Hmm…Americans. They think they can stand anywhere they want and get pictures when they come over here." he said quietly, as he made his way along on his bicycle.
(A little later on, in Knapford Yards)
With a loud clatter of buffers touching each other, No.9905 shunted another line of heavy trucks together. The shunter uncoupled him from the truck, and the S1 slowly backed off away from the train. He had just shunted the very last line of trucks together, which meant the train was now fully assembled together and ready for another engine to come into the yards and take away.
"And there we are. Well done, old boy! You did a good job!" the driver said, as he leaned out from the cab.
"Thank you, driver!" No.9905 said, as he smiled, feeling pleased with himself with another job well done.
"So, what do we do now?" Carrie asked, as she turned to the driver.
"Well, we just need to wait for the engine to come in and collect this train, and then we'll go and take out lunch break. I think we've earned it after all the work we've done this morning." the driver said.
"Sounds good to me." Carrie said.
It wasn't too long before the engine who was to take this train finally arrived in the yards, slowly reversing along the line as No.9905 stood on the other line off to the side. The engine was none other than former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway 7F Class 2-8-0 No.53807, and hauling a heavy freight train, like the one he was about to be coupled up to, was typical of the heavy freights he and his fellow classmates would have hauled on the Somerset and Dorset Railway back in the old days.
"Hello, No.9905!" No.53807 said, as he slowly buffered up to the long, heavy train.
"Hello, No.53807! Are you ready to move this heavy train over to Vicarstown?" No.9905 asked, as the shunter coupled the 7F to his long train.
"Yes, I am. And I'm eager to get this next job done!" No.53807 said, as the shunter got him coupled to the long and heavy train, and connected the brake pipes together.
"Well, you just be careful with those trucks. They could cause you problem." No.9905 said, as he glanced at the long line of trucks he had just shunted together.
"Don't worry, No.9905. I know how to handle trucks. After all, I've been doing it for many years." No.53807 said.
"All right then, but you just keep an eye for what they might do." No.9905 said.
"I understand. I always do." No.53807 said, as the shunter went up to the side of his cab and told the driver the train was fully coupled up.
A minute or two later, with the last preparations made, it was time for No.53807 to depart with his train. After being given the all clear from the signals, the guard in his brake van far at the back of the train blew his whistle as loudly as he could and waved his green flag.
"Okay, here we go! Let's go!" No.53807 said, as his driver blew his whistle and then opened the regulator.
"Good luck out there!" No.9950 said, as he watched the S&DJR 7F Class 2-8-0 slowly set off with his train.
"Thank you!" No.53807 said, as he slowly moved off, with the trucks following along behind him, with the trucks rattling and clanking as they went on past.
As the brake van at the end of the train had gone past them, Carrie watched it head on down the line for a few moments.
"Do you think that No.53807 will be able to get that train to where it needs to be?" she asked No.9905.
"Well…I'm not too concerned about him, Carrie. He's worked on many heavy freight trains on the Somerset and Dorset Railway back in the day, and he and his fellow classmates were very good at keeping heavy trucks under control." No.9905 said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. Bit I think it might be a good idea to keep an eye on him though." Carrie said.
"Anyway, we've worked very hard for the past few hours, Carrie. Let's go and get some lunch. I think we've all earned it." said the driver.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. Let's go get it." Carrie said. With a blast of the whistle, the driver set the reversing gear into full reverse and then opened the regulator.
A little bit later, they were comfortably stabled in a siding where there were two lines sitting side by side in a part of the yards near a small engine depot, where they could enjoy their lunch hour before setting off back to work again. Carrie had brought some lunch with her today, as there were no shops she could pop off to in order to get lunch, and nor was there a crew building where they could go and get some hot food. However, Carrie didn't mind that at all, as she knew it would make a nice change from the usual thing that she would do of going into the crew building for lunch.
The small depot area had a building with toilets in it, as well as sinks where engine crews could wash their hands clean of any coal dust and grime they may have acquired during their morning shifts. There was also a special building where engine crews and workmen could get a selection of hot and cold drinks.
"Oh, I'm looking forward to getting some food into me." Carrie said, as she stepped out from the toilets, having taken the chance to thoroughly wash down her hands and face of any dirt that might have accumulated, despite the protective gloves she was wearing. She had been working very hard at stoking the firebox of No.9905 during the course of the morning, as well as having tried her hand at driving as well, and so she was famished from all the work.
Stepping back over to the platform that No.9905 was resting beside and being looked over, Carrie sat down on a long wooden bench with her lunch box resting on her lap. From the drinks building, Carrie had gotten a bottle of orange juice to go with her lunch.
As she tucked into her food, along with the driver and fireman of No.9905, there came the sounds of another whistle, which meant that another engine was approaching the siding.
"I wonder who that could be." Carrie said, after she swallowed a bite of her sandwich.
"Oh, that's just another one of the shunting engines who work in the yards on the island." said the driver.
"And it's an engine who's a very good friend of mine." No.9905 said.
Looking along the siding as she took another bite out from her sandwich, Carrie saw the back end of another engine come rolling in reverse along the line that was beside the line No.9905 was standing on. She was that it was another tank engine, and just like No.9905 it had eight driving wheels, except that this engine had a 4-8-0 wheel arrangement instead of an 0-8-4 wheel arrangement. It was, in fact, No.69911, who was an example of the North Eastern Railway's Class X (L.N.E.R. Class T1) 4-8-0 heavy shunting engines (93). He had been shunting trucks for the whole morning as well, and his crew were also coming in to take their lunch hour as well.
"Afternoon, No.69911!" No.9905 said, as he watched No.69911 slowly reverse until he was beside him. He noticed that No.69911 looked quite tired, no doubt from all the hard work he had been doing in shunting trucks all morning.
"Hello, No.9905! Goodness me! I'm so tired after all that work this morning!" No.69911 said, as he came to a stop beside No.9905.
"Well…I'm feeling tired as well. But I'm looking forward to having a rest for a while before back to work!" No.9905 said.
"Yeah, me too!" No.69911 said, as his crew put the brakes on and checked on the state of the fire before they left to go have lunch.
(93): The North Eastern Railway's (N.E.R.) Class X 4-8-0T tank engines (L.N.E.R Class T1) were designed by Wilson Worsdell and were intended to be used on heavy shunting duties in order to arrange and move heavy coal wagons for loading onto ships at port in the north-east of England, including at the ports of Hull, Newport, and Tyne Dock. The class was intended to arrange the coal trucks into smaller trains, which would then be taken to dockside coaling hoists to be loaded onto ships, and then take the empty wagons back to be refilled at the collieries.
Introduced on the N.E.R. system in 1909, 15 members of the class were built in total, with the first 10 engines built at the N.E.R.'s Gateshead Works and introduced from 1909 to 1910, with the final five engines being built at Darlington Works and introduced in 1925 onto the L.N.E.R. system. Unlike the Great Central Railway's S1 0-8-4T design, Worsdell's new design incorporated a 4-8-0T wheel arrangement instead. The new Class X shared similar proportions to the earlier S1 Class, including cylinders of the same size. But the main difference was that Worsdell used a pre-existing boiler design from his previous A6 Class 4-6-1T tank engines, which was smaller than the boiler used on the S1 Class.
The T1 Class had three cylinders that were 18in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, a boiler pressed to 175psi, and eight driving wheels that were 4ft 7.5in in diameter, which all combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 34,080lbf, which was ideal for moving the heavy coal trains they were expected to deal with on a regular basis. The class featured a divided drive layout, with the inside cylinder driving the forward set of driving wheels and the two outside cylinders driving the second set of driving wheels. The coal bunkers of the class could carry a little over 4 tons of coal, and their side tanks could carry 2,500 gallons of water.
An interesting feature of the cylinders on the T1 Class was that all three cylinders and valve chests were made together in a single casting, something that foreshadowed the cylinder monobloc construction that would be used years later by Gresley.
A number of modifications were made to the class during their working lives, which included replacing the original mechanical reversing gear with steam-operated reversing gear from 1932 to 1934, though it didn't include No.1355 and No.1358 as they had left the North East area and were based in Whitemoor near March in Cambridgeshire. The engines fitted with the steam-operated reversing gear only had it for about 10 years, and were eventually removed between 1941 and 1947.
In 1935, a brand-new boiler design was created for use on the A6 Class, A7 Class, and A8 Class 4-6-2T express tank engines, the H1 Class 4-4-4T tank engines, as well as on the T1 Class. Although a superheated version of this boiler was created, it was never fitted to the T1 Class for some unknown reason.
In the event, only one member of the T1 Class was ever fitted with a superheated boiler, likely due to a misunderstanding at Darlington Works; in 1944, one engine was converted to carry a superheated boiler, but it was converted back to having the original saturated boiler in 1951.
In 1929, No.1656 was moved down to the then newly-built Whitemoor Yard in March, soon to be replaced by No.1355 and No.1358, though the Whitemoor Yard preferred the earlier S1 0-8-4T engines for hump shunting. In 1934, No.1358 was moved to Doncaster and No.1355 was moved to Mexborough. In 1936, No.1355 was moved to work at King's Cross Station in London in order to shunt at the engine depot there for seven weeks before she went and joined No.1358 at Doncaster.
In 1937, both No.1355 and No.1358 were withdrawn from service as the first engines of the class to be removed, and were scrapped not long afterwards. The remaining members of the T1 Class continued to work on their usual duties on shunting coal trains at various docks and marshalling yards throughout the north-east of England. In the years after the end of World War II, coal exports never returned to their pre-war levels, and so the T1 Class were moved to other sheds in order to work on other heavy shunting duties.
When British Railways was formed in January 1948, the class were numbered from No.69910 to No.69922, and were given the power classification of 7F, later to be reclassified as 5F from May 1953. Withdrawals began in 1955, when No.69914 and No.69919 were removed from service. The other members of the class followed along over the next six years until 1961 when the final example still in service, No.69921, was withdrawn. Sadly, no examples of this class have survived into preservation.
Feeling herself smile as she watched the two big tank engines speak with each other, Carrie took another bite of her sandwich as she turned her attention around the yards to see what else was going on. She could hear the sounds of another shunter working away somewhere nearby, as well as the sounds of steam whistles being blown and the sounds of other trains going by the yards from along the lines that were past the yards. She could also hear the sounds of other work going on, such as powered machines working away in nearby workshops and the familiar sounds of generators which were providing power for some of those workshops.
Yet, what Carrie was still unaware of was that a section of road, about twenty feet above the level of the yard, passed by the area very close to where she was sitting, about two hundred yards or so away. At that moment, two of the officers from Chamberlain were on that road, Spacek and Irving, and they could see Carrie sitting on the bench and having lunch with the crew of the engine she had been on. Irving had her camera with her and got a few snaps of Carrie as she ate. But from the angle they were at, they could clearly see Carrie as she enjoyed her lunch, but the two officers were careful not to get any photos of the two engines, so they didn't want the faces of the two engines in any of the shots.
"Did you get them?" Spacek asked, as Irving lowered the camera and checked the shots.
"I got them…and very good shots they are too." Irving said, as she showed her colleague the shots she had taken.
"That's good. And I think our fellow officers back home will be pleased when we send a few of them by email." Spacek said. Just then, King and Brian arrived to join their two colleagues.
"Hey there, you two. Did you get some good shots of Carrie?" King asked.
"I did, and here they are." Irving said, as she handed the camera to King, who took a few moments to look through the shots.
"Well done, Irving. We should email some of those back to H.Q. this evening." King said, as he handed the camera back to Irving.
"Thanks." Irving said.
"It appears that she's on her lunch break now. And it also seems that those two engines who are sitting beside her seem to enjoy the rest from all the work they've been doing this morning." Brian said, as he indicated to both No.9905 and No.69911, who were chatting with each other while their crews enjoyed lunch and chatted with each other.
"Speaking of lunch break…shall we all go and get something to eat? I'm feeling a bit famished right now." Spacek said.
"You know…that sounds like a good idea to me right now. I'm feeling hungry right now as well." King said.
"Yeah, let's go get some food." Brian said, as the four of them turned away from the wall, at least for the moment, and headed off down the street to get lunch at a nearby shop.
(With Carrie)
It was soon the end of the lunch break for Carrie, which meant it was time for her, as well as the driver and fireman of No.9905 to get back to work at shunting trucks into the sidings, as well as shunting the trucks into different trains again.
"Well, come on. Let's get back to work. After all, those trucks aren't going to shunt themselves into trains by themselves you know." said the driver, as he stood back up.
"Yeah. Let's get back to work." the fireman said, as he also stood up and stretched his arms out. After gathering up their things, the crew and Carrie went back over to No.9905 and stepped aboard the footplate. As the fireman began checking on the state of the fire, the driver and Carrie looked over the controls and got ready to set off again.
"You know, when we were shunting around the yards this morning, I was amazed to see that the trucks didn't give No.9905 any problems at all." Carrie said to the driver.
"Well, No.9905 is a very big engine, Carrie. And he also has plenty of experience in dealing with trucks, as he worked at shunting trucks for many years in a marshalling yard in England for many years. Anyway, the trucks wouldn't dare try any tricks with an engine of his size and experience." said the driver.
"And I can understand why." Carrie said, as she looked out the front window on the right-hand side of the cab; she was really impressed by how she had seen No.9905 manage all the different trucks when they had been working out in the yard during the morning.
"Okay, let's get going!" the driver said, as he blew the whistle for a moment, and then opened up the regulator. With a whoosh of steam shooting out from the front, No.9905 slowly moved forwards as steam fed into the two inside cylinders.
"I'll see you later, No.69911!" No.9905 said, as he set off on his way.
"Okay, No.9905! Good luck for the rest of the day!" No.69911 said, as he watched the L.N.E.R. Class S1 set off on his way to work for the afternoon.
"Thanks!" No.9905 said, as he left the siding and picked up some speed as he headed away.
It wasn't long before No.9905 arrived at the part of the yard he was to work in next, and rolled into a siding where a long line of steel hopper wagons, which were laden with freshly mined coal, were sitting and waiting to be moved.
Slowly buffering up to the line of wagons, the shunter waiting on the side of the line coupled No.9905 up to the first hopper wagon, using the hook at the end of the long shunter's pole to couple the three-link chain to the coupling hook on the front of No.9905.
"Okay, you're all coupled up here!" the shunter called to the driver, who was leaning out from the side of the cab.
"All right! Here we go!" the driver called, as he pulled back into the cab, put the reversing gear into full reverse, and then opened the regulator a little. Slowly, No.9905 reversed and took up the weight of the heavily-laden steel hopper wagons, about 20 of them in total, and pulled them out from the sidings. As No.9905 moved out from the siding, Carrie took a go at stoking the boiler with fresh coal. As the cab wasn't really too big, she had to be careful when moving the loaded shovel from the bunker to the firebox and not spill any lumps of coal onto the footplate. Yet despite her being as careful as she could, a few smaller lumps did manage to fall off the shovel as she stoked the boiler.
The journey through the yard to Knapford Harbour where they needed to deliver the freshly-mined coal went very smoothly, with the driver keeping the speed at about 20mph as they went along. As the fireman checked on the state of the fire and the boiler pressure gauge, Carrie leaned out from the fireman's side of the cab and looked along the line as they ran in reverse. Holding on tight, Carrie watched different sights and buildings in the yard go on past as they went along, including loading bays where vans were being loaded up, warehouses with rail lines going into them, as well as various workshops and a depot area where there was a turntable.
They soon arrived at Knapford Harbour and after reversing over a set of points not long after they arrived, the points were changed and then, after the driver put the reversing gear into full forward, No.9905 pushed the heavy trucks forward along another line that ran by the different quaysides to the dock where the freighter that would be loaded with the coal would be waiting for them to arrive.
With the points having been set for them, No.9905 pushed the heavy train with all his might onto the long quayside where the specialised bulk carrier was securely moored to. Looking up at this ship as they pulled into the long quay, Carrie was most impressed by the overall size of this vessel; it must look to be at least 950 feet in length, if not longer, and it towered over the dockside, with the cranes, derricks, and conveyers fitted forward of the tall white bridge structure making the ship seem even larger than it really was.
"Wow…what a ship that is." Carrie said, as the driver put on the brakes and stopped the train.
"It is indeed, Carrie. Regardless of how many times really big ships like ocean liners, ferries, or cargo ships come to the Island of Sodor, I can't help but always be awed by the impressive size of them." said the fireman, as he also looked up at the big ship towering over them.
As the shunter uncoupled No.9905 from the long line of hopper wagons, the harbour master stepped over to the cab.
"Come on now, you lot." he said, "We've got more cargo that's being unloaded from another ship for you to take back to the yards."
As the harbour master informed the driver where they were to go next, Carrie leaned out from the cab-side and looked forward along the length of the dockside. She could see various workmen working away at readying to unload the hopper wagons of their coal. From above, a few members of the ship's crew were also working away at helping to get the wagons unloaded as they lowered cables from the middle section of the ship.
"Okay, let's get going! There's more cargo to collect." the driver said, as he put the reversing gear into full reverse and then opened the regulator, allowing No.9905 to slowly reverse out from the dockside and back the way he came.
They soon arrived at the quayside they were to go to next; here, a refrigerated, or reefer, ship was moored to the quayside where a lot of fresh refrigerated food were being loaded into a long line of different refrigerated vans and conflats that were sitting on one of the long lines that sat on the quayside. This line of vans and conflats were nearly fully loaded with a good deal of the cargo that the reefer ship had been carrying in its refrigerated holds.
"And where are we to take all these?" Carrie asked, as No.9905 rolled over the points and onto the quayside.
"These trucks we're to take back to Knapford Yards, and another engine will come there, pick them up and take them to wherever they're needed to be going to." said the fireman.
"All right then." Carrie said, as the driver slowly drove No.9905 forwards until his buffers contacted the first van with a slight bump, upon which the driver fully applied the brakes.
As the shunter coupled No.9905 to the train and connected the brake pipes together, Carrie watched the activity taking place along this dockside, where she saw the last items of cargo being loaded onto some of the vans, doors on some of the vans being closed and secured, as well as seeing things like refrigerated meat and large sacks being unloaded from the reefer ship and then being loaded onto the train.
"I wonder how many wagons we have here right now." Carrie said.
"I would say there's about 50 of them or so." said the fireman, as he looked out from behind Carrie.
"How do you know there's that many?" Carrie asked, as the fireman smiled at her.
"I overheard one of the men on the dock saying there's about 50 here." the fireman said.
"Oh, do you think that No.9905 will be able to manage a train of that weight?" Carrie asked.
"I think we'll be able to do it, Carrie. After all, we've done it many times before." said the fireman.
"Okay." Carrie said, as she looked back along the quayside.
Soon, the last door on the last fully-loaded van slammed shut and was secured in place, and it was time for them to be on their way back to Knapford Yards. The guard in his brake van at the end of the train blew his whistle and waved his green flag, which No.9905 heard.
"Okay, let's go!" he said, as the driver blew the whistle and then opened the regulator. With wheeshing steam, No.9905 moved slowly in reverse and took up the weight of the heavily-laden vans, which slowly began to move out from the quayside. At one point, No.9905 slipped a little as he moved out of the dock, but his wheels gripped the rails firmly and he made his way out from Knapford Harbour.
As they made their way back out towards Knapford Yards, Carrie wondered which engine would be taking these heavily-laden trucks away. Considering the length and weight of the train, she felt that it would more than likely be one of the larger engines who would be taking this heavy train out onto the main line.
Then they went past a section of Knapford Harbour that looked very familiar to Carrie, and after a few moments she recognized it as the part of the harbour where she had gone through after she had gotten off the freighter she had stowed away on when she ran away from Chamberlain the previous November. The place sure looked different in broad daylight now, with all the workmen working away at the various jobs, as well as the dockside machines and travelling cranes busy working away at loading or unloading the ships that were securely moored to the docksides.
They finally arrived back at Knapford Yards and shunted the long and heavy refrigerated train onto one of the long lines where another engine could come and collect it. After No.9905 was uncoupled from the vans, he reversed into one of the long sidings and waited for the engine who was to take away these vans to the other side of the island. Looking out from the cab, Carrie wondered which engine would be arriving, and then heard the sounds of a whistle coming from another part of the yards…actually it was coming from the direction of Knapford Station not too far away.
"Is that the engine who's coming to take this train away?" Carrie asked, as she looked in the direction where the whistle had come from.
"No, Carrie. That engine won't be taking these vans away. That's actually one of the smaller shunting engines who's working around here today." No.9905 said.
"Are you sure?" Carrie asked.
"I'm positive, Carrie. Just wait and see." No.9905 said. Looking in the direction of Knapford Station, Carrie saw a small tank engine approach them. The engine, which was painted in lined B.R. black livery, had six driving wheels placed very close together under his boiler and was driven by outside Walschaerts valve gear. It was No.1505, who was an example of the Great Western Railway's 1500 Class 0-6-0PT Pannier Tank engine class (94) who was built for shunting work as well as work along branch lines and in areas with tight curves.
No.1505 had a line of about 12 empty express coaches coupled up behind him, and he was taking them away from Knapford Station, where the passengers who had been on them had disembarked sometime earlier on, over to the coaching depot where they would be inspected and cleaned before they went back out on another train later on.
(94): The Great Western Railway's 15XX Class 0-6-0PT tank engines were designed by Frederick Hawksworth for use on shunting duties in yards with tight curves and restricted sidings where larger engines couldn't go. They were based off the U.S.A.T.C. S100 Class 0-6-0T tank engines, and the work that class had done during the war.
Although the 15XX Class were designed by Hawksworth, they actually emerged after Britain's railway were nationalised into British Railway, and were built at Swindon Works in 1949. Only 10 engines were ever built at all, and they were numbered from No.1500 to No.1509. Once they were built, they came under the auspices of B.R.'s Western Region.
They were rather unique locomotive design for the Great Western Railway, which was a company that had a well-developed policy of standardisation. The 15XX Class was a strange design which, unlike previous G.W.R. Pannier Tank designs, had two outside cylinders, a very short wheelbase of 12ft 10in, and outside Walschaerts valve gear. In fact, they were the only Great Western design to feature outside Walschaerts valve gear. Above the level of their footplates, they were very similar to the 94XX Class 0-6-0PT design and shared the very same Standard No.10 boiler. Below footplate level, the class was identical to the S100 Class 0-6-0T tank engines in that they had no running plates.
Most of the parts they were used in the class were welded together instead of being riveted together, which helped to reduce the weight of the engines. They weighed a little over 58 tons in total.
The two outside cylinders were 17.5in in diameter with a 24in piston stroke, a boiler that was pressed to 200psi, and six driving wheels that were 4ft 7.5in in diameter, and they all combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 22,515lbf.
With their short wheelbase, the class could easily negotiate the tight curves in the areas they were expected to work in, which included shunting coaches and empty stock workings from Old Oak Common Depot to Paddington Station, London and back. Many were based at Old Oak Common for much of their lives, though a few were also based at Newport Pill, Ebbw, and Cardiff Canton in Wales.
Although the 15XX Class was a sound design and ideally suited for the work it was designed to do, they had limited usefulness due to their weight which restricted on which routes they could run, and their small driving wheels and short wheelbase also restricted the speeds they could run at. Their working lives were much shorter than had originally been expected, due to the onset of dieselisation.
The first examples to be withdrawn from service, No.1509, was withdrawn in August 1959, having lasted for barely 10 years in B.R. service. The next two to be withdrawn, No.1501 and No.1502, were removed in 1961, followed by No.1505 and No.1508 in 1962, and the remaining five engines being withdrawn in 1963.
Three members of the class, No.1501, No.1502, and No.1509, after being overhauled at Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. at Kilmarnock in Scotland, were sold to the National Coal Board after they were withdrawn, and used at Coventry Colliery where they were used for a number of years. In 1970, all three engines were bought by the Severn Valley Railway, where No.1502 and No.1509 were used as a source of spares for No.1501. Eventually, both No.1502 and No.1509 were cut up at Cashmore's in Great Bridge later on in October 1970.
Thankfully, one example has survived into preservation; this is No.1501. She was built at Swindon Works in July 1949 and initially worked at Old Oak Common before being transferred to work at Southall in November 1950 where it stayed until January 1961. After being withdrawn from service, it was sent to work at Coventry Colliery and worked there for a number of years before being replace by diesel shunters and sent to the Severn Valley Railway to be restored to working order, with parts taken from No.1502 and No.1509.
After much work, she was returned to working order on the Severn Valley Railway by May 1997, and she worked there for a number of years before her boiler certificate expired in 2006. After an overhaul, she returned to working order by August 2012, and was painted into B.R. lined black livery with the early B.R. emblem on its side tanks. As well as on the Severn Valley Railway, she has also worked on a number of other railways, including the East Lancs Railway and the Mid Hants Railway. Her boiler certificate expired in January 2023, and she's currently in storage on the Severn Valley Railway waiting for an overhaul to return her to working order again.
As No.1505 rolled closer to them, he gave a friendly blast of his whistle and called out, "Hello, No.9905! I can't stop to chat! These coaches need to be brought to the coaching depot!" And then he went on past where No.9905 was sitting, with his blowing his whistle again as he went on by.
"Okay, No.1505! Carry on!" No.9905 said, as he watched all the coaches roll on past.
A minute later, there came the sounds of another whistle indicating that another engine was coming into the yard. Maybe it would be the engine who would be taking away the long line of vans and conflats that No.9905 had brought from Knapford Harbour a few minutes before. As the engine came into view, running in reverse along the line that the long line of heavy vans was on, Carrie saw that it was No.94000, which was the B.R. Standard Class 9MT-2 2-8-2 tender engines that she had first worked on back in May.
As No.94000 slowly reversed along the short stretch of line, his driver slowly adjusted the brakes and very gently brought No.94000 to a stop with the buffers at the back of his tender touching the buffers of the leading van of the train. Just after the driver put the brakes fully on and brought No.94000 to a stop, the shunter who was waiting at the side of the track coupled the tender to the front of the train and connected the brake pipes together.
"Hello, No.94000." No.9905 said.
"Good afternoon, No.9905. How have things been here today?" No.94000 asked.
"Well, my crew, Carrie and I have been busy working here for most of the day. And we've just brought this line of vans from the harbour for you to take away." No.9905 said, as Carrie leaned out from the cab and looked towards No.94000.
"Oh, hello Carrie, is that you?" No.94000 said, when he saw Carrie,
"Yes, it's me, No.94000!" Carrie said, as a smile crossed her face.
"Well, hello there! It's been a while since we've last worked together." No.94000 said.
"Yes, I believe the only time we worked together was back in May…when we took those coaches from Vicarstown to Knapford." Carrie said.
"Oh, yes! I remember now! Yes, that was a very heavy train too!" No.94000 said.
"But surely, you'll be able to manage a train like this one without too much difficulty." No.9905 said.
"I think I'll be able to do that, No.9905. After all…I've done it countless times before in the past." No.94000 said.
A few minutes later, with the signalman having set the points and the signals, the guard leaned out from the side of his brake van and blew his whistle and waved his green flag, showing the crew of No.94000 they were clear to depart.
"Okay, here we go!" No.94000 said, as his driver blew his whistle and opened his regulator. Steam fed into his three cylinders and he slowly moved forwards, taking up the heavy weight of the train behind him and causing it to slowly move out.
"Good luck at getting that train to its destination!" No.9905 called out with a whistle, as Carrie stood by the side of the cab and waved.
"Thanks!" No.94000 said, as he moved out from the yards with the train rattling along behind, with him picking up a little bit of speed as he moved out. Carrie watched as each of the vans and conflats moved on past the siding No.9905 was on. She didn't count the vans, but simply watched as the train went on by, with the wheels making their loud sounds as they went over the points and out of the yard.
Once the brake van at the back of the train had gone past, the siding was clear for No.9905 to move out and continue on with the heavy shunting work he had to do for today. And that's what he did for the rest of the day, with Carrie helping out on the footplate and stoking the boiler, and he made sure that a lot of lines of trucks were shunted back and forth about the yards, as well as to and from Knapford Harbour at times.
For Carrie, it was a very good day of work, especially to go along with the lines of trucks being pushed in front of them or being hauled along behind them, and being moved about to where they needed to go. Some lines of trucks were being taken to be loaded up at some of the quays in the harbour, while others were being moved to areas of the yards where other engines could pick them up and take them away.
Carrie even tried her hand at driving No.9905 during the afternoon, with the driver guiding her and telling her what the controls did. She did a good job at driving, and really impressed the driver and fireman who told her that she did a good job.
By about 5pm, with the end of her shift getting very near, Carrie was feeling very tired and was eager to finish up soon and get back to Tidmouth Sheds so she could go and get herself cleaned up before meeting up her friends and then going out with them for dinner. Having just helped in moving a line of box vans from Knapford Harbour back over to the yards for another engine to take away, Carrie was taking the opportunity given by the stop to wash down the footplate of coal dust with the slacker pipe and a brush at the end of a short wooden pole. Spraying water from the end of the pipe over the metal floor, Carrie brushed the water around with the brush and cleaned off all the coal dust that had gathered underfoot during the course of the afternoon.
"And there we are. All clean." Carrie said, as she turned off the water. Looking down at her handiwork, she was pleased to see that the footplate was clean and it certainly looked more presentable than it had been a few minutes before.
"And a good job too, Carrie. A job well done." said the driver, as he stepped back onto the footplate. They had needed to top up the water tanks and so the driver and fireman had done that job while Carrie was washing down the footplate. With the water tanks topped up, the fireman was going round the motion and driving wheels with an oil can in his hand and topping up the oiling points if any more oil was needed.
In the meantime, on the track that was beside the one they were sitting on, the long line of heavy trucks they had shunted together a little earlier on was being taken away from the yards behind L.N.E.R. V2 Class 2-6-2 No.60862¸who was one of the V2s that was fitted with a double chimney paired with a Kylchap exhaust system.
"Thanks for arranging this train for me! I'll see you later on!" No.60862 said, as he blew his whistle as he moved on out from the yards, taking the heavy train behind him.
"You're welcome, No.60862! And good luck!" No.9905 said, as he watched No.60862 head out with the train. Slowly at first, but then gradually picking up a little more speed, the train made its way out from the yards and out towards Knapford Station and the Southern Main Line.
As the brake van went on past and headed out with the train, there came the sounds of another whistle from the direction of Knapford Station, and a few moments later the engine who made it came into view. It turned out to be Gordon, who had finished for the day and was on his way back to Tidmouth Sheds having left his coaches back at Knapford Station. As he came upon the siding where No.9905 was standing, his brakes were applied and he slowly came to a stop.
"Hello, No.9905!" Gordon said, as he came to a halt.
"Afternoon, Gordon. Are you here to take Carrie back to the sheds?" No.9905 asked.
"Yes, I am. Is she here?" Gordon asked.
"I'm here, Gordon!" Carrie said, as she leaned out from the left-hand side of No.9905.
"There you are, Carrie! Hop aboard! It's time to take you home." Gordon said. Looking down at her watch, Carrie saw that the time was 5:12pm, and a little past the time when she had been due to clock out for the day.
"Okay, I'm coming!" Carrie called, as she grabbed her lunchbox, stepped off of No.9905's footplate and then stepped over towards where Gordon was standing. From the left-hand side of Gordon's cab, Simon leaned out and watched as Carrie walked over towards them.
"Hey, Carrie!" Simon said, as a smile crossed his face when he saw his girlfriend.
"Hi, Simon! I'm looking forward to getting back home after today!" Carrie said, as she stepped over to where Gordon was and climbed onto his footplate.
"It was good working with you today, Carrie!" said No.9905, as Carrie then leaned out from the left-hand side of Gordon's cab, behind where the driver was sitting.
"It was nice to work with you too, and thanks very much!" Carrie called, as she waved to No.9905, as well as his driver and fireman. And with a short blast of his whistle, Gordon set off on his way back to Tidmouth Sheds, leaving No.9905 to continue on with any last shunting work they had to do before they could finish up.
(At Tidmouth Sheds)
Gordon, after being turned on the turntable, slowly reversed into one of the berths at Tidmouth Sheds where a few of the other engines were already sitting and being looked over before their crews went off duty. Their fires were already being dropped out from their fireboxes, and yard workers were already busy getting the engines cleaned up, so as to be ready for the next day's work.
"And there we are, Gordon. And that's the end of another day of work for you. So, make sure you get a good night's rest tonight. There's going to be a lot more work tomorrow." said his driver, as he leaned out from the left-hand side of the cab.
"Okay, driver! Sounds like a good idea!" said Gordon, as a small smile crossed his face. After grabbing their things, Carrie and Simon grabbed all their things and then stepped off from Gordon's footplate, and then they gave each other a hug after they set their feet on solid ground.
"Well, Carrie…shall we go and get ourselves cleaned up before we meet up with the others and go out for dinner?" Simon asked.
"Sounds like a good idea to me! And once we're in the restaurant, we can all tell each other about how our day of work went." Carrie said.
"Yeah, let's do that. Let's go get cleaned up." Simon said, as he put his arm around Carrie's shoulders and they started off for the changing rooms in the crew building
"Good night, you two!" Gordon said, as he watched Carrie and Simon walk away.
"Good night, Gordon!" Carrie and Simon said, as they briefly turned to look at Gordon before they continued on their way towards the crew building.
A little while later, having had a quick shower followed by a well-earned hot soak in the Jacuzzi hot tub for a few minutes in the ladies changing room, Carrie changed into fresh clean clothes and then made her way down to meet up with Simon and the other girls so they could go out to dinner together.
After clocking out for the day, she met them at the building's main entrance.
"Hey there, Carrie!" Simon said, who now looked somewhat smarter in clean clothes.
"Hey, Simon! Hey, everyone!" Carrie said, as she approached the group.
"Ready to head out for a good dinner, Carrie?" Saoirse asked.
"Yeah, I am. And after all the hard work I've done today, I think I've more than earned it too." Carrie said.
"Well, come on and let's go! I think we're all hungry right now." Alice said, as they all set off from the crew building to the place where they were going to be going to to get dinner.
(Meanwhile, with the four officers at their hotel)
Spacek, King, Brian, and Irving were gathered together in Irving's room, having returned to the hotel about 10 minutes before, and looking over the pictures they had taken of Carrie that day. Irving had her laptop out and turned on, with the pictures she had taken having just been uploaded a short time before.
"Now those look very good." Irving said, as she and her colleagues looked through them carefully one at a time. One showed Carrie helping to move a long arm from a water tower over the right-hand side water tank of No.9905, with the next one showing Carrie turning on the valve so as to allow water to fill up the tanks. Another one she came on, which she liked particularly, was of Carrie leaning out from the left-hand side of No.9905's cab and looked back at the line of trucks they were buffering up to. In the photo, Carrie looked to be quite concentrated on the job at hand, and seemed to be watching the long line of trucks that were in the siding they were about to couple up to and take away.
She brought up another one, and this one showed Carrie at the driver's side of No.9905 and trying her hand at driving the engine along the line.
"Well…it seems that Carrie is obviously trying her hand at driving a steam engine, and not to mention all the other work she's been doing on this railway that we've seen her do over the past few days." Irving said.
"You know…I'm actually kind of envious of Carrie whenever I see pictures of her doing what she's doing. She's doing the kind of job I always dreamed of doing when I was a kid, but later changed my mind about." King said.
"Yeah…and I'm quite sure that many other people back home will also be surprised and envious when we tell them about what Carrie's doing." Spacek said, as she took a sip from her mug of hot coffee.
For a few more minutes, they looked through the pictures that had been taken earlier on in the day, which showed Carrie at work in the Knapford Yards on No.9905. Whenever certain pictures showed Carrie out of the cab and alongside the engine, they always made sure that the face on the front of No.9905 was never seen, just like other similar photos that had been taken in the last few days. The four officers wanted to make sure that the faces on the fronts of the engines were never seen, so as not to freak out anyone back home when some of the photos were finally revealed to them.
Eventually though, they came to the last photos they had taken, and with that Irving ended the slideshow.
"Well, I guess we accomplished quite a lot today." Brian said, as he finished off his coffee.
"We certainly did, and I'll send a few of these photos back to H.Q. by email later on this evening." Irving said, as she turned off her laptop.
"Speaking of evening…shall we all go back to our rooms and get ready to go down to dinner?" King suggested.
"Now that sounds like quite a good idea! I'm starving!" Spacek said, as she looked out the window at the fading evening light, which meant that night was coming in.
"Yeah, let's do that! I'll see you guys downstairs later on." Irving said, as her colleagues turned and headed towards the door of her room.
"Okay, we'll see you there!" and her colleagues stepped outside and headed off back to their own rooms to get ready for dinner.
And there we go, everyone! As we've seen, Carrie's had a very good day of hard work in Knapford Yards, but was again completely unaware that she was being spied during the day by the officers from Chamberlain. As for the next chapter, I intend for that to be the last chapter where the officers get pictures of Carrie when she's at work, but I also intend for Carrie to be aware that something strange is going on while she's at work. She won't be aware of the fact something's up but not be aware that people are trying to get pictures of her in secret.
So, until next time everyone...please enjoy this chapter!