Building of a Locomotive 127 



paint shop and here, alas, she secures far 

 different treatment to her friends employed 

 on passenger trains a most unfair pro- 

 ceeding. 



What I have recorded reads as if we saw 

 all this locomotive building accomplished in 

 a single day, really, of course, it would be 

 spread over weeks, though on two occasions, 

 on the North-Western and on the Great 

 Eastern, a six-coupled goods engine, which 

 is the simplest kind to build, was completed 

 in a working day. 



" What is the average life of an engine? ' 

 is a question that has been asked very fre- 

 quently. Strangely enough the reply would 

 be different on most of our railways. So 

 much depends upon the chief mechanical 

 engineer. And of course a great deal 

 depends upon the class of engine. I know 

 many classes which have been rebuilt two 

 and even three times. But the modern ten- 

 dency is not to rebuild more than once; 

 sometimes not even once. 



In the last year of the War a whole class 

 of engine was lined up in the derelict yard 



