The record-union., 1896-05-17

Every man in the world has at some
time in the course of his existence been
builder. Some have erected giant
Structures which have been the wonders
of the ages in which they lived, while
others have put in their time building
those things commonly called castles
In the air.
But in Sacramento there is body OF
men who build and build, and the struc-
lures reared by them are far from being
castles in the air, nor yet are they on
the gigantic scale, but are built for the
convenience of man and the expedition
Of business. They are castles on wheels
The foundations for these castles on
wheels have already been laid by the
truck builders, but after their work has
been completed the truck. is shunted
along to another track, and the car
builder of the Southern Pacific shops
begins his work.
1t would naturally be supposed that
the carbuilder would begin where the
truckbuilder had left off, but your car
builder is very independent sort of a
man, and believes in completing his
work before it is set upon wheels. He
believes in wheels, of course, but that
does not hinder him from building his
car upon trestles, and when it is once
done he no longer objects to its being
placed upon the trucks.
We have already seen the vast piles
OF lumber in the Southern Pacific lum-
ber yard, and have watched it turned
out into sills, sheating, holsters, draft
timbers, etc., to be used in the con-
gtruction of cars. We have passed
through the car machine shop where a
portion of the iron work used in the
construction of that same car is turned
out, and have had a look at the truck
builders as they fitted together the
running gear, thus forming the trucks
or foundation upon which the car proper
is finally to rest.
There are a number of kinds of cars
built at the shops, and cars, like houses,
are not all built aliks. There is the fiat
car, the freight or box car, the caboose
and the passenger car. and no two of
them are constructed alike.
But you cannot build all of those cars
at one and the same time, and if you
should serve an apprenticeship in the
car-construction department of the
shops, you would commence at the bot
y
first effort would be the construction of
fat car, and when that was done you
would build the box upon it, and a
freight car would be the result.
But If you have an idea that the con-
struction of a fiat car, subsequently
turned into a freight or box car, is a
matter of very little Importance and to
be learned in an hour, take a day off and
satisfy yourself that you know nothing
about the matter whatever.
The first thing to do, then, is to get
your sills into position, and for that
purpose you must lay them upon car
penter's trestles placed at proper dis
tances apart. Next, Within easy reach
you will place the iron work, consisting
OF castings, bolts, rods, nuts, washers,
nails, ETC., for if you are a carbuilder
YOU will want to attend strictly to the
matter in hand, and not go tramping
around to find fitting which in all
probability would be badly lost at the
time it was most needed.
Then you will take the first step in the
construction by the application of the
side bearings kingbolt thimble blocks,
which are temporarily secured in place
until the sills are set in place. Then the
two center Sills, which are joined to re-
ceive the car holsters are placed in
proper position ready to receive the
draft timbers, which are fitted with the
proper drawbar jaws and firmly Sc
cured Those same draft timbers are
destined to draw the car, and as many
more as may be hitched on behind it,
and they must necessarily be the per-
of n in aY~tin IaY.
The two side sills are then placed in
position and firmly secured to the body
holsters, which rest upon the center
plates, the distance" timbers being
placed between these and the intermedi-
ate sills.
Then all these longitudinal sills are
secured with tie rods passing through
near the distance timbers-or joiners-
and one near each body bolster thus
making it impossible for the two sides
OF the car to part company unless each
and every bar is snapped off, which is
not at all likely.
The end sills are then placed in posi-
tion, being fitted upon the Longitudinal
sills, and properly secured to the side
sills by lug bolts, which are bolts ter
minating in long, fiat extensions which
take the place of the ordinary bolt head
Then two needle beams are set in pO-
sition crosswise, passing under ali of the
sills before laid, and are fastened with
bolts long enough to receive the body
truss rod queen posts. The body truss
rods are then put in position, being
first passed through the end sills and
between the longitudinal sills, the CEN
ter rod being made long enough to pass
through the buffer blocks, securing
them in position The outside rods, ol
those next to the side. pass through the
end sills only, but eacn rod passes over
the body bolster on cast-iron bearings
and are bent downward between them
to the proper angle so as to pass under
the queen posts, which are suspended
in the roof truss, thus forming a queer
post truss for the support of the body
OF the car. The rods are connected in
the center by turnbuckles or sleeves
with screw threads at both ends, one
a right and the other a left hand thread
by means of which the rods are tight
ened. By these truss rods pressing uT
under the base Of the queen posts and
the queen posts bearing up under this
needle beams, which in turn support al
of the beams of the car it is readily K
be conceived what an important par
they play in the construction of a car
Then the two buffer blocks must bt
taken notice of. Upon the ends of the
blocks are the elastic apparatus fol
deadening the concussion caused by the
collision of cars, and the blocks them
selves are held in place by the truss rods
already mentioned. To the buffer blocks