were also only five cases of broken bolster suspension shackles and a few broken suspension springs on the pre-war carriages. In previous years there were on the average about three broken bolster suspension shackles per month and a good number of broken suspension springs. These improvements have been due to the alteration of the suspension shackles to a larger diameter and the conversion of the back plates of the suspension springs from the solid eye type to the loose washer type as stated in the 1952/53 annual report.
32. Locomotives. The road numbers of the three latest locomotives are 53, 54 and 55.
These three locomotives are more powerful than the 51 and 52 previously built by the same company. The rated input to the generator of the first two is 1125 H.P. while the rated input of the last three is 1310 H.P. This increase in horse-power has been found to be beneficial because of the increase in passenger traffic. Trains of twelve to thirteen coaches were required to handle peak passenger traffic, while in previous years trains of eleven carriages were sufficient.
Since the steam locomotives were rarely used, seven of the twelve Austerity locomotives were sold and broken up as scrap. Five still remain, but only three (Nos. 23, 26 and 29) are kept in working order and two are retained for the provision of spares.
Driving and maintenance crews have acquired a good knowledge of i the new locomotives. They are now able to locate and rectify defects: quickly a very valuable consideration in the keeping of the diesels in service.
The availability factor of the locomotives for the year was 97.9%, a very high operating factor reflecting great credit on the maintenance teams. Most of the maintenance examinations were done in between runs or at night.
Since diesel locomotives require less maintenance than steam locomotives the workshop staff was reduced according to requirements. At the beginning of the financial year, the locomotive section had a staff of 320 and at the end of the financial year there were only 261 or a reduction of 59 members. Nevertheless, the present size of work- shop staff was still able to handle a fair amount of work for other Government Departments.
The cost of maintenance of the diesel electric went up from $0.159 to $0.232 per km. or an increase of 7.3 cents per km. due chiefly to the increase in labour costs. In the early part of the year, the locomotive repair shops had redundant labour on account of dieselization and the
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