Jennifer The Tank Engine

Weather was rubbish so I thought I'd go to North Weald and check out the Epping Ongar heritage railway. Walking into the green, wood-panelled booking office, with the black-uniformed station master sitting in the corner by an open fire, took me right back to going to see the chuffa trains when I was a child.

I asked if it was OK to go onto the platform and take pics and the station master said, "No" which threw me. His idea of a joke. I met a train-spotter who had been all over the world spotting steam trains but had never seen
Jennifer, who was described to me as a 'kettle'. She's a little short-haul steam engine built in 1942 for the Fox steel works in Sheffield. She plied the specially constructed Stocksbridge line connecting the works to the main line. She can't pull too heavy loads and is just connected to the six carriages for effect, with a diesel loco doing the donkey work. My research tells me that she's a tank engine like Thomas. These engines have tanks beside the boiler and a small bin for coal. They're self-contained and there's no need for an attached coal car, ideal for light and varied duties.

I was on the platform waiting for her to come back from Ongar when a man asked me if I was interested in photographing trains. I told him that I'm interested in taking pics of anything and everything. He took me to the waiting diesel loco Michelle and said that I could take Jennifer's pic from his driver's seat. It was very noisy and smelly in the cab and Jennifer kept us waiting. I never wanted to be a train driver when I was young. :)