The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-01-18
THE DINING CAR.
It's Cost, Expenses, Servants san.l Ino
y FN@s"s'@* dents of Maintennnce

Its: Cost, Expenses, Servants and Inoi.
dents of Maintenance.
a moderle dining, cur of the most ap-
proved pattern costs $4,000 to build, &C
cording to@Kate Fields Washington
Next come the kitchen untensils, the ta-
bic furniture. the silverware and linen
averaging about $1,000 to car. Each
I eur" must ahavesN steward, who usually
gets $l0O 4 month, and head cook. who
values himself at $75 month. There
must also be one or two assistant cooks
and three or four walters. Three hundred
dollars month is the very smallest out
lay for wages, while the cost of raw food
material. breakagc of dishes and the
board of employees is about $1,000 per
month additional. An average of@6ve
days. run costs very nearly $500 for food
persons ut every meal on the run to pay
the daily expenses, without allowing any
| thing tor interest on the Investment or
/ for wear and tear on the furnishings. Ell
I The kitchen of a dining car contains
| every Inconvenience except room: There IL
ta range capable of doing all the boiling,
broiling. baking and stewing for hundreds
of people. vet occupying comparatively no
space at all. There is a board for the
carver, bin and table for the baker and
sink for the dishwasher, with shelves
aud cupboartls innumerable for dishes and
imperishab.e supplies-all in an area of 5
x12 feet ut most. Every inch of space is
cellar or refrigerator. where ice. beef.
mutton, poultry, milk, butter and other
perishable supplies are kept.
The steward, who has charge of all
this, must be a good guesser. TO be sure,
the dining car is run on the principle that
no money will be made anyway; that one
road must run it because competing road
4 ~ NE>~SN
have the best in the market for a fair
price, and that it is better to throw away
unused and spoiled material ut the end of
Il trip than to run out of some necessary on
the way: yet l imagine that the steward
who has the lowest average of wasted
food stands highest in his employers re-
gard.
The first thing he has to do is to make
out the bills of fare for the trip. These
must be approved by the head Of the COM
missary dcpartment The chef buys the
necessary supplies, but the steward has to
turn in an inventory of them at the start
ing point, and also Il statement of what
has been used on the route and what is
left at the end of the run. There is no
method eff estimating the exact number
of meals that will need to be served dur
ing a run, particularly if it be short one.
Suppose it is to be made from Washing
ton to New York. Individual methods of
economy arc very different. While some
prefer to pay $1.25 for the extra com fort
of Il seat in a parlor car. there arc. Others
who think the common coach good enough
and prefer to spend their dollar in the din
ing car. Again. there are some who fire.:
quent both parlor and diner, and others
who care for neither.
For long journey every berth in the
sleeper may be occupied and yet the din
ing car may be practically tenantless, or
the sleeper may he nearly empty and the
diner full of people from the day coach.
or it may be crowded with the occupants
of both. As the steward goes through the
train on tour of inspection or i'll giving
his first call for Il meal, he must note the
number of lunch boxes and guess from the
faces and dress of the passengers how
many orders he will have. But even his
best judgment may be far out of the way,
for the lunch box may be for next days
light repast, or some OF the best-dresSed
passengers may not have decided whether
! to patroniZe the dining car or not.