“HOSPITAL” FOR TRAINS

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 November 1928, Page 2

“HOSPITAL” FOR TRAINS

underground. At Acton Town, London, there is a huge and busy “hospital” whose giant patients are the cars and trailers that carry millions of Londoners on the underground railway. Motor-cars after every 60,000 miles, and trailer cars 75,000 miles, are sent to the Acton works to be thoroughly tested, cleaned, arid repaired. Between visits to thri overhaul Works, the trailer cars travel a distance equal to three times round the world. In the “hospital” 845 men and 35 women are engaged on keeping the cars fit. Thirty complete cars pass through their hands every week, each car being entirely dismantled and reassembled. When a car arrives’at the works, it is run beneath a 30-ton crane, which lifts the body of the car from thq bogie. The body is mounted bn accommodation bogies, which enable work to be carried out beneath it. All seat cushions and upholstery are removed and placed on a moving belt, where they are automatically cleaned and teased, while a row of men swiftly repaii* each seat as it slowly passes before them. Meanwhile the body is drawn into a. long tunnel-shaped enclosure, where every particle of dust and dirt is blown away. Underneath the car, between the tracks, a powerful air draught plays, while strong compressed air jets shoot at the body from both sides. A cyclone separator collects the dust. '

If the car body needs structural repairs, it is passed to the wood shop. In this case it will require touching up and varnishing in the paint shop, where the cars ruri on three tracks. Throughout the process of retouching, the cars are continuously moving at a speed of three inches a minute. A •team of painters and varnishers stand beside the car, each with his own section to cover. Meanwhile the interior of the body has been thoroughly reconditioned. Besides the cleaned upholstery, floors, doors, and even door-handles are inspected and replaced where necessary. The bogie of the car has been similarly treated. Travelling on conveyers tha,t pass between rows of work-

men at the rate of seven inches a minute, the bogies are dismantled and repaired. The armatures are placed oil a special transporter Which slowly moves them from stage to stage of their repair. All the brake gear is passed in the same way through a washing plant, and then distributed to its various sections. The truck frames pass to one department, axleboxes to another, and wheels and axles to a third; in the last, tyres, axles, and gear wheels are renewed where necessary. Flaws in wheels detected by passing them over a magnetic testing device. When everp part of the bogie down to the last nut and, bolt has. been inspected and passed, the parts are assembled on a moving conveyor. The bogie is then ready to receive the body. The great feature of the overhaul is the system of non-stop operations. In nearly all departments the parts to be inspected are constantly moving. Each car travels past the painters, upholsters, cleaners, carpenters and mechanics, completing its journey through the entire work in six days.