Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 8 (December 1, 1928)

Standardisation of Equipment

Standardisation of Equipment.

When the grouping scheme was launched in Britain, one of the greatest advantages which was claimed for such a plan was the benefits which might be secured from the standardisation of plant and equipment. In the time which has elapsed since the coming of the new order of things, a great deal has been done by each of the four consolidated systems in the direction of eradicating superfluous items of equipment, and concentrating on standard lines. Considerable reductions have been effected in the number of locomotive types in service, and through the activities of the British Engineering Standards Association, a vast amount of useful work has been performed in arriving at the most suitable types of material for permanent way use. On the London & North-Eastern Line's Southern Area (comprising what were formerly the Great Central, Great Eastern and Great Northern systems), there were some eighteen types of rail employed prior to amalgamation. Now two types only have been agreed upon as standard for the whole group, and valuable savings will thereby accrue not only in regard to the supply of rails themselves, but also in respect of the various accessories utilsed in permanent way construction and maintenance.