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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 4 (August 1, 1932)

A Den of Noise

A Den of Noise.

Down amongst that gloomy, greasy conglomeration of complicated machinery, with the smell of burnt oil and the acrid fumes generated by the explosions in the cylinders, page 51 one began unconsciously to express wonder that man, with his ten fragile fingers and puny brain could design, build and control with ease such apparently unwieldy machines.

Compressed air is used to start the engines and the sudden “bang! bang!” as this escaped from the cylinders resembled a barrage of 12 inch guns at close quarters.

As reversing by any form of gear box would not be a practical proposition, a highly ingenious and clever arrangement is used to reverse the engines when the order to go astern is rung down from the bridge above.

To reverse, the cam-shaft falls away about a foot from its normal position. By means of compressed air, it is shifted along several inches, and then raised again; this time a separate and differently timed set of cams comes into use. When re-started, the engines commence to revolve in the opposite direction. One very small control lever sets in motion the whole sequence of operations.