Oiling the Motion
This steam locomotive arrived light engine, either in order to be ready to take out a train, or perhaps it was getting a trial run before the steam gala that was taking place on the following weekend.
The crew were presumably checking around for warm bearings and oiling the motion before they moved off.
Life, Photography & Other Mistakes - is now dormant 
Question: How many people does it take to oil a train?
Perhaps they had people in training, or maybe they just wanted a chat. They had only the locomotive to oil around, a whole train would take a week. Do you remember the wheel tappers? They used to be located at main rail stations and went down the track tapping the wheels….of course, that was before the days of ultrasonic axle testing.
True! No I don’t remember the wheel tapers. Steam in the U.S. was virtually gone by the 1950s and replaced by diesel. Sounds like a dying profession. Maybe they got retrained for ultrasonic usage and could broaden their usage into sonograms for pregnant women.
Always enjoy your railway series, so full of atmosphere
Thanks Andy, I’ve missed visiting here!