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Gold Proficiency

Award

Steam

A guide to achieve the 7¼” Gauge Society Gold Award and

fully understand the operation of 7¼“ and 7½” Gauge

miniature railways.

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Introduction

This booklet tells you what you need to do to achieve the Gold Award –Non-Steam Driver.

There is additional material available from the Website and Dropbox to give you more in-

structional information. The Gold Award is in three Parts, each with 5/6 Modules. Each

module is assessed separately. This would be done by an officially-appointed 7¼” Gauge

Society Assessor in conjunction with the Local Organisation Assessor.

After completion of the three Parts the successful candidate will be fully competent and un-

derstand miniature railway practice including driving a specified type of locomotive (this will

be arranged at an independent track if the Candidate’s home organisation does not allow it).

There is no upper age limit to this award. Candidates must belong to an organisation with

7¼” gauge facilities and be a member of the 7¼” Gauge Society Ltd.

To equalise the standard between steam and non-steam driving, the awards will be split into

Steam/Non-Steam and considerable extra content will be added to the existing Non-Steam

Award – The candidate must complete both to achieve the Platinum Standard.

Assessment Method

Two assessment methods will be used for the all the Gold Award modules, practical demon-

strations and presentations to a small group. Assessments will be practical, if possible.

Where a practical demonstration is not possible, you will use a presentation of a subject to

demonstrate your knowledge. You will be assessed by an external assessor and the club as-

sessor.

Presentations may use any method; talk, whiteboard, flipchart, PowerPoint or similar and

video. Training can be provided on how to produce presentations with for PowerPoint, Open

Office and Picasso. Please reference (give details of how your assessor may find) your

sources as your work will be checked for plagiarism.

All presentations must be original, questions will be asked on it at the end by the assessors.

The 7¼” Gauge Society will need to retain presentations and will use the best as training ma-

terial.

The 7¼” Gauge Society will sponsor training events across the country to make training and

assessment possible.

Criteria

Each module will have a set of criteria against which the student’s efforts will be assessed.

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Gold Award Steam Loco Driver Part 1

Signals and Points

Explain the signal and points systems at your club, the reasons behind the set-

up and their individual functions.

Compare their operation with those from another club.

You may use any visual aids to do this or just talk the assessors through the

setups.

Assessment

A presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

Should cover all the signals, their operation and significance to drivers using

the track.

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

Running Day Operation

Demonstrate understanding of the duties of the various railway officials by

producing a presentation comparing the “Running Day” setup at your club

with another club of your choice.

Assessment

A presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

Should cover all the key aspects of the preparation for a running day for both

clubs.

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

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Steam Locomotive Driving

Show how to start, run and close down a steam locomotive.

Produce a check- list for your chosen locomotive and demonstrate it in prac-

tice.

Assessment

Operation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The student should prepare a checklist

Using that checklist

Prepare the locomotive for operation.

Fire it.

Demonstrate getting water into the boiler at pressure.

Drive around the track.

Shut the engine down, doing any cleaning necessary.

Track Laying

Understand how to prepare and a produce a permanent way.

Put your understanding into practice by laying, levelling a section of track.

Assessment

Work assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The Student should

Prepare the ground.

Lay a short section of track.

Level the track.

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Club History

Produce a short Presentation on the history of your club.

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

It can be about any part or aspect of club history.

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

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Gold Award Steam Loco Driver Part 2

Track Inspection

Carry out a track inspection.

Produce a list describing the reasons why it is needed.

Include the main hazards of the track in the list.

Assessment

Inspection assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor

Criteria

The list will be assessed for completeness

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

Should cover 8 of 10 of the items that should be included

Steam Engine Common Faults

Produce a presentation describing the common faults found in steam engines

e.g. injector problems, poor steam raising, leaking tube plates etc.

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

Should cover all the common faults found in steam locomotives

Describe how they are recognised

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

Running Problems

Deal with a simulated ‘failure’ on the track whilst driving, on request, for exam-

ple a seized open regulator, derailment, problem with passenger.

Assessment

Assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

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You will be assessed by being presented with one or more of the failures docu-

mented in the “Common failures and problems” document.

You will be expected to deal with all failures competently.

You will not be expected to cover actions that should be dealt with by the

guard.

Running Documentation

Produce a presentation showing the correct paperwork to run your loco at your

club.

Show how to get the paperwork, e.g. who does it, what’s involved.

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 5 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

Should cover all requirements

Describe how they are recognised

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

Signal and Point Maintenance

Produce a presentation explaining setup and maintenance requirements of the

signal and points systems at your club

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

It can be about any part or aspect of club history.

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Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

7¼” Society Gauge Society

Produce a presentation describing the aims and objects of the 7¼” Society

Gauge Society Ltd, its structure and a brief history. Show how to contact

the officials and its web address.

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

It can be about any part or aspect of club history.

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

Gold Award Steam Loco Driver Part 3

Steam Locomotive Mechanism

Demonstrate a knowledge of the workings of a locomotive and its normal

maintenance requirements.

Assessment

Assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

Train Preparation

Prepare a train for duty.

Demonstrate the safe driving of a heavy ‘passenger’ train, using either

(members of the organisation) passengers or additional rolling stock.

Demonstrate good locomotive control, in order to ensure a safe and smooth

journey including going through stations, stopping appropriately at signals,

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no sharp braking or accelerating and a cautious approach to stations etc.

Assessment

Assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor. Questions will be asked by the asses-

sors.

Criteria

The Assessors will assess the preparation of the train.

The Assessors will assess the driver’s performance.

Both of the above must be rated as satisfactory

Boiler Test

Do a boiler test with a trained boiler tester and complete a dummy set of the

appropriate paperwork.

Assessment

Assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor. Any boiler inspected should clearly

pass or fail, the student is not expected to diagnose complex faults.

Criteria

A boiler test must be completed.

Simple faults, if any, should be pointed out

Complete paperwork correctly.

Health and Safety

Produce a presentation describing a Health and safety check assessment and

how it works.

Carry out a simulated safety assessment and include the results in your presen-

tation.

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

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Should cover key health and safety requirements at your club.

Should include the results from the Health and Safety simulation.

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

Club Yearbook

Produce a project showing the events that have taken place at your club over

the past twelve months. This could be a booklet, presentation, poster or

video.

Assessment

Presentation assessed by Club Assessor and External Assessor.

Criteria

The presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

Consist of original content prepared by the student.

It can be about any part or aspect of club history.

Any format or presentation method is acceptable.

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