Steam Locomotive Construction and Maintenance/Preface
PREFACE
This book describes in an elementary manner some of the processes which the principal parts of a locomotive undergo during construction, and may be considered as a companion volume to the primer on The Steam Railway Locomotive in this series.
The subjects of foundry practice and general machine shop processes being dealt with in other primers, they are here considered briefly and only in their special relationship to locomotive construction. Naturally, no attempt can be made to deal exhaustively with machinery and processes in so small a book, and those readers who wish for a more detailed treatment of the subject may be referred to The Construction of the Modern Locomotive, by George Hughes, M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., which, though not of very recent date, remains the only standard work on British locomotive workshop practice, and contains a mass of valuable information.
At the request of the publishers a chapter has been added on the maintenance of the locomotive in service, which gives, also in an elementary form, a short account of the wear and tear of some of the more important parts, and some idea of the repairs required.
The thanks of the author are due to Mr. G. J. Churchward, M.Inst.C.E., Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, and to the various manufacturers of special machine tools for the photographic illustrations. For a few other illustrations, including the method of erecting the locomotive cylinders and frames, the author is indebted to the kindness of The Locomotive Publishing Co., Ltd.
Nottingham,
December, 1920.