kettle crew

[guest311]

In a bit of shock at the moment, SWMBO has given me a set of Bachfar loco crew for my two kettles.

silly question is, which way round to place them.

ok, I worked out the fireman either shovelling from the tender or into the firebox, but where does the driver go ?

I remember reading somewhere that some locos were left hand drive and some right hand drive, so stumped.

locos are standard 4MT 2-6-0 and class B1 4-6-0.

so, risking the usual rude answers, where should I stick my drivers 

[scotsoft]

On the left 

cheers John.

[Agrippa]

I think the driver is on the left, but may be wrong....

PS Did the firemen really put ham and eggs on their shovel to
get a cooked breakfast from the firebox ?

[scotsoft]

I think the driver is on the left, but may be wrong....

PS Did the firemen really put ham and eggs on their shovel to
get a cooked breakfast from the firebox ?

They did indeed cook their ham and eggs on the shovel, my dad was a steam and laterly a diesel driver and he told me they did that.

cheers John.

[guest311]

many, many thanks.

does anyone do 3-D prints of bacon and eggs 

cheers

alan

[guest311]

I think the driver is on the left, but may be wrong....

PS Did the firemen really put ham and eggs on their shovel to
get a cooked breakfast from the firebox ?

They did indeed cook their ham and eggs on the shovel, my dad was a steam and laterly a diesel driver and he told me they did that.

cheers John.

I take it they kept a separate shovel for that, or was the full drivers breakfast ' sausage, bacon, eggs and best welsh steam coal' ?

[portland-docks]

being someone who has fired both the 4mt and B1, i can tell you exactly what you need to know....

the b1 is left side driver and right side fireman.

the 4mt is also left side driver and right side fireman

and yes they did cook their breakfasts/ dinners on shovels...and we still do

[EtchedPixels]

I remember reading somewhere that some locos were left hand drive and some right hand drive, so stumped.

This is true - and it goes back to various companies having their own policies. The GWR for example was right handed throughout. A good guide is to look where the reversing leaver is.

It's actually more complicated than by class. Just after grouping everyone except the GWR (no surprise...) standardised on left hand drive. However in many cases old locomotives were not modified or were modified slowly over time, and even some newer locomotives were built with right hand drive.

So you can't actually do it by class - the J50s for example were a mix of right and left hand drive locos and the A1's rebuilt into A3 remained right hand drive until BR days, while the A3 new builds were left hand.

The GWR also positioned many of their signals on the right unlike the other regions. That was changed from the 1960s to standardise everything on the left.

British Rail and beyond is either left or in some cases 'middle' drive (ie single seat) - eg APT/E.

Alan

[Jerry Howlett]

being someone who has fired both the 4mt and B1, i can tell you exactly what you need to know....

the b1 is left side driver and right side fireman.

the 4mt is also left side driver and right side fireman

and yes they did cook their breakfasts/ dinners on shovels...and we still do

I have been told that at one time some depots had holes drilled in the shovels to prevent this dastardly crime being carried out!  True ?

[portland-docks]

Back in the day yes, nowadays you will find all locos have its own shovel, but fireman bring their own shovel and sometimes use one of the two for cooking lol