Locomotive Ailments.

A wonderful piece of mechanism is the twentieth century steam locomotive. Like that most perfect of all machines—the human body — it is, however, liable to suffer from a long string of indispositions, arising out of over-work, mis-use, and the like. The problem of minimising engine failures is ever with us, and there is a wide field of study open for the locomotive engineer in devising ways and means of maintaining the locomotive in perfect going order and thus reducing to a minimum the time spent idle in the shops.

At December 31st, 1927, there were some 877 locomotives in the shops of the London, Midland and Scottish line awaiting or undergoing repairs, or 8 1/2 per cent. of the total locomotive stock of the system. The London and North Eastern had 773 locomotives in shops at this date; the Great Western 680, and the Southern 432. It is impossible to eliminate locomotive failures altogether, for certain failures are due to defects in material which cannot be foreseen. One cannot help thinking, however, that a great deal more might often be done by the running shed staffs to minimise engine failures arising through other causes, and by emulating the physician, who always seeks to ascertain the root of the trouble, afford a permanent cure for the several ailments to which the locomotive is a martyr.

A locomotive may develop a hot bearing or leaky tubes, and, having received attention in the shops, be turned out again for service without any attempt being made to ascertain the origin of the trouble, and to put that trouble to rights once and for all. Many of these common ailments of the locomotive could be avoided altogether by the intelligent examination of engine drivers and others who have had experience of the machine in running. It is a very wise gospel that tells us “Prevention is better than cure.” In the locomotive world one would like to see this motto inscribed in six-foot letters in every running shed.