Before and after pre-purchasing this route, I've been worried about my ability to drive a steam locomotive successfully (based on rather pitiful experiences in TS), but watching parts of this stream (I just couldn't bear viewing all of it), with sloppy driving performances by two "pros", convinced me that operating skills are really not very important. Bring it on!
It's generally easier to drive steam in TSW than TSC where you can quickly come to grief. Despite what Matt says on the video about going to automatic fireman, don't. Enable manual which really is anything but. Open the firebox doors so the fireman starts to shovel coal. Again, despite what Matt says I just leave it open and never yet had the fire smothered, in any event there's no visual indication from the chimney as to how dirty the fire is, just constant clean white steam (I wonder when this will get addressed?). Open both dampers and unless you are trying to rag 500 tons up a 1 in 40 gradient for a distance, you will probably spend most of the journey with the safety valves going off. Never leave the reverser at 75% forward, in fact most times you will be able to get going with it at 55 or 60% and quickly wind it back to 30% or less. As someone else put it in another thread, for all the implementation of steam in TSW has been improved a bit to all intents and purposes it is still greatly simplified and not much more complicated than a diesel.
I must admit that it was wonderful to travel along it and see what the Darley Dale/Rowsley route was like in the past. The route currently only connects Darley Dale and Rowlsey; the remainder has been destroyed or abandoned, leaving only the remaining old train station, quirky bridges, and tunnels as evidence of its former existence.
