Special Facilities Requirement for Mine Electric Locomotive

1.Mine Electric Locomotive requires special facilities for storage and maintenance.

The basic design of these Mine Electric Locomotive facilities as changed little in the last 100 or more years and, in many cases, the original sites and buildings are still in daily use.  Sometimes, these old layouts have made adapting to modern maintenance systems very difficult.

The layout of a maintenance facility or depot will consist of a storage yard, a car cleaning area, an inspection and light maintenance shed, a heavy maintenance shop and, possibly, a separate locomotive shop or at least an area for locomotives if EMUs are the main service providers.
Mine Electric Locomotives are stabled in depots or sidings when not in use and they need to be cleaned and serviced. Cleaning means a regular exterior water wash and interior sweeping and dusting or vacuuming. At longer intervals, seating upholstery and carpets must be shampooed. Exterior washing is usually means a drive through washing machine which will wash the sides and, perhaps, the roof. Suitable facilities must be provided in the stabling areas where trains are stored. Water, power and toilet cleaning systems need to be provided in such areas, adjacent to each train to be serviced. Access to trains must be designed so that cleaning staff can reach them safely whilst carrying their equipment. This usually means floor height walkways alongside trains, or at least up to the first car of a set if through inter-car connections are available.
Wheels can be removed from a train by a "wheel drop", where the wheel set is lowered underneath the train into a basement below the depot floor. Sometimes, whole toolrooms are provided in such areas but the ground conditions sometimes make such places difficult to keep dry and difficult to conform with modern evacuation requirements.

2.Wheel Lathe of Mine Electric Locomotive

Modern wheel lathes can also reprofile a wheelset which has been removed from the loco. Otherwise a separate wheel turning facility has to be provided in the workshop. Cutting has been the most common method of reprofiling but, recently milling machines, have been making a comeback as they can offer a longer tool life and better tolerance control on diameters. modern wheels lathes are designed to turn both wheelsets on a bogie at the same time. These "double-headed" lathes have developed as a result of electronically controlled AC motors, which require that the motors in the same circuit turn at the same speed so as to match the inverter frequency. This makes it essential that wheel diameters with motors within a traction power circuit are equal.
Although it might seem obvious, the roundness of wheels is important, especially at very high speeds. An eccentric wheel can cause extreme loads on the wheel, axle, bearing and suspension, leading to failures. An "unround" (out of round) or eccentric wheel is alleged to have led to wheel tyre failure of a German ICE at Eschede in 1998, causing a high-speed crash with heavy loss of life. The wheel is alleged to have had an eccentricity (difference between major and minor axes of the ellipse) of 1.1mm, against a limit of 0.6mm. Wheels are often damaged by skidding during braking. Skidding (called sliding) causes a flat patch (called a "flat") to wear on the tyre and, when the wheel begins rolling again after a slide, the familiar "tap, tap, tap..." of the flat will be heard.

3.Inspection Sheds of Mine Electric Locomotive

Special facilities are required to carry out rolling stock inspections. A properly constructed building, capable of accommodating a whole train, should be provided. Access to the underneath of the train is essential and this must be designed to allow reasonable working conditions and safety. There are various ways of doing this. The most common used to be a pit provided between the rails of the maintenance tracks and, sometimes, pits on either side of the track as well, to allow access to the sides of the underframe equipment. A more common approach today is the "swimming pool" design, where the floor of the shed is sunk and the tracks are mounted on posts. This gives better access and improves the light levels under the cars.
Be in mind of this essential ingredient in the successful running of a railway is a well maintained system.