D854_Tiger Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Was it (is it) always bacon and always eggs. What other menu options were available and what really worked well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 Sausages!!! Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
avonside1563 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Bacon first then eggs after using the bacon fat to cook, having said that sausages work just as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 Apparently this wasn't as common as TV documentaries would have you believe. Most ex steam men I've spoken to over the years have said if you were stuck somewhere near a shop or a yard pilot then they would sometimes do it. Others have said they would never do it ,as the shovel was used for other purposes when taken short!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I suppose the reason for bacon and eggs is that both only take a few minutes to cook thoroughly, whereas sausages (pork ones anyway) would need rather longer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bon Accord Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I suppose the reason for bacon and eggs is that both only take a few minutes to cook thoroughly, whereas sausages (pork ones anyway) would need rather longer. Sausages can be easily (and cleanly) cooked on a suitably bare patch of backhead provided they're wrapped in tin foil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 I've had bacon and eggs off a shovel on a preserved railways (they have toilets if you get court short) and they were bloody awful, egg had black bits in. The blower has to be turned right down or the draft will suck it off the shovel. Hence smoke in the firebox Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 Orrible with a capital O.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
standardblue Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I've known baked spuds, or a roast dinner in the smokebox. Wrapped in foil and left for a few hours while running. I've converted a bland cheese sandwich into a toastie before. All this was in pres. Not sure if the smokebox cuisine was ever done back in the day? Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 I once knew an idiot on a preserved railway who cooked a salmon in the smokebox . I mentioned this to an ex steam man - ' a salmon, a fXXking salmon!!! If I had one o them back then I'd a sold it and doubled me wages!!' Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 Many, many years ago I used to volunteer at a place called Hollycombe. One of the other volunteer's father was a butcher, and one Sunday he turned up with a whole beef fillet that he had, um, liberated from his father's shop. We had that cooked on the shovel....that was rather nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 Something's probably are OK, I just don't really see the point. I've heard of someone baking a cake... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
avonside1563 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Roast pork in cider done in the smoke box mmm. Also a proper potteries delicacy, cheese oatcakes wrapped in foil and on top of the steam stand for an hour. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 Ive got a thing in my kitchen with knobs and doors that when you put food in it comes out cooked, I think I'll try and pull a train with it!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 23, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2016 I understand that an onion wrapped in foil (preferably - it was easier to remove) placed up on the steam fountain pipework area was considered a delicacy by some enginemen. As for the various other regular uses of the shovel in real life I think the last thing I'd want is something 'cooked' on it!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon A Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Some of the crews at the Avon Valley Railway occasionally cook egg and bacon on the shovel. Properly done it is vey tasty, but it is down to the time you have to do the cooking without interuptions and a good hot clean hot fire. I know at least one of our drivers has done a roast joint in the smokebox wrapped in foil. Very tender and tasty. These days we have an excellent buffet run by Bridgette and her merry crew. Gordon A Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 There's a story in the old book "Behind the Lines" (by C. Burton 1979. ISBN 0906160022) about a Goods Guard cooking his breakfast on the stove in his Brake Van whilst stabled at Hockley Goods Depot in Birmingham. The Author described how the aroma of bacon & kidney was tormenting the Depot staff an hour before their morning break was due, but when the Guard started frying an onion as well... the shed Gaffer just gave up, & told everyone to go for breakfast. As he put it, he "couldn't wait any longer either"... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB-AU Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I was a trainee steam fireman on a preserved line for many years before moving away. I've had sausages, bacon and eggs cooked on a shovel and they were delicious. I once did a steak that way but (my own fault) I overcooked it. One day we had half a dozen pies warming on top of a Belpaire firebox. Cheers David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted February 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 24, 2016 The Iron Maiden was on the Talking Pictures channel last night, featuring bacon and eggs cooked on the shovel on a Fowler Showman's engine. The actor Michael Craig had to climb up to the footplate while holding the shovel with four runny eggs in. The shot was edited so you didn't see the entire sequence. I wonder if he actually made it without spilling them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidnutter Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Santa specials on the Severn Valley. 4 Toulousan sausages wrapped in foil with 2 small onions stuck on top of the manifold cook after about 1 run from KDR to AY. Jacket spuds are also cooked in the smokebox behind the steam pipe. Despite what people say they are very nice. It is also a good party trick for the kids. But as has been said above. There was a reason why there was a spare shovel on the footplate..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted February 24, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 24, 2016 Best way to cook a whole salmon? Wrap it in foil and put it in the dishwasher, run a cycle! And yup the blower can be lethal - Adrian Vaughan decribes a crews sausages going up the chimney at Farringdon in Signalmans Morning when the blower was inadvertently opened.... Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Best way to cook a whole salmon? Wrap it in foil and put it in the dishwasher, run a cycle! And yup the blower can be lethal - Adrian Vaughan decribes a crews sausages going up the chimney at Farringdon in Signalmans Morning when the blower was inadvertently opened.... Phil Whilst still a crew member on 'Le Shuttle', I was sent by the chef-de-train to see why a customer had opened his bonnet. When I arrived, he was removing a foil-wrapped package from on top of the exhaust manifold; this proved to be some salmon fillets which he'd put there when leaving his hotel near Reims that morning. They were perfectly cooked.. I had one or two cases where passengers had used the same means to warm their babies' bottles. Someone mentioned Staffordshire oatcakes earlier; the original method of reheating these would have been in a kiln at the potbank. The less brown side to the outside, my resident Potter says. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Douglas Steam Railway Station on the Isle of Man have gone commercial with it! http://www.ticket-hall.com/breakfast-2/ Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 24, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 24, 2016 Douglas Steam Railway Station on the Isle of Man have gone commercial with it! http://www.ticket-hall.com/breakfast-2/ Jim Looks more like a labourer's shovel to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 http://youtu.be/JP9UABXzM0o Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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