GIVE AN OLD GLORY GIFT
DAY THIS CHRISTMAS...
...a date with a lady
For readers of Old Glory it goes without saying that we enjoy and are fascinated by mechanisms and motion together with the associated sounds and smells. I was able to immerse myself in all of these sensory delights very recently with a day spent as acting fireman on Elizabeth, the world’s only three axle steam bus.
To be precise, Elizabeth is a 1931 Sentinel DG6P, which translates into:- double geared - six wheeler - pneumatic tyres - and she provides tourists with trips around the lovely seaside town of Whitby on a daily basis.
My day started at 8.15am on the outskirts of Whitby when I met up with Viv and Vern to commence preparing Elizabeth for another day’s work. Under the supervision of Vern my first job was to lower the grate and rake out the ash pan followed by lighting the boiler, which is done from the top using a paraffin soaked rag, wood and a layer of coal.
Having ensured that the fire had taken hold we left Elizabeth to warm herself through and adjourned to the nearby restaurant to undergo our preparation for a day’s work by way of a full (and I mean full) English breakfast, during which Vern briefed me about the day ahead.
It is important to tell you at this stage that Vern is a steam traction instructor so not only was I his fireman for the day but I was also in the presence of a steam professional who was able to provide the answers to many questions about steam and locomotive practice which had lurked in my deep subconscious since I was an eight year old ‘Platform ender’.
Don’t for one minute think that Vern is the lecturing type, he most certainly is not. If you want to discuss the calorific value of Welsh steam coal or the merits of poppet valves he will tell you all you want to know. Equally, if you just want to know where the water goes in he will happily discuss that with you too.
We returned to Elizabeth to complete preparations which included coaling, oiling round and topping up the fire, by which time we had sufficient boiler pressure to set off for our passenger pick-up point by the harbour-side bandstand.
That first trip into town was a totally amazing and unique experience, the memory of which will stay with me forever. You are sat in an almost enclosed cab separated from the driver by a hot boiler with a chimney exhausting immediately above the cab roof, add in to the experience a driver busy with regulator, steering and brakes, and you have steam heaven!
As fireman I did have a small but extremely vital job to do on the road which was to operate the boiler feed-water valve when requested by Vern and it really did make me feel that I was truly part of the team.
I was warned by Vern before we set off that I would be spending quite a lot of cab time waving to children (and parents) and he was not wrong. By the time we arrived at the harbour my waving arm was suffering from reduced circulation, such is the visual impact of this wonderful machine.
While waiting for our first passengers I topped up the fire and shared my thoughts with Vern. It seems he gets a sense of quiet satisfaction every day when he brings Elizabeth to life and heads out onto the road where she was designed to be.
We soon had a good load and it was time to leave on our first fare paying trip. I gave Vern the ‘Right of way’ having checked that there was no traffic or pedestrians coming up on the blind side. He eased open the regulator and she responded with a lively bark from the chimney as if glad to be set free .
I had been briefed by Vern that the first trip would be taken steadily to allow Elizabeth time to fully warm up, at which point she would become more steam efficient, and it was noticeable on the second trip that the exhaust note was much sharper, which indicated that she was thoroughly warm and steaming well. It was experiencing these finer points of steam operation which I found so fascinating and absorbing during the whole day.
If you have never been to Whitby I can tell you that after leaving the harbour side there is an extremely steep hill with a tight left hand bend just after the start called The Khyber Pass (yes it’s true).This is a real test for any form of transport but I was utterly amazed how Elizabeth majestically powered away from that bottom bend with what to me was total disdain, or to put it more crudely - two fingers to the 21st. century!
During this first trip Vern explained to me how he was driving her in terms of steam efficiency. You have to remember that this is a working vehicle carrying fare paying passengers who have to pay the wages and expenses, so it is operated strictly on a commercial basis, and with an annual coal bill of between £12000 and £15000 you’ll understand why!
I became conscious of being watched by interested passengers through the window separating us from the saloon, just the sort of thing I would do myself and I must say that it gave me a rather smug feeling but I didn’t care, I was enjoying myself too much!
Between operating my feed-water valve, constantly waving to tourists and just simply soaking up the experience we were soon back at our harbour side stand where more passengers were waiting.
There is another dimension to Vern who, in addition to being a steam professional, is also something of a star of the silver screen, for it was he who drove the Hogwarts Express in the first Harry Potter film. He will tell you that it is only his elbow which is famous because apparently that is all that could be seen but that did not prevent him from being invited to a Leeds book signing launch of the latest instalment.
In addition to taking the fares, our conductress also tells passengers about the history of Elizabeth and just happens to mention the part in the film played so ably by Vern. This of course results in passengers quite literally queuing for Vern’s autograph at the end of each trip! It also resulted in some of our passengers getting it wrong and asking me for my autograph and while it was tempting I resisted and sent them round to the other side to meet the real star.
On the fifth trip we stopped at the Marina/coach park to fill the water tank and blow down the boiler to clear the moisture build up. Here we had an audience of professional coach drivers who watched the proceedings with interest, you are never alone with Elizabeth!
I think we completed 10 trips around the beautiful town of Whitby during the day (I was enjoying myself too much to keep count) and every trip was different for one reason or another. Eventually the time came for us to take Elizabeth out of service and drive back to the stabling point.
Here she was backed in and Vern carried out a brief shut-down procedure, leaving the fire to burn down which would ensure a warm firebox for next day.
This had turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my life, and I’ve had around 22000 of ’em!
If you spend a day with Viv, Vern and Elizabeth be prepared to become a tourist attraction, a curiosity, a celebrity by association and above all a man (or woman) of steam. I became all of these and I would love to do it all again.
Thanks Viv and Vern and last but not least Elizabeth. May you carry on for another 76 glorious years.
Mike Hole
For your chance to experience
a day with Elizabeth, the world’s only six wheeler steam bus call 01507 529529
You can now book this online! Click here
* See our other 'Elizabeth' merchandise, including a 2008 calender, greeting cards and a stunning A3 poster.
Take in the sights of glorious Whitby from our 1929 Dennis Charabanc.
Trips depart daily from The Bandstand near the fish docks.
Latest News from Whitby
It is my pleasure this month to declare that Elizabeth has now climbed Whitby's Khyber Pass over 2000 times in 18 months! That represents a total mileage of over 15,000 which is not far off the expected average for a modern car. The way in which she acquits herself in modern traffic and in arduous terrain is quite extraordinary when you consider she is 76 this year, steam powered and without modification.
Not a day goes by without passengers coming to the cab after their journey and saying they can't believe how she stops and starts so quickly and how she sweeps a one in five hill with hairpin bends aside. The wonder of steam!
Perhaps a more serious role as your favourite magazine's Flagship is to act as ambassador to the public, in fact to the young public. More and more, children are taking a copy of OG from us and let's hope it prolongs the spell Elizabeth casts.
Happily, there is nothing to report on the maintenance front this month, as apart from routine greasing and the like there have been no problems. I am hoping to have had my fair share for some while!
Finally, the Heritage Commercial's Charabanc continues to perform admirably when required and will be appearing at Pickering Rally 2-5 August together with her sister Elizabeth. Don't forget to book your place for the road runs! Vern.
ELIZABETH - A STEAMING SUCCESS IN 2006
The world's only six-wheeled Sentinel steam bus...
Elizabeth goes live in Whitby
THE February half-term holiday provided the chance to undertake some proving runs around Whitby for the newly rebuilt Sentinel double-geared steam bus, No 8590 of 1931, Elizabeth.
The Old Glory-sponsored bus, owned by Viv and Vernon Smith of the Northern Star Motor Carriage Co, has been rebuilt on its chassis to a bus format. This entailed an amendment to the Road Traffic Act because the engine exhaust is not sited toward the rear, as well as a spin on Plaxton’s tilt-test machine in Scarborough.
The result is a beautiful creation by Dick Martin, Viv and Vernon – all from John Marshall’s ‘back of many envelopes’ design.
The Sentinel takes water at Whitby harbour on every fourth trip.
All is set for an official Easter launch as Elizabeth becomes ‘part of the furniture’ on the tourist trail around the picturesque North Yorkshire harbour town.
Based opposite Whitby’s lifeboat museum, the bus will give up to 10 tours a day for visitors, daily from Easter until the end of October.
In order for readers to fully appreciate the experience of taking fare-paying customers on real roads under real steam, we have teamed up with Viv and Vern to offer half- or full-day firing experience courses to those who are perhaps looking for something a bit different for a birthday or special anniversary gift for a steam-mad loved one.
Naturally it would be rude if the editor didn’t try firing the bus first before offering readers the opportunity to do so, and on 20 February he got the chance.
Monday morning dawned cold but bright as I passed the Pickering rally field, Sleights and down on to the Whitby road but I had already decided that it was infinitely better than a day in the office, writes Colin Tyson.
First job: The editor rakes the ashpan from the previous day’s work.
‘Newly weds’ Viv and Vernon were already at the farm base, just outside of Whitby where Elizabeth is kept under cover; it wasn’t long before I was on my knees dropping the ashpan and raking it out. This is very much a hands-on day and although we wouldn’t expect some of our older readers to hump sacks of coal up into the bunker, everything else, as they say, is possible for the physically abled.
Seven or eight shovelfuls of coal, drop in the paraffin-soaked rags through the small firehole door at the top, another seven or eight shovelfuls, check water and leave to cook…
Raising pressure takes the usual 30-40 minutes, but this wasn’t going to be a usual day.
Just as I‘d finished topping up the oil chamber at the side with some particularly green and dense lubricant I came round to the front to see what appeared to be rather a lot of steam escaping from around the top of the sight glass. Some quick flicks of the shut-off valve at the top revealed ‘no change’ as the escaping steam tried to scald Vern’s arm. Our eyes met and we knew what was coming next, ‘…drop the fire!’
A quick call via modern technology to our clippie to tell him to go inside somewhere warm for a while longer was made while Vernon effected a gauge glass repair and we started the whole process of steaming her again, although it was quicker because she was already warm.
Such are the pleasures of steam on the road, and that’s before we’d left the yard.
The first firing, which later had to be aborted.
The run into town was thankfully uneventful and we took our place alongside the lifeboat museum and offloaded around eight sacks of coal for later on. The previous day, Sunday, had been very busy but Monday seemed moderate in comparison. Before long we’d got our first complement of passengers who were being briefed on the history of both the bus and Whitby by able clippie Colin, and it was off up to the cliff top. Eight shovelfuls… then six… then four to give us what we needed to get to the top. The fireman is in charge of the shovel, a push-buttoned top damper lever, the bypass valve for the pump… and looking left at road junctions.
The last thing I’d fired was a Bulleid Pacific (with foot-controlled lever to open the firehole door; try getting that in sync with your shovel arm – it was like that patting your head while rubbing your belly trick). I did find it easier to get into my stride with the Sentinel – just don’t try to put too big a lump of coal down the hole and block it. I didn’t, but I had to smile when Vern did just that while I was watering.
Some ‘weather’ then passed over, delivering hailstones at us horizontally and as it touched the hot surfaces and made the cab steamier than it was before, we were hitting a ‘stiff’ northerly breeze up the grade. OK, it was hardly Shap summit on the ‘down postal’ but with Vernon barking ‘coal… pump… lever’ in any order and at the same time (maybe for fun perhaps, he wasn’t saying) then your mind really is on nothing else. Not least some wonderful views.
The passengers of every fourth trip enjoy their detour to the harbourside to take on water at the harbour authority’s standpipe (yes, Vern does pay an annual rent for it). Wisecracks from them about it being ‘cheaper than filling up with petrol’ are quickly dismissed when the price and weight of coal a day are quoted.
Off on the first run and it’s uphill straight away. PAUL WHITWORTH
The adults love the nostalgia; the kids love anything bright and red, giving cries of ‘Look, it’s Elizabeth’. The fact that Vernon drove the ‘Hogwarts Express’ (GWR Olton Hall on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway) in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone always goes down well.
The cold wind and the aforementioned wintry showers had done for the passing trade of the day leading to an ‘early bath’ for us. It was back out of town and to the farm to put Elizabeth to bed for the night
The world's only six-wheeled Sentinel steam bus...
Testing time for Old Glory steam bus
OLD Glory-sponsored Sentinel DG6 waggon No 8590 of 1931 has now entered the final phase of its certification process as part of a mission to become the world’s only steam-powered six-wheeler legally allowed to carry passengers on public roads.
Up she goes! Sentinel No 8590 on Plaxton’s stability tester in Scarborough on 10 October. ALL: Charlotte Park
The Sentinel underwent a stability test on 10 October at Plaxton’s Coachbuilders at Eastfield, Scarborough, which required it to be tilted at a 35-degree angle, before it can travel around Whitby, North Yorkshire, giving rides to tourists.
The owners of Elizabeth, Vernon Smith and Viv Hamilton, of The Northern Star Motor Co, already run a 1929 Dennis charabanc that has built up a huge following with locals and visitors alike.
The conversion of Elizabeth to a steam bus has already demanded an amendment to the Road Traffic Act which was only recently approved by Parliament. This was required because its engine exhaust is not sited towards the rear.
The test involved weights totalling 64kg per passenger and crew member being strapped to each seat to represent a fully loaded bus and then having to withstand the 35-degree tilt (each side), without the chains placed around the axles becoming tight.
A very pleased Viv and Vernon at the end of the successful tilt test.
Vernon Smith said: “The stability test at Plaxton’s marked the biggest milestone for us yet in what has become an extraordinary journey. We were told 18 months ago that a steam bus would never be able legally to carry passengers. Now we are reaching the final certification prior to the first trip, we are thrilled and cannot believe we are finally here.”
Enjoy the thrill of steam as you tour Whitby. For further details 01751 470184 or email: steamydaze@aol.com
Our Charabanc is also available for weddings
