Even if there were no locomotives nor carriages
made or repaired, there would still be required
a great variety of stores, to serve the various
stations, signal-houses, sidings, and points.

Could we pick a locomotive to pieces with
the same facility as that with which a celebrated
personage analysed a pair of bellows, we should
find the separate parts incredibly numerous.
In theory, the work to arrange for is a simple
one; to light a fire, to make the water boil,
to convert the water into steam, to make
the steam drive two pistons to and fro in
two horizontal cylinders, and to make these
pistons turn the wheels of the locomotive—
this is all. But what an all it is in practice!
Besides the sheet iron and the larger castings
and the brass and copper tubes, the minor
knick-knacks almost defy counting; and yet
they must be counted, and a store of every one
of them kept on hand, ready at a moment's
notice. Everything is so nicely adjusted and
graduated, that a nut or a screw for one
locomotive would exactly fit the corresponding spot
in any other; they are not merely as like as
two peas, but much more so. Crank axles and
straight axles, axle-boxes and box leathers,
bolts and nuts of a dozen kinds and more than
a dozen sizes, buffer blocks and buffer cylinders,
buffer plates and buffer rods, gun-metal castings
of small size but great variety, blow-off cocks
and glass gauge cocks, connecting-rods and
brasses, eccentrics and funnels, fire bars, guard
rails, piston rings, springs for buffers and springs
for pistons, tires and tire-bars, union joints
and universal joints—all are wanted, all are
kept in store, and all are arranged and labelled
in such way that everything can be found
quickly when required.

As with the locomotive-makers and menders,
so with those whose skill and labour are applied
to carriages and waggons; they must send to
the storehouse for the materials whereon to
work. All sorts of things meet the eye in such
variety as to bewilder one who sees them for
the first time. Nearly twenty different species
of timber beginning with alder, and going
down to willow—are used in the various vehicles;
and, besides these, papier-mâché, wonderfully
tough sheets of thick smooth millboard, is used
for the panels of the best carriages. The main
structure and the adornments of the carriages
alike depend on materials obtained from the
storehouse. The paint and oil and varnish for
the wood and iron work; the brass handles and
the white beading; the windows and the window-
straps; the cloth and leather for cushions; the
horsehair, coach lace, hat straps, umbrella nets,
carpeting or rugs for tip-top carriages; the
inner lamps for the comfort ot the passengers,
and the outer lamps for the guidance of the
enginemen; the name plates and number plates
for each carriage and compartment—all are here.
And then, among the rougher things, the
tarpaulins or sheets for covering goods waggons
are quite amazing in number, and must be kept
in store to replace those which are worn out.
As for the station odds and ends, we neither
know where they begin nor where they end. The
shelves around and about the storehouse are
crowded with well—all sorts of things: we cannot
find a better designation; some for the booking-office,
some for the station-master's office,
some for the waiting-rooms, some for the lamp-room,
some for the arrival and departure platforms,
some for the signal apparatus, some for the
outside of the station; and all these things must
be forthcoming when called for, upon due requisition
sent to one or other of the storekeepers.

Then, to enable the workmen to make and
repair locomotives, to make and repair carriages
and waggons, and to do various kinds of
mechanical handicraft work needful for the daily
service of a long line of rail, almost every kind
of tool and implement that we have ever heard
of, for working in metal and wood, is kept in
store. Letter A supplies us with adzes, anvils,
ash-sticks, augers, awls, and axes; letter B
with barrows, baskets, beam scales, beetles,
bellows, belts, benches, bits, blocks, blowpipes,
boring bars, boring bits, boxes, braces, branding
irons, brushes, buckets, and bung borers; letter
C with callipers, cans, candlesticks, cant bars,
capstans,, carboys, hand carts, casks, chests,
chisels, chisel rods, combs (graining), compasses,
crabs, cramps, cranes, crowbars, crucibles. If
the reader had patience for more, there is plenty
more for him, to the end of the alphabet. Even
a bradawl seems an official affair, when it has
the initials of a great company stamped on it.

Let not any one run away with the idea that
the grease department at these great depôts
must be insignificant as well as dirty; and
that a few cans-full or boxes-full once now and
then will suffice. When on a journey, and stopping
at one of the larger stations, those passengers
who do not care to go into the refreshment-room
have their attention riveted on the man with
the yellow ointment (very like pine-apple ice
cream). He gropes along by the side of the
train, lifts up certain covers above the axles of
the wheels, and with a glance sees whether
the axle has sufficient lubricating food to last
to the next principal station. If the axle is
getting hungry, he digs a wooden knife into
his grease-box, takes up a tempting lump of
cream, puts it into the axle-box, shuts down
the cover, and trots on to the next pair of
wheels. It would be equally a mistake to suppose
that this ointment is coarse in quality or small in
quantity. The object in its use is to lubricate
the rubbing surfaces of axles, in order to bring
down friction to a minimum; and a very nice
adjustment of ingredients is necessary to ensure
that the substance shall produce the desired
result without leaving any grit, and without being
too hard in cold weather or too soft in warm.
If we choose to touch a little of this ointment,
we shall find that it is beautifully smooth and
uniform. It was only after many experiments
that the right proportions of ingredients—tallow,
palm oil, soap, soda, resin, water, and possibly
one or two others—were determined. Some of
the companies buy their grease ready made;
but the giants make their own in huge coppers.