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Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers
Volume 45 (1955)

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Journal No 243.

Davy, G.V. (Paper No. 541)
Recent trends in electric locomotives: a review of some of the more important developments in electric locomotives since the beginning of the Second World War. 18-62. Disc.: 62-97.
General Meeting of the Institution held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday 12 January 1955 at 5.30 p.m.: Mr. A. Campbell, President, in the Chair.
Includes bibliography.
S.B. Warder opened the discussion (62-4) noting that Papers on electric traction were rare:the last dealing with types of electric locomotives generally on a world basis was that presented by Fairburn about twenty years ago. With electric traction it was  necessary to exercise great care in defining what was meant by an electric locomotive, because it was not really a prime mover but a conversion unit. It was that feature which rendered comparison with other prime movers so difficult. It was also the feature which allowed the superior performance which must always be obtainable under conditions where much of the weight had been removed and there was unlimited power behind the traction units to call upon as required. It was necessary to make this point because the Author referred to the various types of system which were available where of course the whole arrangement was interlinked. The fact that there were so many ways of getting the current to the train underlined the various combinations of arrangements which were possible on the locomotive.
It was a pity that the Author in his review of present practice (in fact he also dealt with past practice going back to the year 1904) omitted mention of the locomotives on the Southern, because they were unique. These locomotives which dealt with the gap problem in a 3rd rail system, had a maximum speed of 85 m.p.h. and happened to have simple nose suspended motors without any form of resilient drive at all. As the Author stated, in recent years there had been a marked tendency to depart from the types with cab mounted motors and carrier axles which were popular some years ago, so that all designs now had total adhesion and bogie mounted motors. That tendency laid the duty of guiding the locomotive on the more heavily loaded motored wheels, thus one of the most important problems confronting designers was to ensure that in the higher axle load ranges both riding and the effect on the track were satisfactory at the highest speeds. The experience which British Railways had gained from the limited experiments which they had carried out showed that there was not a great deal to be gained by flexible drives so long as the main criterion was the total weight on the axle. It would seem that the measures adopted to give the desired flexibility often cancelled themselves out due to the extra weight which the measures themselves required. From all that he had seen to date the resilient gear wheel was as good as anything.
He was particularly interested in what the Author had written about American practice as he had recently had an opportunity of seeing the Pennsylvania rectifier locomotive. At the time it was out of service due to an unfortunate accident during inspection. The interesting point was that there was apparently no urgency in carrying out repairs since there was no suitable job to put the locomotive on, its power being too great for normal traffics which were offering at that particular time. This illustrated the fact that designers had to take into very close account the utilisation aspect.
The Author referred to the impressive mileages which the SNCF averaged on specially selected services which was, after all, mainly good diagramming; but it was not to be expected that such figures could always be obtained taking the railway system as a whole. A corresponding example was the Southern Region diesel electric locomotive which was diagrammed for 688 miles a day. That compared quite favourably with many figures given in the Paper. Another aspect which was not often appreciated and which must come into the picture, particularly when considering wholesale electrification or general electrification where there were freight and passenger services, suburban and main line, was that of arranging the work in such a way that the power demand was at its maximum at a time when the national demand was at its lowest. By that means it could be arranged that the cost of current would probably be a fraction of what it would be if the full service were operated during peak hour periods. In this country there was more experience of suburban services where it was necessary to carry all the people at the same time in the morning and in the evening thereby creating a heavy maximum demand factor; but when freight operation was contemplated it was desirable when diagramming the services to move as much freight as possible in the middle of the night or day so that the maximum demand was unaffected. In that way it was possible to secure a general overall economic improvement not only for the railway organisation itself by reducing the cost of current, but for the national power networks increased load factor from the corresponding flattening of the load curve.
Reference was made to maintenance which was as vital from the design point of view as for the operator. It was rather striking that the American railroads were prepared to put up with a much higher failure rate than could possibly be contemplated in this country. Of course, he would not suggest that America was the place to go to see electric traction. The electrical engineers over there were too busy making the diesels work !
A great deal of attention was devoted in the Paper to the 50 cycle single phase type of locomotive and there could be no doubt that there were considerable potential prospects for that system now that it had been given a new-look by the various methods of power conversion available on the locomotive.
He could not go all the way with the Author when he spoke about the good prospects with a 50 cycle motor. One would agree that they were much better at the present time than they had been in the past, for considerable strides had been made in AC commutator design; but it was still true to say that the DC motor had a better traction characteristic than its AC counterpart, for the AC motor, as was well known, had a relatively poor starting performance and only showed up to advantage in the high speed ranges. For that reason it gave a very good performance when hauling fast trains of medium weight, but on heavy freight service unduly large outputs were required in order to accelerate the train quickly through the zones of poor commutation to avoid serious burning of the commutator. He foresaw much greater prospects for the AC/DC combination with the rectifier in particular.
Reference was made in the Paper to locomotives as mobile substations. That could be misleading because it gave rather a false impression of the all-up weight of a locomotive which carried itc- own transformer. In fact the transformer merely cancelled out the weight of the DC resistance groups which were required for DC control. The tendency, observed in the slides dealing with French locomotives, indicated that in the long run a much lighter AC locomotive was being evolved than for the corresponding case with DC. In fact if the same rate of progress were maintained it would be necessary, shortly, to carry ballast to counteract the loss of weight.
It was difficult to know whether one could admire the design of the French locomotives with the centre cab. They took some getting used to with the two pantographs, an arrangement which looked rather ugly. In a previous discussion on this question in another place he happened to remark that with the centre cab arrangement and the transformer between the bogies the driver had to sit on top of a live transformer. That remark was capped by a subsequent speaker who stated that in this country the main problem was to keep the driver warm whereas it would seem that the French now had the job of trying to keep him cool ! What does the Author think?
Mr. E. S. Cox (Vice-.President) referred to the question of the power capacity of electric locomotives and illustrated diagrammatically the characteristics of the steam, diesel and electric locomotives. In changing the form of motive power it was sometimes put forward in a facile way that diesel and electric locomotives of comparable nominal capacities were interchangeable, but because of the features pointed out by Mr. Warder by which electric traction had a power station behind it, a performance potential on the electric locomotive was obtained which was far and away beyond that of any other alternative form of motive power, and that accounted for the fine performances which were recorded in many parts of the world. It was found, however, that the method referred to in the Paper-and one which was commonly used-of describing electric locomotive performance by a horsepower figure was most misleading, and undoubtedly the only true method of comparing one electric locomotive with another, or indeed with any other form of motive power, was to produce for that locomotive not a wheel rimltractive effort speed curve but a drawbar pull/speed curve which would take into account the weight of the locomotive as well.
It was a little surprising to find in the Paper under discussion, and indeed in most Papers on electric locomotives, no reference to current consumption. Every Paper on steam locomotives and most Papers on diesel referred at some stage to the fuel consumption, and the fuel consumption of electric locomotives was current consumption. No reference was ever made to that, but surely it must be of some importance and interest, and in the section of the Paper dealing with the different ways in which 50 cycle current could be applied to a locomotive comparative current consumptions for the same work must have some importance.
Referring to the evergreen subject of bogies and bogie designs, the Paper once again underlined the great variety of designs which were developed, and it would be interesting to hear from the Author how he or his firm evaluated the merits of one compared with another. How could he be confident in recommending to any railway a type of bogie which was to be preferred? Mr. Cox’s own feeling was that it was a field in which those concerned had hardly scratched the surface, and a great deal more had to be done to measure riding and track effects on a comparative basis so that information could be obtained on what parts it was necessary to improve.

Bruce, J.G. (Paper No. 542)
Overhaul and maintenance of direct-current traction motors. 98-118. Disc.: 118-35.
General Meeting of Institution of Electrical Engineers held at Savoy Place, London, WC2 on 11 November 1954 to which members of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers were invited.
Dealt with the general case of conditions appertaining to the DC axle-hung traction motor, particularly to experience and practice found on the railways of London Transport.
Maintenance of traction motors falls into three categories:
(a) Running-shed maintenance.
(b) Periodic overhaul.
(c) Repairs and modifications.
(i) Repairs arising from service failures.
(ii) Modifications to improve reliability and performance

Journal No. 244

Summer Meeting in Scotland, 17-19 May 1955.. 138-57.

Visit to the Works of the North British Locomotive Co. Ltd., Glasgow. 129-50. 12 illustrations, 2 diagrams

Visit to the Works of Babcock & Wilcox Limited, Renfrew. 150-6. 6 illustrations

Foster, G. (Paper No. 543)
Welding of cast iron and steel components in locomotive manufacture and maintenance. 159-73. Disc.: 173-203.
T. Henry Turner (page) From the point of view of the mechanical engineer it was obviousiy wise to employ as few processes as possible. “The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried” applied in this case. It was clearly impossible non-destructively to test all welds; it was therefore necessary to concentrate on the best training of welders, using the approved processes. To help in this, the former LMS Scientific Research Department had an old four-wheel coach converted into a mobile X-ray laboratory (Fig. 10). The successor to that coach, an old bogie vehicle, had been in almost continuous use, visiting last year the locomotive works at Darlington, St. Rollox, Inverurie, Cowlairs, Crewe and Derby, as well as working at the civil engineering welding school and on specially important bridge and pontoon construction in contractors works (Fig. 11). That was a record of scientific application to this problem which included the use of isotopes as well as ordinary X-rays. The X-ray apparatus was at one end of the bogie coach and in the middle was an office, in which films could be shown to the operators who were being trained. The development of the X-ray films took place at the other end of the vehicle. That coach had been so useful that there was talk at the moment of building two more.

MacLeod, W.H. (Paper No. 544)
Some features of railway curving. 204-38. 26 diagrs., 3 tables. .
Relationship between locomotives and the track on curves.

Journal No. 245

THE PRESIDENT: SESSION 1955-56: Kenneth John Cook. 245-6. portrait
Biography

Kreissig, E. (Paper No. 545)
The Uerdingen railbus. 265-99. Disc.: 299-317.
Presented in London on 9 March 1955. Mr. A. Campbell, President, said he desired to apologise on behalf of Herr Kreissig for his inability to be present at the meeting to read his paper. Herr Kreissig was unfortunately sick and unable to travel. Members would doubtless wish hiin a speedy recovery from his illness and a message would be conveyed to Herr Kreissig giving him news of the meeting. Mr. Jury Koffman, a Member, who was well known to most present, for he had read papers before the Institution in past years and also contributed to the discussions from time to time, had stepped into the breach and had kindly offered to read the paper. The Institution was indebted to Mr. Koffman in more ways than one in connection with the paper, because the script arrived in German and Mr. Koffman translated it into English. Therefore, members could be assured that he was really familiar with the paper! Mr. J. Koffman then presented the paper entitled “The Uerdingen Railbus” by E. Kreissig. Also presented in Birmingham on 10 March 1955.
Cox (300) wondered whether the design had been able to get rid of the not very happy “clump, clump” sensation of the four-wheeled vehicle passing over rail joints. Anyone who had travelled in a four-wheeled vehicle had experience of that and it was not particularly restful. It was not possible to determine from the photographs whether there was any special feature in the springing to alleviate that difficulty. The combination of disc brakes, and light tare weight would seem to present an unfavourable situation, so far as track circuits were concerned, and it would be interesting to know whether any speciaI measures had been found necessary.

Fore, J.  (Paper No 546).
Footplate impressions. 317-21.
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting and Graduates’ Evening, Manchester Centre, held at the College of Technology on Tuesday 22 February 1955 at 6.30 p.m., the Chair being taken by Col. G. Rigby.
Footplate observations: Stanier Pacifics (both series:Princess Royal far more difficult to fire); Royal Scot (difficulties in maintaining boiler pressure when working lightly) and class 5: very impressive performance of these engines on the heavy express freight trains which link London with the North West and Scotland. While this class is not so prone to rolling and swaying at speed as the express passenger 4-6-0s, the knocking and vertical vibration usually associated with two-cylinder designs is very noticeable when the engines are becoming due for shop repairs. Their ability to work hard, however, does not seem to be prejudiced to any great extent by this roughness
Many drivers opened almost fully the LMS dual-valve type of regulator and then partially returned the handle towards the closed position. The extent of this reverse movement was generally sufficient to move the pilot valve back across the main valve but not to close the latter any appreciable amount. Hence, though the regulator handle was seen to be only about half-way over the quadrant, the valve itself was almost full open. Observations on locomotives fitted with steam-chest pressure gauges substantiated this. Moreover, there was little variation in the range of cut-offe used by different drivers working similar trains despite the apparent wide choice of regulator opening. The only British locomotives which were regularly worked with the regulator handle pulled right over were the ex-LNER “Pacifics” with the double-beat throttle valves where the actual opening of the valve was roughly proportional to the travel of the regulator handle and to ensure a good pressure in the steam chest, the handle must be kept well over.

Freitas, A. (Paper No. 547)
Axle bearings in rolling stock on Indian Railways - a review of design and performance. 321-48.
General Meeting of Bombay Branch of the Indian and Eastern Centre held in Bombay on 17 December 1954.

Journal No. 246

Jaekel, F.H. (Paper No. 548)
Operation and running maintenance of locomotives on the Nigerian Railway. 353-82. Disc.: 382-413. 18 illus., 4 diagrs., map
Extensive 3ft 6in gauge system with nearly 300 steam locomotives and a few diesel locomotives. The steam stock included Beyer Garratts and some Sentinel steam railcars introduced in 1955. Many steam locomotives are illustrated.
Discussion: Midlands Centre was held at the Midland Hotel, Derby on 26 April 1955 at 7 p.m., the Chair being taken by J.W. Eling Smith,
D.R. Carling, (398-9) said that, as an "old Gorton boy," he was very interested to see the references to the Beyer-Garratt engines, and he was particularly pleased to find that they were working successfully in near-desert country. Did they suffer from abnormal wear of the motion due to dust raised by the leading engine settling on the working parts of the rear one? He believed that that trouble had been very serious in complete desert country in the Sudan. From the mileages shown in the Paper under " Shopping Programme," it appeared they were doing quite well compared to other locomotives. He had himself taken a small part in the design and building, in 1930, of the two earlier 4-8-2 + 2-8-4T engines, also of 9¾-ton axle load for 45 lb./yd. rail: Presumably, as a result of relaying with heavier rails and bridge strengthening, these engines were no longer needed and had gone the way of all flesh'? Certainly the present environment of the surviving batches of the lighter 4-6-2 + 2-6-4T engines was very different from the Jebba. Minna section with its steep grades and sharp curves for which, in particular, they were designed in 1935.
With regard to the diesels, of course a waterless district provided an ideal case for such machines. How did the price of diesel oil compare with the price of coal in Nigeria? Had they considered the use of condensing steam locomotives such as the South Africans were trying, the price of coal there being, he believed, about 12 shillings a ton on the tender? He said, also, it had been his privilege to entertain at Rugby one or two of the Nigerian trainees, who had come to this country, and he had been very impressed with their knowledge and ability and especially their keenness, and he thought that in time they would do extremely well.
R.S. Hall (399-400) said that there were one or two present at that meeting who were directly concerned with the locomotives of the. Nigerian Railway, not only inspecting and testing complete vehicles before they left this country, but also large quantities of spare parts. and so they had made a special point of being present and heanng at first hand the experiences of a Nigerian Railway locomotive officer.
He noted that the Author referred to the preponderence of bar frames and he wondered if most of the "701" class locomotives had 9Y now been withdrawn from service; these were 4-8-2 type tender locomotives with plate frames, and he recollected being very closely associated with the first eight of this class which were 'built by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. Ltd. at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1925. He thought they had possibly been good engines in their day, but it seemed there were a few still in service as the Author referred to some front end trouble; presumably this was mechanical and did not relate to the front end of the boiler which was rather longer than usual, having tubes 17 ft. 3 in. in length.
Mr. Hall thanked the Author for his kind remarks concerning the Sentinel-Carnmell triple-unit rail cars which were completed last year and recently P.!lt into service. He was glad to hear that they were now running, as a number of unforeseen difficulties had had to be overcome and one matter was still under correspondence concern- the coal consumption which was reported to be heavier than expected. It was, perhaps, fortunate — therefore that each engine, (horizontal six-cylinder type, two per unit) was fully tested on dynamometer brakes and all such matters relating to temperatures, steam consumption etc. recorded, and in addition, evaporation tests were carried out on each boiler of the three-drum type. In passing, he noted the Author referred to a speed of 40 m.p.h. which might possibly be one reason for the increased coal consumption. Concerning spare parts for locomotives the question often arose whether these should be supplied ready to be put into position with- but any further fitting or machining. It is true that in many cases indents specified that certain machining allowances should be allowed so that the spare concerned could be finished in the Railway workshops to the exact dimensions required; such a requirement was customary when spare piston heads were ordered, the tapered hole being left smaller and the peripheral diameter left larger than draw- ing size. In many cases a drawing number only was referred to and in the case, say, of top and bottom slippers of crossheads it seemed logical to leave a small machining allowance; in general it seemed satisfactory to judge by a contractor's shop practice, that is, the amount of work left for the next section to carry out, say, machine shop to fitting shop, or fitting shop to erection shop, and he wondered whether any inconvenience was caused to the Nigerian Railway workshop people by adopting such an attitude when no specific instructions were included in the requisition for spare parts.
He was interested to hear more of the steam regulator troubles experienced when the first "River" class locomotives were built and put into service. The boilers were fitted with 6! in. diameter main steam pipes and "Lockyer"-type balanced regulator valves were fitted to match; this resulted in considerable slipping when starting, and this difficulty was overcome by fitting 5 in. diameter valves modified to suit the main steam pipe. He understood this cured the starting difficulties, but he wondered if the smaller size valve passed enough steam when the locomotives were pulling hard in rising gradients. The multiple-valve type of regulator such as that marketed by the Superheater Co. might be the answer to such a problem.
The interior of a demonstration van used for instructional purposes (Fig. 24), he understood, also included in its equipment cut-away examples of actual regulator valves, the "Lockyer" valve and the "Joco" valve, both made by the A.B.C. Coupler & Engineering Co. Ltd. who supplied the exhibits.
A.C.D. Malcolm (400) said he was interested in the "River" class locomotives as he had been personally concerned with the 72 built by the North British Locomotive Co. in Glasgow. In view of the exceptionally heavy amount of track curvature, he asked if any trouble had been experienced with the frames due to bolts working loose? Had there been any trouble with cracking of frames through the upper corners of the horns? Did the Author think that the fine finish of the machining on the bar frames had any effect in obviating this cracking?
He asked if any surge had been experienced in the tender tanks, because the number of baffles provided would indicate that, in the design of the tank, surge should be a minimum. Did the baffles in fact stop the surge, or was a certain amount of surge experienced, and did this result in the formation of cracks in the tank, or were the cracks attributed to having welded tanks?
Regarding the pressing-on of wheel centres; had there been any reason to stop engines because of slack wheel centres? The Author mentioned failure due to fractures. Could he give details of the motion parts which failed, other than the crosshead or valve spindle, and valve spindle guide?
On the question of staying round the firebox backplate , near the firehole in particular, a large number of Monel stays were introduced. He asked whether any further trouble had been experienced from broken stays since this alteration.
G.F. Parker (401) said it was particularly appropriate that they should have the pleasure of listening to this Paper here, because it was in Derby that the Author received a great deal of his railway training. It was a delightful Paper, and although it was a technical one, he thought so much local colour had been given in it, that the Nigerian Railway had really been shown as a living thing, and that had added to their enjoyment.
They frequently had in the Derby Locomotive Works trainees from the Nigerian Railway and he confirmed that they were excellent workers, learned very rapidly and were extremely popular with the men in the shops, all of which was a tribute to those young men. He referred to the intention of the Nigerian Railway that diesel- electric locomotives should be taken completely in charge by the Operating people. Speaking as. a CME Department man this seemed to be the "thin end of the wedge" and he felt bound to object to that arrangement.
The Nigerian Railway was very fortunate in being able to lay out such an elaborate amount of equipment for maintenance. Regard- ing cleaning arrangements, the Author mentioned Colosyl, Parawash and Trichlorethylene. Could he very briefly enlarge on what type of components went in what type of wash, or did some of them go through all three types?
A.B. Boath (401-ab) said he did not entirely agree with . implications of the Author's remarks regarding roller bearing- equipped engines being" hard on the feet," from the driver's point of view. He thought that whilst conceding that with a steam loco- motive having roller bearings on axles there was a tendency for slightly harder riding, it would appear that the remedy lay in improved suspension.
Under "Shopping Programme," "Wheel and Box Repair," the Author differentiated between the "River" class engines 101-179 and 180-206. What was the difference in the two classes, since the mileage examinations were different?
If it were possible to allocate a wheel lathe to one of the Motive Power Depots, examinations could, perhaps, be extended and it would cut out a number of "A" examinations between intermediate repairs.
Under "A" Wheel and Box Repair, types were shown to be interchanged. He assumed this actually referred to interchange of wheel sets.
It was suggested that a depot sending in an engine did not always get the same one back. That did not appear to be good practice.
Under "B" examination, fusible plugs were examined on a mileage basis. He would prefer to see this item done on a time basis.
Under "V" examination, the "701" class was shown for a "V" and "P" examination every 7,500 miles. That seemed particularly low, although there probably was a reason for it.
Regarding washing-out; he agreed with slow cooling down and slow raising of steam. Had the Author tried graduated controlled cooling down as used in this country?

Cook, K.J. (Presidential Address)
The steam locomotive: a machine of precision. 418-49+ 5 folding plates. 11 diagrs. 25 illus.
Zeiss optical equipment for frame alignment. Application of Churchward type big ends to Gresley Pacifics at Doncaster Works (Figs. 29 and 30). Realignment of frame and horns on WD 2-8-0s. Improved lubrication via felt pads to WD 2-8-0s.

Journal No. 247

Cockcroft, Sir J.
Atomic energy and propulsion [Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton Lecture]. 458-74.
General Meeting of the Institution held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London SW1, on Wednesday 29 February 1956 at 5.30 p.m.: Mr. K.J. Cook, President, in the Chair. The President said it was a very great pleasure and a great honour to introduce Sir John Cockcroft who was to deliver the Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton Lecture. The Institution had waited quite a long time for the Lecture, and it was very gratifying indeed to see such a good attendance. Obviously there was an attraction when the subject was one in which all engineers were vitally interested, particularly at the present time, The Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton Lecture should have taken place the previous year, but on account of pressure of business, Sir John Cockroft was unable to come then, but members would doubtless agree that the Institution had done well to wait until Sir John Cockroft could deliver the lecture in 1953. The Institution had also “won by a day” in that Sir John Cockcroft had been indisposed and it was the first time in the last few days that he could have addressed the Institution. The subject was one of intense interest-“Atomic Energy and Propulsion.” Atomic energy was a subject which was in everybody‘s mind, particularly in the scientific mind, at the present time, and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers were particularly interested in propulsion. It was doubtful whether at the present time a more fitting and suitable subject could have been dealt with on the occasion of the Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton Lecture.
The only significant direct exploitation of nuclear power in transport was in the Nautilus submarine, but in the USA consideration had been given to atomic-powered aircraft and locomotives, but the main problem was the weight of shielding. The main application to railways was likely to be from nuclear power stations through electric traction.

Smith, S.A.S. (Paper No. 549)
The British Railways Mechanised Iron Foundry, Horwich. 475-500. Disc.: 500-32.
General Meeting held at Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, SWl, on Wednesday, 5 October 1955, at 5.30 p.m.: Mr. K J. Cook, President, was in the Chair..
Author was Works Manager, Horwich Locomotive Works, British Railways. Of the 13 Workshops on British Railways where there are iron foundries only four include Mechanised or Continuous Casting Plants. The four are situated at Eastleigh, Cowlairs, St. Rollox and Horwich.
The earliest to be constructed was that at Eastleigh erected in 1932, and from it a variety of miscellaneous castings are produced. The Cowlairs Plant produces brake blocks and firebars, that at St. Rollox, baseplates, brake blocks and wagon axleboxes. The Mechanised Plant at Horwich is by far the larger and in it are produced principally chairs, baseplates and all types of brake blocks.
There are several factors which under present conditions direct attention to the possibilities of Continuous Casting Plants as opposed to the Loose Pattern and Plate Moulding practices.
(1) That the labour need not have had any previous experience.
(2) For a given floor area much greater outputs can be obtained by mechanised plants than from non-mechanised plants.
(3) Home Office Regulations regarding foundries can be more easily and effectively met with a high degree of mechanisation.
Discussion: E.S. Cox (503-4)

Bingham, G.S. (Paper No. 550)
Railway breakdown organisation in use on the London Transport system. 533-65. Disc.: 566-93. 36 figs.
General Meeting of the Institution held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, SW1, on Wednesday 16 November 1955 at 5.30 p.m: K.J. Cook, President, was in the Chair.
The organisation consisted of three breakdown engineers, three assistant breakdown engineers and nine breakdown gangs, the normal complement of each gang being a chargehand and five to seven men. These gangs were located at Neasden, Ealing Common and Hainault Depots, and they each worked on a three-shift roster covering the 24 hours. These depots were selected to provide the best possible cover over the London Transport area. Short abstract appeared in Loco Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1955, 61, 215: Paper reviewed the organisation and equipment used ir. dealing with breakdowns on the railways of London Transport. It dealt with the area of responsibility, the duties of the Report Centre concerned with requests for assistance from breakdown gangs, and described the breakdown lorries and the radio-communication with which each heavy road vehicle is fitted. Details were given of the wide variety of tools and equipment used, with special reference to certain items which were considered to be of particular interest. The methods of dealing with. flatted wheels, defective gears and broken axles were descnbed in detail. Particulars also given of the recruitment of staff and the method of operation at an incident, together with .a review of the responsibiliies of the Breakdown Engineer, especially in relation to other services.

Journal No. 248

Wordsworth, C. (Paper No. 551)
Locomotives for heavy industry. 609-36. Disc.: 636-72.
Included traditional steam, geared steam and diesel locomotives used by the Steel Company of Wales.Until 1934 the Company had used small 0-4-0STs with 14 x 22in cylinders and weighing 28 to 30 tons. Figure 7 shows two of these (Nos 208 and 305), but in 1934 a very large 0-4-0ST with external valve gear, weighing 44 tons was obtained. They had a wheelbase of only 6ft 6in and tended to pitch badly on anything other than excellent track. In 1941 four more of this type were obtained, but with inside Stephenson valve gear as the Walschaerts valve gear was prone to damage on slag heaps. In 1948 it was decided to acquire modern large 0-6-0STs with external cyclinders and valve gear. These had 18 x 26in cylinders..

James. C.E. (Paper No. 552)
Simplified control of a main line diesel electric locomotive. 673-93. Disc.: 693-700.
Experience gained at Brush Traction: aim was to present driver with vital information in a simple manner.