Dieselisation
Dieselisation took place largely because of the tremendous reduction in operating costs it allowed. Steam locomotives require large pools of labour to clean, load, maintain and run. They also require extensive service, coaling and watering facilities. This was their biggest inferior measure as compared to the diesel locomotive in the number of ton-miles or passenger traffic miles either could run. Diesels could and did have a significantly higher initial price per unit-horsepower delivered. However, their far greater range between fueling stops, the absence of water stops, and the much higher unit availability between inspection repair and maintenance stops, were far better than steam. Diesels simply required significantly less time and labour to operate and maintain. Diesel power was also more scalable to power requirements, owing to the control systems that allowed multiple units to be controlled by one operator. "Double header" steam power required a crew for each locomotive. Initially, diesel locomotives were less powerful than the typical steam locomotives. Between the late 1930s and the late 1950s the power available with diesel locomotive engines roughly doubled, although the most powerful steam locomotives ever built still exceeded the power of the most powerful diesel locomotives from the late Twentieth Century.
Motive power depot
The maintenance of the new diesel locomotives in filthy steam sheds soon proved difficult and although some old sheds survived, many new diesel depots were built on new sites or on the sites of the old steam sheds. The major problem was the disposal of oil which initially was left lying around causing pollution and safety issues. The new depots were equipped to deal with diesel fuel and the ability to access the underside as well as upper body work was improved.
The tasks were not that much different in that diesel locomotives were fuelled rather than coaled (although they did require water as early diesels were equipped with steam generators for train heating purposes).