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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 8 (December 1, 1927)

Cleaning Passenger Cars

Cleaning Passenger Cars.

Great improvements have been registered on the Home railways in recent years in the methods adopted for cleaning the exterior of passenger carriages (writes our London correspondent). In days gone by all the railways followed the old system of washing the exterior of their carriages with water by the aid of long brushes handled by comparatively inexperienced men. To-day this method is common only at the less important centres.

At the more important carriage cleaning points, extensive covered cleaning sheds have been provided, a better type of man is employed for cleaning duties, and the supervision of the work is now particularly keen. Instead of water, oil is to-day used for cleaning passenger carriage exteriors, should the paint-work be too dirty to admit of thorough cleaning by dry cloths. After the dust has been wiped off with a dry rag, the cleaning cloths are soaked in oil and the paint-work thoroughly rubbed, the surplus oil later being removed from the carriages with a clean rag. In the case of particularly dirty vehicles, a special oil-scrubbing process is followed, which effectively removes all dirt, and is usually succeeded by dry-rubbing with soft cloths.

Apart from the desirability for constant cleansing of the exterior wood-work of passenger carriages with a view of increasing their life, attractive train exteriors undoubtedly have a considerable value from a traffic-securing and advertising point of view. Carriages which are dirty outside are usually equally dirty inside, and the modern passenger soon acquires the habit of shunning routes over which there are run filthy rolling-stock.

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