GWR .Ash clearing.
This may help to explain how a loco came on to shed.
Once a loco had finished its turn it would run light back to the shed, if the loco was need the next day it would go to the coaling stage and be filled with coal and water.
Drivers used to give the coal stage loaders a few pence ,so the would not end up with large lump of coal ,make life a lot easier not having to hammer coal in to smaller lumps.
Once the loco had been coaled and watered, the train crew would hand over the loco over to the shed duty driver, who would then take the loco over to the ash pit.
The loco would move on to the ash pit and drop its fire, ash crews would hose down the ash, once the loco had move off.
Ash pits where usually right next to the coaling stage, loco did not drop their ash in the shed pits, you would get a fine if you did this.
Their would be a ash crew working in this area ,sometimes working the coal stage , the ash crews would shovel the ash in to barrows and then take the barrow over to the ash truck ,this truck had ash only written on it and was use solely for this job.
It was a hard back braking job to do and as they where paid by the ton, they would try to get as much tonnage as possible. The ash crew where on of the lowest paid in the shed, they where paid by the ton!
The shed would have cleaners working on the ash pits, had to be one of the messiest job on shed!
At old oak Common in 1951 an Irish worker shifted 30 tons in a day!, once the ash truck was full it would be taken away, the ash was not wasted as it would be used to form the ground work in sidings and sheds ,yards are not made from ballast ,but yard ash.
This is a very good book on GWR sheds, goes into a lot of detail on daily life in a shed, and also has track plans for the layout of GWR sheds.
Hope you have found this helpful
All the best
Darren
Great Western Railway Engine Sheds: London Division by by Chris Hawkins (Author), George Reeve (Author)
