Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineeers
Volume 13 (1923)
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Journal No. 58 (January-February)
Eckhard, K.N. (Paper No. 132)
The maintenance of the electric rolling stock of the Central Argentine Railway.
9-45. Disc.: 45-60.
Members of South American Centre met at Tigre, Argentina, on Friday,
29 September 1922. Author was Resident Engineer of Electrification, Central
Argentine Railway,. M r . A W. Bannantyne, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Buenos
Aires Western Railway, and Vice-Chairman of the South American Centre, presided.
Subsequently a visit was made to the car shed and workshop for the electric
stock. The Chairman said: I am glad that the electrified service on the Retiro
to Tigre via Victoria branch of the Central Argentine Railway was inaugurated
on the 25 August 1916. Since then the service had operated with complete
success, both from an engineering and a traffic point of view. The increase
in the number of passengers carried had been gratifying, as will be seen
from the following figures, especially when it is remembered that during
the past few years building, due to the price of materials, had been far
below normal for the suburbs of Buenos Aires
Deacon, R.D. (Paper No. 133)
Oil fuel burning. 61-9.
Author was Locomotive Superintendent, Central Railway of Peru.
Kelway-Bamber, H. (Paper No. 134)
South African railways and their rolling stock. 79-95. Disc.: 253-61.
Extraordinary General Meeting was held at the Engineers’ Club,
Coventry Street, London, on Thursday, the 23 November 1922, at 7 p.m. The
chair uas taken by Colonel Kitson Clark in the absence of the President,
who wrote regretting that he was unable to be present on such an important
occasiori.
South African transport problems are governed by:
(a) Small population in relation to area.
(b) Great distances between:
(i) Chief industrial centres and coast;
(ii) Principal centres of population
(iii) Producing and consuming areas.
(c) Albsence of navigable waterways or canals.
(d) Vast tracts of undeveloped territory which railways must traverse to
reach their objectives.
The railways of the Union of South Africa were, with a few exceptiona, owned
and worked by a Department of State known as the Railways and Harbours
Administration.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the Manchester Centre
held at the College of Technology, Manchester, on Friday, 5 January 1923:
Mr. A.E. Kyfin presiding. Discussion. Kyffin (255-6+) showed pictures of
Beyer Garratts plus a diagram (side elavtion) of a 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the Leeds Centre was
held at The Railway Institute, Darlington, on 16th February, 1923, at. 7
p.m., Mr. C. N. Goodall, Chairman oi the Centre, presiding.
Robinson, C.H. (Paper No. 135)
The main base locomotive workshops of the British Expeditionary Force, St.
Etienne du Rouvray. 97-132. (Disc.: 123-4). 5 illus., 9 diagrs.
Second Ordinary Genera1 Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the Scottish
Centre held in the Royal Technical College, George Street, Glasgow, on Friday,
24 November, 1922, at 7.30 p.m.: Mr. Walter Chalmers (Chief Mechanical
Engineer, North British Railway) occupying the chair.
The loss of the Nord Co.’s main locomotive shops at Lille, besides many
of their large sheds and repair shops near the Belgian border, was a very
serious handicap; they also, of course, had to give up a large number of
their staff for military service. The main locomotive shops were transferred
to Amiens, which in peace time was a large district shop; they also managed
to arrange repair shops in the Paris district.
There mas considerable difficulty in obtaining a suitable site for the new
shops, but after many places had been reconnoitred and after many conferences
with the French it was eventually decided on 28 January 1917, that the British
Army should take oker the unfinished portions of the new shops of the Etat-Ouest
Rly., at St. Etienne du Rouvray a village about three miles from Rouen on
the main line to Paris, and about one mile from the old Etat-Ouest shops
at Sotteville. This line was the first railnay built in France, and much
of the original works remained a t Sotteville.
Nevertheless, it would appear at first glance that this site was too removed
from ihe traffic area operated by the British Army, but there were three
very good points in its favour :
Firstly: It was a good distance from the fighting area — Borre was in
a very unsafe position, as was proved later, and the possibility of having
to evacuate St. Etienne was almost as remote as that of losing the war.
Secondly: It was in a good position for one of the main base ports, le Havre,
where there were ample facilities for unloading heavy machinery, such as
locomotives, and at the same time there was a reasonably good railway connection
with the north-east. There was also a very good connection with Paris and
the south-west for such ports as St. Nazaire, if required.
1hirdly: Work had been commenced, practically all foundations were in, some
of the structural steel work was already erected and the rest was on the
site. Overhead cranes were also on order and were due for delivery.
On page 123 there is a list of all the locomotives used by the British
Expeditionary Force between 1917 and 1919; this includes locomotives from
the Caledonian, GCR (0-6-0 and 0-8-0 as well as WD 2-8-0); GER; GNR; GWR;
LYR; LBSCR; LNWR; Midland; NBR; NER and SECR.
Journal No. 59 (March April)
Smith, J.W. (Paper No. 136)
Some details of locomotive practice. 135-50. Disc.: 151-60.
Third Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the Manchester
Centre was held at the College of Technology, Manchester, on Friday, 1st
December, 1922, Mr. W. Rowland being in the chair.
Inside and outside cylinder designs. Discussion: W.G.P. Maclure (151) considered
that the objection to outside cylinders, so far as the riding of an engine
is concerned, was influenced by a certain amount of prejudice, the general
design of the engine having a great deal more to do with the riding. It must
be admitted that the liability for condensation in the case of the outside
cylinder is greater, and there is often some difficulty with regard to smokebox
joints being kept tight; but this, I think, takes place more particularly
when the cylinders are fastened on to the frames instead of being built up
with a centre portion to form one complete unit. J. Parry (151-2) noted outside
cylinders obviated the use of crank axles, and little can be said that is
good about a crank axle. The rolling of outside cylinder engines is sometimes
aggravated by the use of short connecting rods. The GCR engines, which Mr.
Maclure had experienced all had very long connecting rods. Rolling could
be reduced by using stiff bearing springs and making up for the consequent
reduced longitudinal flexibility by compensatitlg beams. It is much more
difficult to counterbalance the effects of reciprocating parts in an outside
cylinder engine than those of an inside cylinder engine; but with six or
more coupled wheels and a long wheel base, very good results can be obtained.
Many outside cylinder engines suffer through want of rigidity at the front
end, resulting in the failure of pipes, or at least theii joints. This fault
had been met by rigidly connecting the cylinders together, as Mr. Maclure
intimated.
McColl, J. (Paper No. 137)
Impressions of modern locomotive design, with observations on their performance
on the road. 175-92. Disc.: 192-203.
Third Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the Scottish Centre
was held in the Royal Technical College, George Street, Giasgow, on Friday,
15th December, 1 y 2 , a t 7.30 p m., Mr. Walter Chalniers (Chief 3Zechanical
Engineer, North British Railway) being in the chair.
This accentuates North British Railway policy. W. Chalmers chaired the meeting.
(Chief Mechanical Engineer)
Byrne, Basil (Paper No. 138)
The constitution of iron and steel: an exposition of the application of the
science of metallography to the study of the physical properties and
heat-treatment of steels and cast irons. 208-52.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) was held at the
Engineers’ Club, Coventry Street, London on Wednesday, 20December 1922,
Major Williams, Member of Council, taking the chair. See
also Paper No. 152.
Lee, Wallace and Edwin Welch (Paper No. 139)
Development, description and application of locomotive applicances and fittings.
269-350.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting of the South American Centre (1921-22
Session) was held in the “ Teatro Florida,” Buenos Aires, on the
2znd day of December, 1922, a t 9.30 a.m., Mr. M. F. Ryan, C.B.E., occupying
the chair. There were 135 members present. A Paper was read by Messrs. W.
R. Lee and E. A. Welch, both of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Buenos Aires,
and this was afterwards discussed.
Fire doors; steam grate shakers; air bell ringers; electric headlights; and
air sanders. Presented in Argentina: North American practice).
Journal No. 60 (May to June 1923)
Tritton, J.S. (Paper No. 140).
The internal combustion locomotive for railway use. 359-79. Disc. 379-405
+ 2 folding plates. 16 diagrs., 3 tables.
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting of the 1922-23 Session was held at
the Engineers’ Club, Coventry Street, on Thursday, the 25th day of January,
1923, at 7 p.m. The chair was taken by Sir Philip Nash, Viue-President.
Includes an account of the Still system.
Gresham, J.N. (Paper No. 141)
The theory and practice of steam jet instruments. 407-43. Disc.: 568-78.
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the Manchester
Centre was hdd at the School of Technology, Manchester, on Friday, the 2
February 1923. The chair was taken by Mr. W. Rowland. In about 1849, Giffard,
who was at the time experimenting with steam engines for dirigible balloons,
first conceived his idea for utilising the energy of a jet of steam for forcing
water into a boiler, and at the same time overcoming the difliculty he was
experiencing with pumps for that purpose, due to their heavy weight.
Giffard’s idea was not entirely- new, for in 1570 we have record of
a crude ejector apparatus used by Vitrio and Philebert De Lorme; but the
first device that bears any resemblance to the principle of the injector
mas patenteL on 15th August, 1818, by Mannoury de Dectot, who utilised steam
to raise water, the combined jet playing on to a paddle wheel. It was six
years later (1857) that Giffard made his instrument, and this delay nearly
lost him the honour of his invention, for in the same year Bourdon, the inventor
of the well-known steam gauge, also took out a patent for an injector. The
question of priority was finally settled in Giffard’s favour. About
1860 Sharp, Stewart & Co., then of Manchester, took up the manufacture
of Giffard’s injector. They entrusted this department to the late James
Gresham, whose energies in this direction were mainly responsible for the
many improvements which have made it almost a universal fitting on locomotives
to-day.
Before discussing the action of an injector, it will be as well to trace
out the various improvements to this early type of Giffard's. Fig. 1 shows
the first improvement, which only differs from the original in that it is
somewhat neater and has no "peep-holes" for seeing whether it is at work
or not. The great fault of these early instruments was that they required
almost constant attention to see that they did not stop working, or else
the steam would blow back into the tank and heat the water up; even lukewarm
water made them very difficult to start. The cones were solid with the body
and not renewable; the steam ram packing was most unreliable, allowing steam
to leak through and destroy the vacuum in the lifting chamber. In 1864 Mr.
Gresham took out a patent for improved construction. The steam ram was dispensed
with and fixed nozzles used in its place. The water was regulated by moving
the combining and delivery cone by means of a rack and pinion, as shown in
Fig. 2. The cones were also now renewable, but, like the early Giffard, it
required a certain amount of skill to operate this injector and necessitated
constant attention from the fireman to regulate it, for if the boiler pressure
dropped 10 lbs. or more, it would overflow. About the year 1869 Mr. Gresham
introduced the first radical improvement by utilising a divergent instead
of convergent steam nozzle. Since the introduction of the steam turbine a
great deal has been written on the flow of steam through different shapes
of nozzles, and only last year Professor Stoney published several articles
on this subject, based on experiments carried out in the Manchester University,
and more recently still Professor Mellanby has presented a Paper an the subject
to the Institution.
Andrew, J.H. (Paper No. 142)
Special steels. 444-57.
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting (Session 1922-23) was held in the
Societies’ Room, Koyal Technical College, George Street, Glasgow, on
Thursday, 15 February, 1923, at 7.30 p.m. Mr. Walter Chalmers, Chairman of
the Centre, occupied the chair.
Journal 61
Dalby, W.E. (Paper No. 143).
Mechanical transport and some of its problems. 466-72. Disc. : 472-8 + 2
folding plates. 8 diagrs., 4 maps.
Includes a plea for a testing station.
The Rocket combined. three essential mechanical elements never before
brought together, namely: multitubular boiler, blast pipe and the cylinder
directly connected to the crank. The Rocket in its trials achieved
a speed of 44 miles per hour. Thus was born the railway era. Energy was now
flung into the building of railaays, and this developed into the madness
which culminated in the financial crash of 1847. But out of that fine frenzy
our railway system ot to-day was born. Prior to that on 17 July, 1761, a
new era dawned. On that day the first Bridgewater Canal was opened, connecting
Worsley with Manchester. The tractive resistance of a canal boat is low.
With aid of maps transport across the Vale of the White Horse is considered.
Part of the main lines from London to Bristol pass across this area. Whilst
Cirencester is a knot in rhe network of Roman roads, Swindon is a knot in
the railuay network. Imagine a Bristol express to enter the area on the east.
It may weigh, say, 400 tons and carry 1,000 passengers. The section of the
line on the map is 30 miles long, and the express will pass off at the western
edge in 30 minutes. To carry 1,000 passengers over the road would necessitate
a string of 50 stage coaches, and the journey would probably occupy three
hours. A pedestrian would take 10 hours to cover the journey. Turning to
goods tfansport, a coal train from South Wales would carry 1,000 tons of
coal across the area in, say, two hours. By canal it would require a string
of 20 barges to transport 1,000 tons across the area, and, even neglecting
time lost at locks, it would occupy 10 hours. Again, to move 1,000 tons across
the area, a string of 10,000 packhorses would be required. Since then a motorway
has come to dominate freight transport and one wonders what Dalby would have
made of it.
Edwards, W.S. (Paper No. 144)
Training of apprentices. 480-8. Disc.: 489-513.
Sixth Ordinary General Meeting of the 1922-23 Session was held at
the Engineers’ Club, Coventry Street, London., on the 22 February 1923,
Mr. J. Bowden, Chief Superintendent, Woolwich Arsenal, occupying th: chair.
Based on practice at W.G. Bagnall of Stafford. Discussion:
Bearman (502): I have been, unfortunately,
a premium apprentice on the Great Western. Their system is to have three
classes of apprentice. First of all the ordinary apprentice, that is, one
whose father or relation is in the company’s service. Secondly a premium
apprentice, that is, a person coming from outside who pays £100 for
five years ; and thirdly a pupil, who pays £150 a year. The first two
are paid wages, but the pupil gets nothing. The period is for four years
in the case of th’e premium apprentice and five years in the case of
the ordinary. When the apprentice enters the Great Western, if he is a premium
apprentice he is put on the marking-off table just to find his feet a bit.
If he is an ordinary apprentice he is put to work on small engines, and generally
employs himself in getting in and out of tanks and places where a large man
could not get. The premium apprentice, after coming off the markingoff table,
is generally put on to turret lathes or some repetition lathes, and kept
there until a vacancy occurs ; but generally speaking he is dependent upon
the foreman for his promotion. There is no recognised rule. There are two
machine shops in which he can start, but there are no turret lathes in one
of the shops. It depends entirely on the foreman to which shop he goes, so
it is entirely by chance whether he does any repetition machine work or
not.
From there he goes to the fitting shops, and perhaps remains until a vacancy
occurs in the erecting shop. He stays in this shop until he is 21, when possibly
there is a vacancy in the drawing office and he may get three months or more
there, according to circumstances. In October, 1921, the rule was that on
attaining the age of 21, if unable to get into the drawing ,oftice, he
automatically left the company’s service. On the other hand, if he should
be fortunate enough to be allowed an extra period he went into the drawing
ofice for that time and then left.
The technical education system is that the apprentice first starts by attending
three nights a week. At the end of the session an examination is held, and
those who pass high enough are enabled to go to the technical school one
day a week free of charge, and also one evening. The remainder continue to
attend the ordinary classes three nights a week throughout the apprenticeship.
The day classes are under the control of qualified teachers engaged by the
town council; but the instructors for the evening classes are recruited from
the drawing ofice staff at the works—which, I think, is much the better
plan
It depends upon chance how the apprentice progresses through the factory.
If he gets on favourably with the foreman he may possibly get a more varied
experience
Another feature is that there is no communication between the foreman and
the management. It would be a good thing if better records were kept. Should
a foreman leave, the apprentice is practically unknown to his successor.
The chief point raised by Great Western men is that they are unable to hold
other company’s positions; and I really think if the Great Western were
to adopt the system advocated by the Author of the Paper there would be a
great many more Great Western men in the big positions than at present.
W.A. Lelean: As a G.W.R. man I would like to say thxe is something to be
said for the Spartan system started b! Nr. Dean, the former locomotive
superintendent. He had ap objection to any “nursing” of his
apprentices, and the slstem of requiring every apprentice to leave when his
time was out compelled the development of a certain initiatixe at the outset
of their career. He had, further, no sympathy with those who could not get
up in the morning, good time-keeping being with him a prime recommendation
for any appointment he had to make. His attitude with ali parents and guardians
pressing him as to the future of any apprentice was “ I only make mechanics
; it is for them to make themselves engineers. ” He simply provided
facilities for men to train in his shops and left it to their own application
and initiative to fit themselves by attendance at exening classes or otherwise
for any future appointments as officer\. None the less, it is questionable
if the system advocatzd hq Mr. Edwards is not a better one. Out of the men
that \Lent through Swindon works, there were very few men who had grit enough
in them lo attend the classes regu- Iarl>, and considering the number
of apprentices, the attendance at the classes in Mr. Dean’s time was
lamentable. I have had a good deal to do with apprentices since then, and
I am satisfied that every young man coming from school and going into the
works needs some inducement and encouragement, or rather, as Mr. Edwards
has put it, needs to be shown the necessity for starting on his technical
training in a proper way. I do not think that any scheme such as the welfare
system that the Midland and other companies have introduced for their apprentices
can be in any sense called a superfluous scheme. I was very much impressed
with the Midland scheme, and think the men that are turned out from the Midland
are clear proof of the advantages of that system—as also those from
Horwich.
The Author made reference to the insular effect of all the people in their
own works being trained solely in their own aorlis, and other speakers have
referred to the undesirability of that. Here again the Great Western system
has distinct advantages. They used to “sack ” all of us wrlieii
we were out of our time, unless we happened to be fortunate enough to get
into the drawing office, etc., but with the exception of just a few men,
the whole of the men had to leaie Snindon and earn their money elsewhere
before they came back into the works. That had the effect of introducing
new ideas amongst the workmen there. There is just that danger which Mr.
Edwards seems to be quite alive to, if he only engages workmen from their
own apprentices.
I must eongratulate Mr. Edwards on the fortunate position that he is in,
and I think it is largely clue to the system that he has introduced of looking
after the apprentices that he has got more men fo choose from than he can
find positions for.
I think also the system that he has of three months’ probation is an
excellent one. There is no doubt that one does get young men sent forward
by their parents, who have not the faintest idea of what engineering means.
They are totally unfitted for it, and if there is not this recognised three
months’ probation there is a tendency for them to be kept on them and
they become a perfect drag on the works and a misery to themselves.
Mr. Edwards has provided a very unusual feature in his works in giving
apprentices a chance of getting some idea of the costing department. I think
he might even go further and give them some idea of the secretarial and
correspondence work. It is surprising how few chances there are of any
engineering apprentices, from whom engineers are going to be recruited for
high positions, having any experience whatever in costing and secretarial
correspondence before they actually have to take charge and attempt to supervise
departments of which they have no knowledge whatever.
Another point in Mr. Edwards’ Paper was the change round from shop to
shop and from trade to trade. At Swindon I started on the marking-off table,
going from there on to the axle-turning lathe for nine months. Having no
one to advise, and there being no welfare department, one had simply to stay
where one was put. I regard fully six months of my first year as wasted time.
I would like to ask Mr. Wooliscroft whether the different grades of apprentice
all received the same pay.
Rowland, W. (Chairman's Address)
Engine loading for varying classes of traffic. 514-24. Disc.: 524-7.
Mercer, Ivor E. (Paper No. 145)
Locomotive running repairs. 528-47. Disc.: 548-59.
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-1923 Session) of the Sorth-Eastern
Centre, held at the Mechanics Institute, London & North-Fastern Railway
(G.N.Section), Doncaster, on Friday, 16 March, 1923: chaired Brocklebank.
States Author based at Greenore, One essential method for keeping repairs
at a minimum is that of thorough examinations. Some years ago a district
man arranged for some men specially to examine axlebox lubrication on engines
leaving a certain shed. A great deal of such lubrication included oil wells
in the axlebox crowns, and it did not take very long for it to be found out
that these examiners were drauing so much water from the axlebox crowns that
the oil used by them was a very large quantity. This large extra issue of
oil apparently frightened the men concerned, and the special examination
was soon dispensed with. In that way repairs will never be reduced. If, in
the instance mentioned, defective design was causing the oil to be washed
out of the axlebox crowns, the only sensible thing to do was to replace the
oil with more, while at the same time drawing the chief mechanical engineer's
attention to the large quantity of oil needed. It is probable that if a reliable
fitter and boilermaker examined every engine thoroughly before going out
to work, everyday failures would be much less frequent than now. It is for
the motive power superintendent to decide what is the practical happy medium
in the daily examination. The method of using an ostler for engines arriving
on the shed is a very good one where the number of engines warrants his
employment. In the States he is used at what would seem to us quite small
sheds, but American customs may not coincide with the needs of English
railways
Hinds, C.N. (Paper No. 146).
Joints and jointing materials. 581-4. Disc.: 584-94.
Sixth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) of the North-Eastern
Centre was held at the Philosophical Hall, Leeds, on the 13th day of April,
1923, at 7.0 p.m. The chair was taken by Mr. C.N. Goodall, and two short
Papers were read by Mr. C.R. Hinds in order to introduce a discussion OR
“ Some Points in Locomotive Practice.” The first Paper was upon
“Joints and Jointing Materials,” and the second subject was “
Piston Tail Rods and Their Alternatives. ”
Doncaster practice.
Hinds, C.N. (Paper No. 147)
Piston tail rods — and their alternatives. 595-9. Disc.: 599-607.
Put questions;
Is a tail rod support to the piston head necessary?
If necessary, does this need apply to all diameters of cylinders ?
Is a tail rod support more needful with superheated than with saturated
steam?
What design of tail rod aupport is best?
What lubrication arrangements should be supplied for the tail end support?
Is the usual tail rod sufficiently stiff?
In the absence of a tail rod support, what methods may be wed to prevent
tbe piston head wearing into the cylinder?
Which of these alternative methods is best?
I.E. Mercer (602): With cast iron pistons of the right quality metal, pistons
and cylinders have often run two or three general repairs without needing
attention. It is thus proved in practice that a piston head is quite suitable
for taking such pressures as may arise to bring the piston against the cylinder
barrel. This being so, a tail rod but increases the weight of reciprocating
parts and weight bearing down on the piston, unless it can rigidly hold the
piston central in the cylinder throughout the stroke. Tail rods of usual
dimensions are insufliciently stiff to hold the piston central; and to add
adequate tail rod slipper and guide greatly increases cost of construction
and maintenance, also increases reciprocating weight, n ithout being able
to improve on the results of cast-iron piston heads without tail rods. Steel
heads of any size used in main line engines will badly,score a cast-iron
barrel if the steel bears on the barrel. Why not then cast an iron rim on
to the steel head, as Mr.. Hinds suggests? Separate junk rings secured by
nuts have always given trouble.
Parker, L.P. (Paper No. 148)
The coaling of locomotives. 609-16. Disc.: 617-50.
Eighth Ordinary General Meeting (1922-23 Session) was held at the
Engineers' Club, Coventry Street, W., on Thursday, the 26 April 1923, Mr.
A. D. Jones, Past President, occupying the chair.
G.W. Selby (623-4) commented upon LNWR practice.
The former North Western Railway had six mechanical coaling plants running
of various types. Crewe North was the first, and was the only one similar
in principle to the Trafford plant, although not so up-to-date. There were
a lot of points embodied in the Trafford plant which were great improvements
on Crewe North. They have a tippler discharging into an underground hopper
that holds about 20 tons, from which there is a bucket conveyor. The buckets
held about a third of a ton each, and emptied only when an engine was being
coaled: when an engine came under the shoot the bucket conveyor was started
and the number of bucketfuls discharged into the tender counted. That worked
quite well and was fairly simple.
It had been suggested that one might have a high ramp and simply empty the
coal right out. At Edge Hill there was a set of sidings about 30 to 40 feet
above the track, and a branch was simply turned out of the sidings and a
ferro-concrete bunker made underneath. Of course, that is the simplest possible
way; there is nothing mechanical about it; one simply ran the wagon over
the top and emptiede coal into the engines below.
The latest plant was Crewe South, and that is one where the wagon was lifted
and tipped. which Selbie consideredto be the simplest and most satisfactory
way, provided the bunker is not more than 400 tons. The Crewe South plant
had these advantages: firstly, no underground bunker; there was no excavation
work, and there was no necessity to keep a pump running to drain the underground
bunker of water; secondly, only one lifting motor and only one set of mechanical
work was involved, in place of having a tippler with an electric motor driving
it, a distributor below the floor level, a rotating disc to draw the coal
from the bottom of the .underground bunker and turn it on to the elevator;
then a third motor driving the elevator, making three electric motors and
three sets of mechanism at least-possibly a small electric motor for driving
the pumps as well. The combined horse-powers of these motors were generally
more than needed to lift the wagon. When the wagon is taken up on lift, the
weight of the lift, of the empty wagon :iud half the probable charge, was
counter-balanced. Carlisle and Camden had no overhead bunkers. balanced,
so that all the electric motor had to do is to lift half the charge. It took
just under two minutes at Crewe to raise the wagon and empty it, and just
under two minutes to come back. In four minutes from the time the wagon was
run on the table it could be emptied and back again ; that wagon's contents
were now in the overhead bunker and there was nothing more to do: one man
could look after it. One man and one shunter in the period during which bunkers
were being filled, and one man only on the other tmo shifts where coal is
simply being fed out of the bunker on to thc engines, are amply \ufficient,
and I do not think that can be done with any other form of conveyor.
As regards measuring the coal, I think as a rule the main question for a
railway company is whether they are getting the full amount of coal frotn
the colliery that they are paying for; that seems to be the most important
thing. Whether one engine is burning more than another does not matter exactly,
unless tests are being carried out. The principle we propose to h a w in
our next plant is to put '1 weighing machine in the base of the lift, and
as the nagon comes into the lift it registers its weight, so that there ;s
no waste of time at all.
I think the Crewe North plant has a calibrating arrangement, but I am not
sure about the others ; some of them have calibrating arrangements and sonic
have not. The point is that if the calibrating arrangements prokided could
be guaranteed to actually measure the coal exactly, it would be perhaps worth
while having them ; but they cannot bc relied on. We hale not tried an
overturning scale arrangement, as has been suggested; I have never seen that
applied to a locomotive coaling plant. The proposal i\ to open a valve and
fill a i t h coal a box that is supposed !o hold ten hundrednzight; then
the valve is shut and t h e contents of the box shot into the tender; this
operation i \ repeated a number of times, so that it takes about three to
five minutes to coal an engine. By simply opening a vaI\rs and alloming the
coal to shoot out on to the tender, thr" coaling is done in half a minute.
Because the engine Sot six half-ton reservoirfuls it does not necessarily
follow that it rereived three tons of coal, unless it was all small coal.
Another point about the Crewe South plant is in reg;ird to dust. Everyone
finds the Yame difficulty with the mechanical coaling plant ; there comes
a time u hen it di+ charges a tenderful of dust. This has been graduall\
gathering together, and then it comes all a t once. At Crcne South it was
found that there was one discharging shoot that generally turned the dust
out. It happened in that plant to be directly under where the wagon tipped,
and apparently the dust got straight down to the bottom and rhe big coal
rolled down the slopes. A spout was put under that and it was used for coaling
saddle tank engines.
The Chairman: A question has been raised as to whether hopper wagons were
used.
Mr. Selbie: Any kind of wagon would do as long as its .sides were not less
than a €not or eighteen inches high, and ilot niore than ten feet total
height. The plant we are considcring now will handlc anything from the smallest
se\ enton coal wagon to our large standard locomotive coal wagons, which
carry 20 tons comfortably. They are Ioft. high from the rail, 8ft. wide and
24ft. long, with a 12ft. wheelbase. An important practical point is to make
the rlebator long enough to take the wheelbase of the largest aagon. I know
a plant that has been put up with provision for only a nine-feet wheelbase.
As regards oil coming out of the axleboxes, if the wagon i, run on, emptied
and brought back immediately, there will not be much trouble. But if the
wagon is not absolutely emptied \\hen tipped, and the hopper only holds about
twcnty tons, it is very much iriclined to jam ; the hopper is completely
filled and thc tippler cannot be brought back, and the wagon may stand for
five or ten minutes. That does :;he the oil time to come out.
Journal No. 62
Heaton, Walter. (Paper 149)
Carriage bogie design. 632-95. Disc.: 695-716, 1924, 14,
614-626.?????
Bogies of lighter design, supporting equal weights, had been in use
for oxer thirty years on steam stock and showed no signs of fracture; in
fact, there were many bogies in use without headstocks which gave no such
trouble. There may, however, have been other causes for fractures. It could
be deduced that no pressed member for bogie framing for electric coaching
stock should be less than ½in. thick and that means should be adopted
to keep the frame rigid.
Rodolfo Jaramillo (Paper No. 150)
The railways of Chile. 633-716.
The Chilian State Railways form three principal systems:
Arica to La Paz System.
Northern System.
Southern System.
The Arica to La Paz System in its Chilian section, has 206 km. of metre gauge.
It is administered directly by the Government of Chile, which appoints a
General Manager who is over both the Chilian and Bolivian sections.
The Northern System has 1,726 km. of metre gauge and will shortly have 2,439
km. when the 713 km. now operated temporarily by " The Chilian Northern Railway
'' have been handed over.
The Southern System has 2,635 km. of 1.676 m. gauge and comprises the lines
from Valparaiso to Santiago and Puerto Montt.
Both systems, the North and the South, constitute the Company of t h e S
t a t e Railways, a powerful autonomous corporation which is administered,
according to the 1914 law, by an Administrative Council of six members, two
of them being nominated by the President of the Republic, two by the Chamber
of Senators, and two by the Chamber of Deputies. The Council is presided
over by the Director- General of the Company, who is nominated by the President
of the Republic. The Members of Council nominated by the President of the
Republic hold office for five years, those nominated by Congress three years,
and the Director-General six years.
Sanderson, R.P.C. (Paper No. 151)
Heavy tonnage handling on railways of the United States. 733-59. Disc.:
759-60.
The haulage of coal, and the design of locomotives capable of hauling
very heavy trains.
Stamer, A.C.
Presidential address. 762-5.
An examination of where the Institution was going: acknowledged the
excellence of the Journal and the papers therein, but wondered whether the
Institution should be doing more.
Byrne, Basil (Paper No. 152)
The fatigue of iron and steel: an essay on the practice of endurance testing
and the mechanism of fatigue failure. 766-808. Disc.: 808-18.
The subject was then complex due to conflicting opinions and tentative
theories inseparable from a comparatively new field of investigation, but
there had emerged certain accepted proofs, The Paper is divided into two
sections in an endeavour to separate and simplify branches of study which
differ substantially from one another, while both are essential to an
understanding of failures under repeated stress. Part I. is an account of
the machines used in endurance testing and of the results obtained for various
grades of steel. Part II. is intended as an introduction to the study of
the inner structure of metals and its influence on their endurance.
See also Author's Paper No. 138: The Constitution of Iron
and Steel,