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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 5 (November 2, 1931)

Practical Economy Suggestions

page 56

Practical Economy Suggestions

Conserving Supplies Of Oil And Coal.

How economy in the use of oil and coal may be practised by enginemen and firemen with an appreciable saving in the Department's annual expenditure account, is told in the following brief article by a New Zealand Railways engine-driver of over twenty years' experience on the road.

During the year ended 31st March, 1931, the sum of no less than £2,345,239 14s. 9d. was expended by the Department on the purchase of stores and material, locomotive supplies constituting a considerable portion of the above expenditure. As the influence of economy upon the general welfare of every member of the service has been stressed in a recent circular issued by the General Manager, it may be opportune at the present time to indicate ways and means by which drivers and firemen in the performance of their respective tasks may assist the Department in its campaign for the elimination of waste.

By way of introduction, we will take, in the first place, the question of preparing an engine for the road. Long experience has convinced the writer that a considerable saving in the quantity of oil used for this purpose may be effected if this work is done in a strictly methodical manner—that is, to oil the side rods first, then the axle boxes, and lastly, the motion gear, before starting on a run.

When oiling the side rods, don't fill the oil cups to the point of overflowing, because when the corks are inserted the pressure forces the oil out, where it runs over the rods and on to the ground. The same principle applies with the slide bars, piston and valves. It is not necessary to fill these cups above the syphon pipe. If this is done (I have seen many drivers do it), when the lid of the cup is closed, the oil will splash out and over the side, so causing much preventable waste. Use the same care in regard to axle boxes; don't fill them up until the oil is running over. It must be remembered that a spot of oil in the right place is worth more than gallons in the wrong place, and every pint of oil wasted is a loss to the Department amounting to many hundreds of pounds in the course of a year.

When on the road have confidence in the engine and yourself; don't get down to oil round at every stop. If an engine can run fifty miles on a non-stop run without oiling, it can do the same distance on a stopping train. Drivers should pay particular attention to oil feeders. It is waste to have feeders with inefficient springs, as a great deal of waste in oil is due to this cause. Don't carry the oil feeder round the engine like a walking stick; there is a right way to carry it to prevent oil wastage.

In the utilisation of coal a saving can be made if drivers use judgment in the matter of allowing their engines to drift into stations instead of steaming them right up (or close) to the stopping place. It is surprising how much coal can be saved if this practice is adopted. In those cases, too, where the schedule can be maintained with light steaming, a saving in coal may be effected if this fact is borne in mind. Another important factor in fuel conservation is to run the engine in a consistent manner. Irregular running means a heavy loss in coal, and is a very bad practice for drivers to adopt, especially when they run ahead of time page 57 and have to stand at stations waiting for the departure signal. When the engine is kept standing, unnecessarily, at stations, the temperature in the firebox is reduced, and when starting again it requires more coal than would have been necessary if consistent running had been made, to bring the temperature up to perfect combustion point. The fireman should never put five shovelsful of coal on the fire when two or three would do. It is not necessary to fire heavily when the driver is running with light regulator.

Much saving in coal may also be made if the fireman pays particular attention to the road. It does not require the same amount of coal to work a train on the flat or down grade, as it does to climb a grade. Overloading the tender is another frequent cause of coal wastage. Besides the waste occasioned by this practice, it may cause the tender axle boxes to run hot. Moreover, the coal that falls on the footplate when running should be used in the firebox and not swept out on to the ballast.

Savings effected along the lines suggested in the above brief article would be a definite gain to the Department. After all, it is worth remembering that if a job is worth having it is worth looking after.

N.Z.R. Signal And Electrical Inspectors' Conference, 1931. (Rly. Publicity photo.) Back row (left to right): Messrs. J. O'Connor, T. Gallagher, M. Stratton, T. H. Noble. Centre: S. G. Sargent. M. J. Gallagher, J. N. Munro, J. H. Michelle, W. J. Wray, T. A. Walsh, D. H. Jones, E. H. Pritchard, L. Fahy. Sitting: W. H. H. Grapes, C. W. Hollis, C. R. Lovatt, M.Sc A.M.I.R.S.E. (Asst. Engineer), G. W. Wyles, M.I.R.S.E., A.M.I.E.E. (Signal and Elect. Engineer), C. A. Mackersey, A.C.S.E., A.M.I.E.E., (First Asst, Engineer Elect.), and R. G. Mysrscough.

N.Z.R. Signal And Electrical Inspectors' Conference, 1931.
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Back row (left to right): Messrs. J. O'Connor, T. Gallagher, M. Stratton, T. H. Noble. Centre: S. G. Sargent. M. J. Gallagher, J. N. Munro, J. H. Michelle, W. J. Wray, T. A. Walsh, D. H. Jones, E. H. Pritchard, L. Fahy. Sitting: W. H. H. Grapes, C. W. Hollis, C. R. Lovatt, M.Sc A.M.I.R.S.E. (Asst. Engineer), G. W. Wyles, M.I.R.S.E., A.M.I.E.E. (Signal and Elect. Engineer), C. A. Mackersey, A.C.S.E., A.M.I.E.E., (First Asst, Engineer Elect.), and R. G. Mysrscough.

Automatic Signalling

Another promising German development of the selenium cell in railway service, making automatic signalling possible even where steel sleepers are employed, is known as the Hampke arrangement, employing the so-called “point” or intermittent system of signalling. Previous arrangements of automatic signals without track circuits possessed no sure automatic means of indicating when a train with all its vehicles complete had passed out of the block section. Hampke's apparatus solves this problem by an arrangement which makes it possible to observe the passage of the tail end of a train past a fixed location. The arrangement calls for a tail light detector consisting of a lamp bulb throwing an intense concentrated ray of light on to the train, and a selenium cell forming part of the circuit of a line relay. A special mirror is fitted to the red tail light of the train, this mirror being similar to that employed in the Baseler apparatus. Immediately the rear of the train passes the selenium cell detector, the mirror directs the ray of light back into the selenium cell and renders it conducting, so that the circuit through the relay is closed.—(From Our London Correspondent.)

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