Driver for a Day

The minimal railway activity on Saturday was more than compensated for by the fantastic time I had on Sunday!!  For a birthday present Jenni gave me a Driver for a Day experience at Rosewood Railway Museum, which is operated by the Queensland Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society.  This involves both firing and driving the C17 class 4-8-0 ex QGR steam loco up and down their track near Rosewood for the day.  Needless to say, driving steam locomotives has been a dream of mine since boyhood, and to drive a full size mainline locomotive was an absolutely amazing experience!!

I was particularly impressed with the instructing crew, who are volunteers.  They were really welcoming, and offered some great information during the day while allowing me to drive and fire without hovering over me, which was much appreciated.  In short, it was everything I could have hoped for!  To say I felt at home on the footplate would be the understatement of the year!!

We 'started-up' the loco from cold in the engine shed, although it had operated the previous day, so was still warm.  I found it really interesting the amount of work the crew has to do with all the checking, oiling and greasing around the loco.  The crew is very familiar with every nut and bolt of the engine!  Once steam was up we headed for the 'main' line.

Unfortunately I didn't take any more photos as I was too busy having fun!  But it was an absolutely fantastic day, and I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in steam.