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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 1, 1928)

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The sixth edition of “Locomotive Management from Cleaning to Driving” is to hand from the publishers, “The London Engineer,” 33 Tothill Street, Westminster, London, S.W1., and is a publication which deserves the attention of everyone interested in any way in steam locomotion. It is profusely illustrated, and is prepared in such a way that it will serve its primary purpose admirably, i.e., to supply valuable information to the man on the footplate and to the candidate for such a position.

The various duties connected with the running of a locomotive are set out in an easily read and practical manner. The method adopted, that of giving a progressive description of the operation and uses of the various parts of the boiler, engine, tender, brakes, etc., should be very useful to the fireman or acting-driver in obtaining information bearing upon his work that may not otherwise be so easily obtainable. The chapters on firing, feed waters, heating and steam boiler construction and detail, engine materials and method of construction, valve setting and valve events, compound engines, super-heaters, brakes, engine failures and breakdowns, are set out in such a way that they should prove of service in the everyday work of the locomotive driver or fireman, while at the same time giving a sufficiently comprehensive description of technical details to enable a complete mastery of theory to be obtained.

The new edition contains new material bearing on the most recent developments in superheating practice. The many illustrations give particulars of such modern developments as the Kitson Still locomotive and the articulated locomotives recently brought into service for main line operation on the Home railways. This last item should prove particularly interesting to New Zealand locomotive men in view of the expected arrival of some articulated locomotives for our own system.

In the preface of the present edition it is pointed out that modern tendencies towards higher steam pressures and temperatures have increased the necessity for positive methods of lubrication, and that, therefore, particulars of the latest types of mechanical and hydro-static lubricators have been included.

Altogether, the publication, the work of James T. Hodgoson, M.I.Mech.E., and the late John Williams (formerly Locomotive Inspector, Great Central Railway), is a thoroughly satisfying one, and its published price, 5/- nett, places it within the reach of all.

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