[STEAM HISSES]
Oh, hello there! I'm Mr Perkins. I'm one of the engine drivers on the Island of Sodor, but today, I'm not on Sodor.
Today, I'm on the Mainland visiting this beautiful railway.
Takes a lot of coal to keep an engine like this chuffing along the tracks all day. Just like the engines on Sodor.
Here's Thomas, speeding along the tracks.
His fireman is working very hard, stoking the fire with lots of coal.
On this railway, engines come to the yard every morning to collect coal.
The driver stops the engine underneath this big machine. It's called a coal hopper.
The fireman uses a digger to pick up the coal and tip it into a big bucket.
The bucket then carries the coal all the way to the top of the coal hopper.
Now, the fireman can tip the coal into the engine's tender.
Coal is very dirty and dusty so it's sprayed with water to keep the dust down.
With its tender full of coal, this engine is on its way.
The fireman shovels the coal from the tender behind him into the engine's firebox.
The heat from the fire turns the water in the engine's boiler into steam and the steam moves the pistons, which drives the engine's wheels.
The bigger the fire, the more steam the engine can make and the faster it can go.
The driver can see how much steam the engine's making by looking at this steam gauge.
But now, it's the end of the day, so it's back to the yard for this engine.
This fireman is emptying the fire out of the firebox into a big pit under the engine.
All the used-up coal or ash needs to be cleaned out. It can't be used again.
A final brush-down and a little bit of oil and this engine will soon be ready to go back to the shed to rest before another busy day out on the tracks.
So, that's how steam engines use coal to help make them go. That was very interesting.
[ENGINE WHISTLES]
But I think this engine's ready to leave. I better be going.
I wonder what we'll see next time? Goodbye!
Subtitles by SteamTeamExtra
