CHAPTER XI
LOCOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS
The locomotive, when in traffic, is under the charge of one of the running sheds or districts, into which the railway is divided for locomotive running purposes. The usual practice is for ordinary running defects and minor repairs to be attended to in the small workshops attached to the sheds. The facilities provided for this purpose depend upon the size of the running shed, and in some important sheds many “heavy repairs” are now executed. Generally speaking, running shed repairs include re-turning the tyres, refitting axleboxes and bearings, repairs to the motion and brake gear, and the fitting of new springs. The springs and other parts are, of course, supplied from headquarters. Minor boiler repairs such as the replacement of stays are also done in the running sheds, but when the boiler requires heavy repairs the engine is sent away to the principal works.
Records are kept of the mileage and of every repair done to the engine, however small. Further, periodical examinations are made of most of the important parts of the engine after it has run a definite number of miles, or for a certain length of time. Thus the firebox would be examined about once a month, and the tyres and axles of express engines after running about 4,500 miles,
