Читать книгу Locomotive Engine Running and Management онлайн

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The system in vogue in most of our States, especially in the West, of taking on men for firemen who have received no previous mechanical training, leaves a wide field open for engineering instruction. Such men can not spend too much time watching the operations going on in repair-shops; every detail of round-house work should be closely observed; the various parts of the great machine they are learning to manage should be studied in detail. No operation of repairs is too trifling to receive strict attention. Where the machinists are examining piston-packing, facing valves, reducing rod-brasses, or lining down wedges, the ambitious novice will, by close watching of the work, obtain knowledge of the most useful kind. Looking on will not teach him how to do the work, but interesting himself in the procedure is a long step in the direction of learning. Repairing of pumps and injectors is interesting work, full of instructive points which may prove invaluable on the road. The rough work performed by the men who change truck-wheels, put new brasses in oil-boxes, and replace broken springs, is worthy of close attention; for it is just such work that enginemen are most likely to be called upon to perform on the road in cases of accident. To obtain a thorough insight into the working of the locomotive, no detail of its construction is too trifling for attention. The unison of the aggregate machine depends upon the harmonious adjustment of the various parts; and, unless a man understands the connection of the details, he is never likely to become skillful in detecting derangements.