The record-union., 1896-05-24

man or set of men as far as is possible.
This rubbing process over, the next
step is to sandpaper the surface with
the finest variety of paper made, and
then three coats of color are applied
with camel hair coating brush. These
coats are called the Pullman car body
COLOR" and are of a dark olive green,
bordering on brown.
The car is now ready for enameling
and lettering, and if a sleeper, it Is
done in scrolls and elaborate stripping,
executed in gold leaf. If day, or pas
senger coach, it is done in gold stripes
and lettering, but in passenger coaches
the elaborate scroll work is fast becom-
ing obsolete, and is considered as no
longer being in good taste.
Following this process comes the var
nishing. This consists of three separ-
ate coats, applied from three to four
days apart. This requires great care,
for the newly varnished parts must be
kept entirely clean. No grit or sand
must touch the varnish, or the effect is
spoiled and the work performed will not
prove at all satisfactory. One not IA
miliar with the work could hardly real
ize the care necessary to produce the
beautiful results we see in passenger
and sleeping coaches.
The interior of the car requires as
much care and skill as the exterior to
produce like results, and the rule is to
have each part blended with it's neigh
Dor so that the whole is refined and
sCftened, giving that smooth, easy, ele-
CANT appearance to be seen in most
railway palaces.
Some portions of the interior of sleep
ing cars, such as the front facings of
hunks and more prominent panels, are
treated to a thorough rubbing with rot
ten stone and water, in addition to the
rubbing with the pumice stone, and the
process gives the parts the high polish
so seldom given to woods.
In addition to all this work comes the
polishing, painting and vanishing of
| window-sash, blinds, facings and all re-
movable parts which enter into the con-
struction Of a first-class car, and upon
which the same care and skill is ex-
pended as is necessary to paint the re-
mainder of the car
To paint a car properly the time con-
sumed is thirty days, yet instances
have occurred when a car has been
turned out in half of that time These,
however, were emergency cases-usually
when special or private cars were re-
quired for the use Of railway officials.
The last though not the least i'm
portant factor in painting a car is a
good, durable varnish. If a poor article
be applied to newly painted car the re-
suit would be labor thrown away and
skill expended in vain.
And all this work is necessary to paint
new car; but it is the old car that is
sent in for repainting which tries the
painters very soul. The care and pa
! tience required to clean off and touch up
the color of an old car is, indeed, trying,
and can be realized only by the men who
do it, It may not be generally known
that this work falls to the lot of the
best mechanics to be found, and that
here the best of judgment is required
There is no set work to be performed as
| there is on a new car, and your old car
is puzzle from beginning to end You
will find that one thing is little too
good for your repaired car and another
not good enough, and between the two
a master mechanic is often at fault 1t
is then that the workman's judgment is
lens crop UP to be passed upon every
day in this hive Of industry-the paint
shop of the Southern Pacific system.
The life of the paint spread upon a
car is estimated at about eight years,
and 1t is the rule to overhaul and re-
paint or revarnish, or both repaint and
revarnish each and every first-class
coach in service every year, so that at
the end Of those eight years the car
will have been covered with from eight
to ten coats Of paint and about seven
teen coats Of varnish. Then in order
to overhaul the car all this paint and
varnish must be removed down to the
wood. This Is done by .shriveling and
loosening the paint and varnish by
a gas or gasoline flame, which the
workman applies with one hand while
he diligently plies the scrape with
the other, and when the old paint and
varnish has been finally removed the
work of smoothing the woodwork pre-
paratory to once more receiving it's
coating of paint is a huge undertak-
ing as compared with that required on
a new car.
The men who are employed in the
paint shop may justly be placed among
the foremost mechanics in the city,
and their names follow:
w. G. Fitch, Foreman and Master
Painter
! G. F. Dickerson, Assistant Foreman.
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