Objective Targeting at locomotive spring production, its packaging production line was designed. Methods According to the technical requirements of the automated production and packaging process for locomotive spring, this paper presented a "U" type horizontal automatic packaging machine for locomotive spring, which was composed of film supplying unit, feeding unit, uppushing unit, holding unit, downpushing unit, and transport unit. Using this system, a series of automated packaging process for locomotive springs were accomplished, including automatic classification, film wrapping, packaging and packing. Results This method satisfied the requirements of high efficient automatic packaging in mechanical way for spring sets with a free height range of 200~260 mm, a Φ range of 80~120 mm, and a spring raw steel diameter range of Φ 12~ Φ 32 mm and an error between the free height of inner and external spring of 2 mm or less. Conclusion It could reduce the cost of materials, reduce the manual operation, and achieve the damage-proof and rust-proof packaging of the locomotive spring.