WASTE AT ADDINGTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13983, 12 February 1909, Page 7

WASTE AT ADDINGTON.

Asked for an instance of waste of material at Addington, a practical man who has had practical experience in the railway workshops; at both Hillside and Addington said that last year the Addington shops turned out the first locomotive of a new pattern. The plans were supplied from the head office in Wellington. Three sets of brake gear had to be manufactured at a cost of about £60 each time, because the plans were faulty. The first set fouled the spring gear; the second set was too weak. At the third attempt a satisfactory design was evolved. When the boiler was put down on the frame the steampipes could not be got in because of their design, and a new lot of pipes had to be made. Again the fault lay with the designers. The first locomotive took five months to build, but with the perfected design evolved by a process of costly experiment it was now possible to build one in less than half the time. In accordance vw-h the designs in another drawing, the compensating beam, brackets were duly riveted on four engines. Then it was discovered that the trailing wheels could not be got on without removing the brackets, which were therefore cut away, and bored for bolts. A second set of piston valves had to be made for one engine, owing to bad designing, and in another case an order had come down for the placing of an extra bracket on the boiler of a completed engine, because it had been discovered to be unsafe. The men mentioned many other bits of work that, in their own words, " would make a decent engineering shop feel sick."