an incline up which the wheels were rolled and then taken to the
lathe. These arrangements were found much quicker and cheaper than to
hoist the wheels up, as is usually done.

In pressing the wheels on, where the axles had previously been turned
back, much trouble was at first experienced because of the rust that
had gathered upon the turned part behind the wheel, forming a ridge
over or upon which the wheel must be pushed. Some of the roads, at the
start, burst 10 or 15 per cent. of the wheels so pressed on. By
saturating this surface with coal oil, however, it was found that the
rust was easily removed and little trouble was had. It was found,
sometimes, that upon axles newly turned back a careless workman would
leave a ridge at the starting point of the turning. Frequently also
the axles were a little sprung, so that the new turning would be a
little scant upon one side when compared with the old surface, and
upon the opposite side a little full. As an indication that these
difficulties were overcome as they appeared, I will say that upon our
line only 202 wheels burst out of nearly 27,000 pressed on--an
exceedingly small percentage.

After the change upon the early roads they were troubled for weeks
with hot boxes, caused, as we believed, by the changing of brasses. A
brass once fitted to a journal will work upon it without trouble, but
when placed upon some other journal will probably not fit. If the
journal had been worn hollow (and it was surprising to see how many
were so worn), the brass would be found worn down to fit it. (See Fig.
27. Exaggerated, of course.)

[Illustration: FIG. 27 and FIG. 28]