41

D.—2a

When the engine has left the engine-shed it is under the control of the Traffic Department, in that the enginemen must carry out any movements, shunting or marshalling, required of the train they are booked to run —i.e., running of the train after departure from the starting-station is controlled by the Traffic Branch, and the enginemen are required to carry out all necessary shunting as directed by the train staff. Reporting of Delays to Trains through Engine Trouble. Engine-drivers are required to report any unusual circumstance by reason of which serious delay to a train is caused, and all such causes of delays due to engine failure or engine trouble are investigated by the locomotive officers concerned. Should such delays or engine trouble be found to be attributable to the enginemen, a punishment is inflicted upon those concerned, or, if they are due to faulty construction of the engine, steps are taken to prevent a repetition of such failure. Locomotive Foremen make periodical visits to the various outstations under their control to investigate the running. Delays to trains owing to engine failures are not numerous, and trains keep good time, but it must be borne in mind that their running-time is easy, and that, generally speaking, they are lightly loaded. Road Foremen, who are under the supervision of the Locomotive Foremen, periodically travel on various engines with a view to instructing the enginemen on the more efficient handling of locomotives, economical use of fuel and stores, and the handling and braking of trains and methods to be adopted in dealing with various breakdowns. Hours of Duty of Enginemen. As far as practicable the work of all enginemen is arranged on an eight-hour-day basis, with a maximum of twelve hours for any one shift. In the event of any delay occurring to cause the hours of any shift to exceed twelve the driver must advise his Locomotive Foreman by wire so that arrangements may be made to relieve such enginemen of the putting-away of their engines on arrival at the home station, or to send out a relieving set of men to ensure that the working of the excessively long hours is reduced to a minimum. On an examination of the drivers' tickets it is observed that numerous occasions occur of engine-drivers filling up their day in washing out, cleaning of engines, &c., and, having regard to the rate of wages applicable to engine-drivers, this appears to us as being an expensive matter. It is quite obvious that drivers are not worked to the best possible advantage, and a revision of the time-table is necessary. Working of Engines. In practice the majority of the engines are not restricted to a particular class of train, either passenger or goods, and there is considerable variation in the nature of train-running by locomotives from day to day. In a number of cases enginemen change locomotives at crossing-stations on the road in order to avoid long hours on duty. Where such changing-over occurs endeavour is made to work engines back to their home station by other trains to permit of the same cleaning and repair staff dealing with engines stationed at their own depot. Running-repairs at Locomotive Depots. At the conclusion of each day's run the engine-driver is required to enter in the repair-book, kept at the locomotive running-shed, any matters concerning the condition of the engine that need attention, and the running-shed repairs staff carry out all repairs booked in this register before the engine is again sent in to service. fi| Running-repairs, such as adjusting brasses, attending to hot bearings, workingpiston and valve-rings, maintenance of packings and joints, attention to boilertubes and superheaters, replacing broken springs, worn brake-blocks, brick arches, and cleaning boiler-tubes are undertaken at the various running-slieds.