| TEXT | The maintenance and operation of a great railroad is not the simple matter of pulling the throttle and seeing the train go humming along through the country; not alone the collection of tickets by a uniformed conductor from passengers taking their ease in a modern car of luxurious design, but involves a vast amount of labor, care and expense not always evident to the traveler and which he seldom considers. Notice the excellent condition of the woodwork, the freshness of the paint and the brilliancy of the varnish on any of the cars running on the main lines of railroad, and the well groomed condition of the locomotive. A casual observer glancing at a passenger train on the through line of the chief railroad of Maine, the Maine Central, would say that the whole outfit was new or nearly so. But it is far from this. Some of the locomotives and cars may have run through the storm and sunshine for years, and it is self-evident that exposed to all weathers of this changeable climate, and subject to the jar and racking of express train speed, they would, in a brief period, become dingy and rickety. Cars in the freight service are built solidly and substantially for the business of carrying loads, not for show, many of them going on other lines to remote parts of the country returning to the Maine Central after long periods of service. Nothing in the way of iron and wood which will make them strong is omitted. Obliged to bear heavy burdens, and continually receiving hard knocks, it is no wonder they frequently become maimed or worn out. The locomotive itself, built of the stoutest steel and iron and by the most skilled mechanics, when in service, is limited in its life as well as suffering occasional break downs. To keep the rolling stock of a big railroad in condition to perform its work, as well as to render it safe for the transportation of freight and passengers, requires the services of hundreds of trained men and the expenditure of large sums of money, and is an industry of itself which has grown up and increased throughout the country with the extension of railroads, to conform to the needs of transportation. The Maine Central Railroad, which is one of the best conducted in New England as well as the most extensive in Maine,
established at Waterville in 1886 permanent shops which were occupied in 1887. There was much competition among various cities to secure their location, it being realized that a large number of men would be employed in the shops, which meant much to the business interests of the community where they resided. Waterville secured the prize and gave a large tract of land which was accepted as a site. Here the shops were built and here it is that the locomotives and cars take a rest for repairs and renovation. To erect them required the expenditure of a large sum of money, but completed, have served the company well as they will for many years to come. They are conveniently located on the west bank of the Kennebec river, about a mile above Waterville proper, and adjacent to the main tracks of the railroad, in line with them. The buildings alone cover two and one-half acres of land. The walls are of brick throughout, one story in height, with the exception of the mill, which is about equivalent in altitude to two stories of an ordinary dwelling house, and one standing on the ground floor can gaze at the roof. There is
necessity for an abundance of light in shops of this kind and it is furnished by numerous windows which appear on every side and in the roof of the buildings. There are four large buildings viz: The motive power and machine shop, 300 feet 8 in. by 100 ft. 8 in.; the blacksmith and boiler shop, 275 ft. 8 in. by 52 ft. 8 in.; the passenger and freight car shop, 384 ft. 10 in. by 80 ft. 8 in. and the paint shop, 290 ft. 4 in. by 80 ft. 8 in. Then there is a
coal and store house, 126 ft. 8 in. by 30 ft. 8 in. The motive power and car repair departments are entirely distinct from each other, each having a foreman and keeping separate accounts. But the buildings are adjacent to each other, standing end to end. Directly east of the structures devoted to these departments, close to and in line with them, is the transfer table pit, which is 798 feet in length and 60 feet in width. It contains six tracks,
running upon which is the transfer table supported by trucks, which is operated by machinery of its own, driving it from one end of the pit to the other as required. A track is laid on the table which can, by moving the table, be made to connect with any one of numerous tracks which run into a line of stalls extending nearly the entire length of the interiors of the motive power and car buildings. A locomotive or car is brought down from the main yard on a spur track, rolled upon the table, which carries it to any stall which may be vacant. The door being shut, it is in a position to undergo repairs. Cars can also be transferred from this same table to the paint shop on the east side
of the pit. One of the most interesting sections of the entire plant in the motive power department, where the engines which haul the people about the country go for repairs. It comprises not only the machine shop proper, but the blacksmith shop, boiler shop, tinning room, brazing room, etc. Throughout the interior, the hum of the machinery and the clink of the hammer, are manifest, and make a decidedly businesslike impression.
There are 157 locomotives in the Maine Central service, of various sizes, shapes and designs, some of the new ones with tenders weighing 220,600 pounds. As well as the cars, locomotives have been increasing in size year by year, so that recently it was found that the stalls were too small to accommodate several of the heaviest, and it was necessary to erect a narrow wooden addition on the outer wall, to cover them. Yet when the building was erected a little over ten years ago, it was supposed that the stalls were of sufficient size to meet all requirements for a long period. The time a locomotive remains upon the road depends largely upon the number of miles covered. It comes into the shop for general repairs after running from fifty to seventy-five thousand miles, and on the main line averages from 3,500 to 4,000 miles a month ; on the branches much less. A locomotive is considered rebuilt when equipped with a new boiler, new cylinders and new tires. It requires in the neighborhood of two weeks to make general repairs. Six or seven locomotives are in the shop at a time, and that number will usually be found there in the hands of the company's machinists. On entering the shop, a locomotive it run upon what is known as a "drop pit," which is a table flush with the surrounding floor that, by mechanical means controlled by the hand, can be lowered or raised at will. Above is a powerful device which is connected with the superstructure of the engine, holding it suspended securely. The fastenings of the wheels being liberated the table is lowered and they are separated from the remainder of the locomotive and rolled away. The upper portion is then transferred to the stall where the repairs upon it are to be made. The motive power shop is equipped with every sort of a machine known to the building of locomotives, and they can be constructed complete with the exception of the castings and the boilers. Several have been built entire. Besides steam power, compressed air is employed throughout, being put to every use possible. It is exceedingly serviceable for hoisting purposes, air lifters being found where needed throughout the buildings. An interesting little contrivance is what is known as a "woodpecker" or pneumatic hammer. In this a cold chisel is inserted and by a mechanical device operated by air which enters through a flexible tube, a succession of hard, sharp blows is given the head of the chisel. In the hands of a workman, applied to hard metal or steel, it will chip off a section of the surface with great rapidity, in marked contrast with the old way of using a hammer and chisel by hand. A powerful lathe for turning down the tires of wheels, attracts the attention of the visitor. The drive wheels of a locomotive after long and hard usage on the road, become so badly worn, that grooves from one-eigth to one-quarter of an inch in depth appear on the faces of the tires. To reduce these the wheels are placed in the lathe two at a time and, slowly revolving, the tires are turned down until the depressions disappear and the running surfaces are true and even. In the blacksmith shop there are numerous forges, triphammers and machines for bending and working iron. A bolt machine is among the number. The foundry work for the shop is mostly done by Webber & Philbrick of Waterville, under contract, but some of the car castings are made at the Bath Iron Works. The
boilers are generally purchased at locomotive works. All boilers before leaving the Waterville shop for road work, are carefully tested in the presence of the foreman of the motive power department and the foreman of the boiler shop, being given one-fourth more pressure than the maximum which they are permitted to carry. A detailed statement of deflections and measurements while under this pressure is required to be made to the general offices in Portland. All locomotive boilers in use by the company are thus tested as often as once a year, and to this may be largely attributed the freedom from boiler explosions on the Maine Central, one of which never occurred in the history of
the road.
Steam power for all the shops, is furnished by a 175 horsepower engine, and compressed air, by a separate air compressing engine, both of which are located in a special engine room. For the year ending June 30th, 1898, the sum of 105,479.42 was expended by the company for ordinary repairs and renewals of locomotives. Two engines were sold, and one broken up, which were small and unsuitable for the service required. In addition to the main shop at Waterville* there is a branch repair shop at Portland.
About 100 men are employed in the motive power department on the average, and the pay roll is 5,000 a month. Wages
average as follows per day: Machinists 2,20, Machinists' helpers 1,37, Boiler makers 2,26, Boiler makers' helpers 1,21, Blacksmiths 2,26, Blacksmiths' helpers 1,40, Carpenters 2,24, Tinsmiths 2,25, Laborers 1,25, others 1,81.
It is in the car repairing department that all the company's passenger cars are maintained in such a trim and presentable condition, and the freight cars in running order. The passenger equipment numbers 226 cars; freight, 3,378, and the road service, 358. Submitted as they are to the constant rack of railroad service, it is an expensive task to keep them in repair and in readiness for business, notwithstanding the best steel, iron and wood that can be obtained, enter into their construction. There are two sections in the car repairing shop, one of which contains
seven tracks for passenger cars, and the other, six for freight. Cars will always be found on these tracks undergoing repairs. The cars enter the shop from the transfer table outside in the same manner that locomotives reach the motive power shop. By various appliances they can be handled, the trucks and running gear removed and repaired when necessary, and woodwork renewed. New wheels are substituted for old ones when needed. The car department does not deal with iron and steel to the extent of the motive power shop, and the men are largely wood-workers here. The first requirement, is a mill where the timber, as it arrives in large manufactured sticks, can be worked up into the necessary sizes. It is located at the south end of the shop, and separated from the car shop proper by a partition. Here are found many kinds of saws and wood-working machinery, necessary in fitting the woods used in modem passenger cars and the coarser work of freight cars, including several power planers, one of which takes a stick of timber used for drawbars and planes it on all four sides at one time. Bay wood is now chiefly used for finishing passengers cars, the tendency being to atain lighter eflfects on the interior of cars. Formerly black walnut was employed almost wholly, but being a dark colored wood has been discarded, bay wood taking its place. Above the mill is a second story which is known as the upholstering shop, where the comfortable and almost luxurious plush enveloped passenger seats are repaired and can be manufactured. The dust and dirt is blown out of the plush with which the seats are covered, by means of compressed air blowers, and after being in use several years, the material is sometimes colored. It is found to be an impossibility to rid plush seats in smoking cars from the odor of tobacco smoke, and artificial leather is being used freely for seat coverings in smokers and second-class cars. Plush upholstered seats will last from five to eight years, when the covering must be renewed. The plush used by the company comes mostly from the Sanford mills. In connection with the upholstering shop is the pattern room where all the patterns for castings are made. An interesting spot, is the brass cleaning room on the first floor of the shop. Annually all the brass fixtures of a passenger car, lamps, trimmings, plates, screws, etc., both inside and outside, are removed and thoroughly cleansed. Taken to the cleaning room, they are plunged into a tank of potash lye where they are allowed to soak until all the lacquer, oil and foreign substances are removed. Thence they go into a bath of sulphuric and nitric acids combined, which acts on the metal. After being dipped in hot and cold water, the articles are dried in sawdust and submitted to a compressed air blower to drive off the dust. The brass comes out gleaming and bright, and is finally lacquered to preserve the lustre. The oil vessel of lamps is not submitted to the bath but is cleaned and polished on a burnishing wheel. When articles of brass come out of this shop, they will usually maintain their brilliancy on the interior of a car for a year if properly cared for, and not become noticeably tarnished. Passenger cars do not depreciate in value as rapidly as freight, for the simple reason that they are more carefully looked after and go through the shops every year, making their egress about as good as when new. But even with the best of care the average life of a passenger car is only something like twenty years. A car will sometimes fail in running 1,000 miles when it should have completed 5,000 or more. The busy season for passenger car repairing, is from October 1st to July 1st, and then it is that the men engaged on this class of work have all they can do. July, August and September constitute the busy season on Maine railroads, and every car that can be mustered is brought into service. It is no time then for cars to lie idle. There was expended in repairs of passenger cars by the Maine Central Railroad Company last year, 62.573,86 which included the cost of thorough general repairs to 217 cars, and of air signals and quick action brakes for 222. Four new cars were constructed viz: One baggage and postal car, one postal and two combination cars, in addition to the regular repairing work performed. For repairs of freight cars, there was expended during the year ending June 30, 1898, the sum of 72.573,86, which included general repairs to 400 cars, and the cost of one caboose car rebuilt. There were condemned or destroyed during the year, seventy-eight freight and work cars, worn out in service. The full capacity of the shop is the repairing of seventy cars per month. Unlike passenger coaches, cars in the freight service are only brought in for repairs when they break down or absolutely require them. Carrying the many loads they do, the
cars frequently become maimed and must be put in condition. Only the best quality of oak, ash and southern pine is used, and no expense spared in making the work performed strong and durable. A most important improvement which is being made in the freight cars of the company is the adding of safety appliances, and the work is being pushed forward as rapidly as possible. In the last railroad year, there was expended 26.641,88 for such appliances, which included the cost of automatic air brakes for 236 freight cars, standard couplers for 240 cars, and driving wheel brakes of the most approved pattern for nineteen engines. A large percentage of the cars is already equipped and it is expected that by the year 1900 all, or nearly all, will be supplied. Controlled by air brakes in the locomotive, a train can be handled with much more ease and economy than by the old way, and the numerous accidents which occur by the breaking apart of trains will be escaped, as when a break takes place the automatic brakes immediately set and the train is stopped. The general use of standard couplers in freight cars will prove a boon to train employes, and the frequent injuries which the men now sustain, in some instances resulting in death, will be largely avoided, and they will no longer be in constant danger of losing life or limb. The work of equipping the cars with safety appliances is all being performed at these shops, and adds largely to the labor and expense.
The paint shop, which is included in the car department, is a division of itself. The passenger cars and locomotives of the road are painted here. It contains seventeen tracks, fifteen for cars, one for locomotives, and one is a track for miscellaneous rolling stock. The shop is continually pushed with work, and there is no spare room, as all the passenger cars pass through once a year, requiring the painting of some twenty-eight cars a month, or more than one a day. Prepared paints are chiefly used for painting exteriors, as they dry quicker than white lead, the color being what is known as the Pullman color, which supersedes the yellow tint formerly employed. When the paint on a
car becomes worn out and cracked, it is burned off and removed. This is done once in from seven to ten years. Some cars will run ten years without a crack appearing in the paint. Gold leaf is employed in lettering and striping. In finishing, varnish is applied. There are two ways of finishing the interiors, one thie dead finish and the other in the gloss. It costs some 15.000 a year for car colors, and three barrels of varnish, one barrel of spirits of turpentine, five barrels of benzine and eight hundred pounds of Pullman color are used a month. Locomotives are
painted black throughout, and lettered in nickel. Very few freight cars are painted in the shop, this work being done in the yard during the open season. White lead is chiefly used, the tint being what is known to painters as a mineral brown. It is applied by a compressed air apparatus. There are 143 men employed in and around the car department, and the monthly pay roll is 5,450. The majority are carpenters, thirty-nine being employed on passenger cars and forty-seven on freight, -their wages varying all the way from 1,50 to 2,00 per day. The passenger car men receive more than those employed on freight work. There are twenty painters, receiving from 1,50 to 2,00 a day, nineteen car washers at 1,25, eight car inspectors at 1,70, three car cleaners at 1,30, and seven laborers at 1,25. Nothing is left undone by the company in providing for the comfort and health of its employes while they are in the shops. The buildings are heated throughout by steam, an agreeable temperature being maintained in the coldest weather. Oil lamps are used for lighting. A noticeable feature and a most desirable one, is a lavatory located in the motive power building. The room is commodious and well lighted and, running the length of it, is a series of long troughs in which flow hot or cold water as desired. A supply of soap is at hand, and towels as well. The men find the room a great convenience. The closets are models of cleanliness and no offensive odor can be detected. The drainage is perfect, connection with the river close at hand being had. The work in every department is healthy and the men are long-lived and rugged. Employes often remain with the company for a long term of years, so that there is quite a number who have passed over twenty years, and two more than thirty, in the shops, and are hale and hearty.
The men are contented, and a strike is never known. Nine hours work constitutes a day, from October ist until early spring, and the remainder of the year ten hours. Last season, during the shortest months, but eight hours a day were worked. Formerly young men were employed as apprentices who served a given period before acquiring their trade, but this plan has been given up and men are now hired as they come, and paid according to their ability and knowledge of the business. The employes, with few exceptions, are American bom, and are prosperous, a goodly percentage owning their homes. Their houses are neat and attractive and well kept. The shops being located half way between Waterville and Fairfield, they reside at both places and on the street which connects these places. Several have laid by snug sums and are forehanded, even being able to own a summer cottage at the seashore where they send their families during the hot months. The monthly distribution of 10.000 in wages is no small matter, and adds materially to the business and prosperity of the community. John Ellis is master mechanic; H. N. Webber is foreman of the
motive power shops; Amos Pilsbury is superintendent of motive power; Charles H. Kennerson is master car builder; P. W. Hannaford is foreman of the car shops and Edward Hartshorn is foreman of the paint shop. |
