Читать книгу Locomotive Engine Running and Management - Angus Sinclair - Страница 44

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Between the time of an engine’s return from one trip and its preparation for another, a thorough examination of all the machinery and running-gear should be made while the engine is standing over a pit. Monkey-wrench in one hand, and a torch in the other if necessary, the engineer ought to enter the pit at the head of the engine, and make the inspection systematically. The engine-truck, with all its connections, comes in for the first scrutiny. Now is the time to guard against the loss of bolts or screws, which leads to the loss of oil-box cellars on the road. This is also the proper time to examine the condition of the oil-box packing. The engineers of my acquaintance who are most successful in getting trains over the road on time, attend to the packing of the truck-boxes themselves. Nothing is more annoying on the road than hot boxes. They are a fruitful source of delay and danger, and nothing is better calculated to prevent such troubles than good packing and clear oil-holes. The shop-men who are kept for attending to this work are sometimes careless. They can hardly be expected to feel so strongly impressed with the importance of having boxes well packed as the engineer, who will be blamed for any delay. He should, therefore, know from personal inspection that the work is properly done.

When the engineer is satisfied that the truck, pilot-braces, center-castings, and all their connections, are in proper condition, he passes on to the motion. His trained eye scans every bolt, nut, and key in search of defects. The eccentrics are examined, to see that set screws and keys are all tight. Men who have wrestled over the setting of eccentrics on the road are not likely to forget this part. Eccentric-straps are another point of solicitude. A broken eccentric-strap is a very common cause of break-down, and these straps very seldom break through weakness or defect of the casting. In nearly all cases the break occurs through loss of bolts, or on account of oil-passages getting stopped up. The links are carefully gone over, then the wedges and pedestal braces come in for an examination which brings the assurance that no bolts are missing, or wedge-bolts loose. Passing along, the careful engineer finds many points that claim his attention; and, when he gets through, he feels comfortably certain that no trouble from that part of the engine will be experienced during the coming trip. The runners who do not follow this practice are not aware of how much there is to be seen under a locomotive when the examination is undertaken in a comprehensive manner.