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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 5 (September 1, 1933)

Modern Magic

page 9

Modern Magic

Here is a happy passenger—enjoying safety, comfort and economy—gazing at some pleasant scenes of New Zealand, one of the world's best countries. This article gives some of the reasons why the people can use their own railways in full confidence that all will be well with them.

A Story is told of a proud inventor who, after years of patient, intelligent toil, showed a working model of a steam engine to King Richard III. of England. The monarch suspected the “black art” of the devil and he took a short way with that invention. He called in a member of his executioners staff who swung a sledgehammer on the engine and silenced its hissing. Marvellous feats, attributed to Satan and his satellites in the Dark Ages, would be very ordinary affairs in contrast with the modern miracles of practical science.

Any New Zealander who feels that his bump of self-esteem is exceptionally large is advised to visit the big Railway Workshops in the Hutt Valley. Here, if he has an open mind, he will come fairly to the belief that he is a speck in a big field of achievement. In those huge buildings are marshalled in orderly array machines and other equipment showing the whole range of human inventiveness—man's mastery of mysterious forces.

Here Vulcan is mechanised, and he has a prowess beyond the exploits told in ancient mythology. Here Science is King, and his ministers are system and co-ordination. Muddle is in perpetual exile, and Waste is an outlaw. Saving time, saving labour, saving material—that is the impression which is fixed on the spectator in the various sections of the farspread plant. A township has grown around that immense enterprise which employs about 1,200 breadwinners.

A Drama of Locomotives.

One is looking at a locomotive on a siding in one of the shops. Suddenly a wizard touches a switch which introduces a geni known as Mangahao Power. Presto! The whole upper part of the engine has a quick ascent; it is a lift by a 100-ton electric crane. The wheel base remains behind. It is such a swift, silent separation that it suggests the kind of surprise a person would have if he saw a man's body jump up, leaving the legs behind.

Another magic touch—and away speeds that engine's “torso” on an electric traverser which carries it to renovators who are ready to restore its youth.

Just when this dismemberment was occurring, an engine, fresh from hospital treatment, was chuckling near the scene of operations. This fellow, with a clean sheet of fitness, was fussing to be away on the open lines, to build up another big record of thousands of miles. Presently he would weigh out—the final stage—near the exit. In this process the weight on each wheel would be tested and correctly adjusted. Then he would steam proudly past two travel-stained mates awaiting their turn for overhauls. Each would go in on a time schedule carefully planned for quick despatch.

What is happening now to the patient which was taken to pieces? The wheels and all other working parts, now coated with grease and grime, are ready for their bath—a scalding for two hours in a vat which is 30ft. long, 6ft. wide and 6ft. deep. When they emerge they will be thoroughly clean. The top structure of the engine will have appropriate treatment elsewhere.

A Dazzling Jewel.

No queen of ancient or modern romance ever had a more beautiful jewel than that cube of dazzling iron which has just been drawn from an oil-fired furnace and placed on an anvil for the buffets of a two-ton hammer worked by Mr. Mangahao Power. What poor things the world's best rubies and diamonds would look beside that living jewel when it leaves its terrible nest! A little while ago it was a parcel of cold scrap, 1 ½ cwt. —and now it is at a dripping heat—2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

The electric hammer is throbbing aloft in impatience for its task. Thump! Thump! Thump! After three blows it is pausing again, trembling with eagerness to batter that hot nugget, which will do service as a buffer on a carriage or truck.

Gas Conquers Iron.

That busy hammer is getting the iron ready for a gas-cutter which will give the metal its page 10 desired shape. An oxy-acetylene flame at a temperature of 6,000 degrees F., will play along a chalk line, and will have its way with an ease that startles the layman. The expert says it is a chemical action. The oxygen combines with the iron and forms an oxide which is dispersed as gas. It is sublime—and it is ridiculous—well, ridiculous in the sense that the gadget looks so flimsy for such stupendous success. One feels almost sorry for the tough iron when it is so easily scolloped. The writer had a thought—“a piece of scientific impudence”—but it is wonderfully efficient.

Electrical Surgery.

Here is a broken rod. In other days the pieces would have been “scrap,” but they have a better fate to-day. The broken ends are pushed together in the right alignment, a lever is pulled and Mr. Mangahao Power is again on active service. What a glow comes into that fracture! The red heat turns to white, 2,200 degrees, and the metal becomes as butter. The two pieces have become one in a few moments. Fragments have turned into a new rod.

Further on one sees more elaborate plastic surgery, with electric current as the operator. Worn metal is saved from the scrap-heap by the electric welding process which does some clever “patching” or “grafting.” It is a kind of magic plaster. This same current is also a cutter and a borer.

In another place hydraulic power performs surgical service. Old fish-plates here receive a new lease of life. They are warmed up to 1,800 degrees in an oil-fired furnace, and then go to press—a hydraulic squeeze of 1,500lbs. to the square inch.