潤滑の概要

一部の車両の駆動システム には、走行装置などの複雑な機構があり、正常に機能するためには潤滑油の供給が不可欠です。これは蒸気機関車 でもっとも顕著です。

Such vehicles typically carry oil in an onboard storage. The available reserves are shown on the left meter of a device called an automatic lubricator .

This device lubricates some of the bearings that it can reach, while the rest needs to be lubricated manually .

If a vehicle has been sitting parked for a while, it is likely to have dry bearings, due to leaks.

If any of the lubrication systems are lacking oil, the drivetrain will produce unpleasant screeching noise. If no action is taken it may quickly result in catastrophic damage to the drivetrain.

If the oil storage runs dry it needs to be refilled .