General Repair - 1930's LMS Railway Documentary.

JCitron

Trainzing since 12-2003
http://youtu.be/HzybtS56l6A

A film that follows the progress of a Jubilee class locomotive 5605 Cyprus as it passes through the different repair stages.

What's interesting is the documentation that follows the repair process is all done manually with paper and pencil. There are no computers, scanners, anywhere!

Also absent are robots and air drivers to unscrew then reassembled later, the different bolts of the locomotive as it's disassembled for the major repairs then put back together.

I couldn't imagine the "current" generation of workers doing something like this.

This is a lot of hard work.

John
 
I've watched a similar video on the old MKT Historical Society Website (I think that was it...can't remember exactly) that showed the rebuilding of an H4-a class 4-6-2 No. 408 after a head-on cornfield meet in 1945. it was all photos taken by a man who worked in the shop at the time. really interesting: from the shot taken of the engine when it entered, you'd never have thought it would have run again!
 
virtual steam locos

http://youtu.be/HzybtS56l6A

A film that follows the progress of a Jubilee class locomotive 5605 Cyprus as it passes through the different repair stages.

What's interesting is the documentation that follows the repair process is all done manually with paper and pencil. There are no computers, scanners, anywhere!

Also absent are robots and air drivers to unscrew then reassembled later, the different bolts of the locomotive as it's disassembled for the major repairs then put back together.

I couldn't imagine the "current" generation of workers doing something like this.

This is a lot of hard work.

John

i driving the virtual locos but not so fond of being in a real steam loco cab, even as a visitior. the guys who drive them are also amazing.
 
What a interesting look at how things were done in a bygone era. Without fancy computers and other time-saving gadgets, they efficiently and quickly rebuilt one of the giant engines of the day, without and fuss or wasted motion.

I wonder what their rate of industrial accidents and related medical problems were. Personal safety equipment seemed rather conspicuous by its absence or are we coddled to the point where we relay too much on external safeguards and don't use any common sense? No one appeared to have a limp or having missing fingers or have any other disability but that could just be a case of selective staffing for the film.

Still, an amazing display of engineering design and mechanical skill.
 
Thats a facinating insight into locomotive repair, at least we know how they did it in the 1920's and 1930's. Whats really, really sad, is that a lot of those practices are now outlawed by the 'Safety Taliban" (as someone nicknamed them). And with the rise of multiple units, the work has changed dramatically... Talking of which Southern (my local TOC) are overhauling all their 'electrostar' carriages and this is what it looks like inside:
http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/train-refurbishment/

Unlike the LMS, everything is now taken "in house" in depots, this being a depot in London, known as "Selhurst depot", which I believe keeps costs down and time to service down.
 
I liked the guy @ 09:34 that lights his buddy's smoke with a glowing rivet :hehe: We did that kind of thing years ago in the shop before OSHA was so bad!
Great Vid, John - thanks for posting it!

Mike
 
I liked the guy @ 09:34 that lights his buddy's smoke with a glowing rivet :hehe: We did that kind of thing years ago in the shop before OSHA was so bad!
Great Vid, John - thanks for posting it!

Smoking was legal back then, only recently has smoking been outlawed on premises, in fact, you can't legally smoke on an open station platform, that has no shelters or buildings on it at all. That was passed in 2006. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/28/contents and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke-free_law_(England)
 
Smoking was legal back then, only recently has smoking been outlawed on premises, in fact, you can't legally smoke on an open station platform, that has no shelters or buildings on it at all. That was passed in 2006. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/28/contents and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke-free_law_(England)

I still smoke - but with the knowledge we have today and the common opinion of it, I won't smoke on a platform unless I'm about 25ft from people and I won't smoke at all in a line or groups (such as at a casino cage)... If more people had this courtesy there wouldn't need to be all the laws:cool:
 
Common courtesy like common sense is sadly not very common.

Did you also notice the general lack of protective clothing,not to mention eye protection? Some of them appeared to be wearing regular street clothes. Ouch
 
This was exactly my thought watching this video and the one about building a steam locomotive. Sparks of red hot molten metal flying everywhere and no protective clothing to speak of anywhere in sight. And what about using people as counterweight when transporting a huge metal plate in the other video, or poking under a 100 ton steampress while it's operating. :hehe:

All in all great and wondefull historic movies though. :cool:

Greetings from cloudy Amsterdam,

Jan
 
This was exactly my thought watching this video and the one about building a steam locomotive. Sparks of red hot molten metal flying everywhere and no protective clothing to speak of anywhere in sight. And what about using people as counterweight when transporting a huge metal plate in the other video, or poking under a 100 ton steampress while it's operating. :hehe:

All in all great and wondefull historic movies though. :cool:

Greetings from cloudy Amsterdam,

Jan

Ummm... we still work pretty much like that - Just tryin to get the job done. Same way my grand dad did it. As long as you've got some common sense - wear denim jeans (no holes in the knees etc) and don't shoot sparks at your face without protection, you're good :) It goes without saying, of course, that you shouldn't be reckless with your body, but you sure don't need a full leather suit or some rediculous full helmet to go to work! Any guy that needs all that gear can stay clear from me and my crew cause they're probably gonna be so cumbersome they'll cause an accident!! OSHA's regs make sense some of the time, but.......
 
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