$301,414.88 for conversion of railway buildings at Luen Wan Street, improvement of station latrines, reprovisioning of staff quarters and a waiting shelter at Sheung Shui Station.
34. The book value of realizations under the heading of property abandoned totalled $657,357.32 which included $653,727.07 for four old locomotives, one railway bus and one railway lorry. The total book value of capital assets rose from $50,899,695.07 to $51,482,893.05 an increase of $583,197.98.
35. An examination of the railway's accounting system was under- taken, but had not been completed by the end of the financial year. It is hoped that this review will enable a better appreciation to be made of the operating economics of the railway, and that its result will be included in the 1961-62 report. Preliminary indications are that the profitability of the railway is much less than is shown by the existing system of accountancy. The accounts for the year, together with a summary of financial results for the past three years, are at Appendices I to V.
MECHANICAL WORKSHOPS
36. Locomotives. All locomotives functioned well with the exception of locomotive No. 53 which suffered main generator failure due to rather unusual circumstances. It started with the breakage of a wire band of the auxiliary generator which was located so close to the blower that some parts of the broken wires were drawn into the main generator by suction of the blower. In order to remove the broken wires the main generator had to be dismantled, thus causing the withdrawal of locomo- tive No. 53 from service for a considerable length of time.
37. During the year twenty two 5,000 mile inspections, seventeen 10,000 mile inspections, six 30,000 mile inspections and three 240,000 mile inspections were performed on the five diesel-electric locomotives. The wheels of locomotive No. 52 were renewed and the tyres on the wheels of locomotive No. 54 were turned. Locomotives Nos. 51, 52, 53 and 55 were repainted.
38. The availability factor of the diesel-electric locomotives for the year was 83.81% which is 7.31% lower than the previous year. This drop was the result of the generator failure of locomotive No. 53 and the three 240,000 mile inspections causing locomotives to be withdrawn from service for lengthy periods.
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