The record-union., 1896-09-27

The most important of all the divis-
IONS OF the railroad shops, and the one
ftat makes it possible for the wheels
10 turn all over the entire system, is
The Store Department"
ThiS department, under the direction
OF the superintendent of Motive Power
II. j. Small, controls the material used
by the Motive Power Department
throughout the Pacific system, in ad-
dition to the output of material manu-
1actured at the Sacramento shops for
all departments of the company
throughout the entire system.
To give in detail the operations OF
this department would entail too much
space and time, and it will therefore be
covered as briefly as possible Each
division of the Pacific system, which
takes in all the roads west of Ell Paso
and Ogden and south of Portland, has
division store, which supplies the va
rious departments on these several di-
visions; their supplies are drawn by
acquisitions made upon the Superin-
tendent of Motive Power at Sacra-
fDento, who furnishes the material
either from the general store at Sacra-
mento or in turn makes requisition on
the Manager of Purchases and Supplies
San Francisco, for such material as
can be purchased.
The stock carried by each division
store is regulated and supervised by
the main office at Sacramento, monthly
reports being made of the valuation OF
the stock carried, and a strict account
ang is required for all material. This
department also orders on the various
departments at Sacramento all the ma
ferial manufactured at this point, the
variety and quantity of which have
been given In the present series of ar
ticles
It would be difficult to give any def
mite idea as to the infinite variety of
articles that are consumed by a rail-
road company, and consequently han
died by these division stores; simply to
give an idea of this business in money
valuation, it may be stated that the
valuation of stock carried by the Motive
Power Department on the Pacific sys-
tenn amounts to 1851 ,OO0
This represents about two months
supply of material, exclusive of oils and
waste, used in lubricating locomotives
and cars; the annual consumption Of
such material aggregates S3,30O,0OO,
and the annual consumption of oil
a'one, which is not included in the fig
ures above, is about $4,000.
And SO 1t ends. Each and every de-
partment Of labor in the Southern Pa
cific Company's shops in this city have
been visited and the impressions gained
from, and the information given dur
ang those visits have been written.
Who that has gone into the Southern
Pacific Company's shops and carefully
and studiously examined into the work
done in each Of the departments, and
the machinery used by the mechanics
in the performance of the work, will
cease from his instructive labors and
say that he has not visited Wonder
3and?" Who that has seen the traIspo-
Bition Of wood and iron into cars, loco
motives and other railroad fixtures
and puzzled over the means taken to
secure the ends, will not agree that
here at home we have more Of a Won
derland" than was ever seen by Ander-
sen in all of his dreams.
It is in these same shops that the
craftsman worked yesterday, is work.
ing to-day and will be working to-mor-
row, and here is taught the lessons of
perseverance and patience as they are
taught nowhere else in the city
First in line among the numerous de-
partments of the shops come the foun-
dry, and as one watched the molder as
he carefully patted down the sand
around the pattern or poured the mol
ten iron into the molds that after cool
ing came out one OF the many castings
made necessary in the construction Of
cars and locomotives, ones eyes began
to open wide at the magnitude of the la
Dor performed and the results to be at
tanned in the shops as a whole.
The sights seen IN the companys lum-
Der yard, a few of which have been de-
scribed In the present series of articles.
would be sufficient to make the ordinary
lumber yard man turn green with envy.
The millions of feet of lumber handled
each year, and the processes it under
goes In seasoning, together with the
methods used by the laborers in han
ding it, are worth understanding, and
after seeing it all the ordinary citizen
stared about him and asked the first
man he met how it was all done.
Next in line after the lumber yard
came the sawmill with it's tumbling
descriptions, and it's whirling, whizzing.
buzzing saws everywhere. From the
sawmill all the lumber used in the con-
struction of cars is turned out in proper
dimensions, and smoothed and planed
and morticed and tenoned, ready each
piece to be set into the moving palace
for which it was designed.
Then into the car machine shop where
- ,x1Isc
chimes, fragile as the lace on
a ladys bonnet and ponder
Gus as the completed cars for which
they were designed, are at work 1t
was here that one saw great lathes and
drills go through cold iron with no ap-
parent effort, and on the upper floor of
the same shop was seen the plating
room, where copper being dipped into
a vat filed with a liquid solution came
cut nickel. into another, and 1t came
out silver; and into yet another, and
IT came back to the original copper, sur
passing far all the magic Of the ancient
Egyptians.
Next upon the shifting scene came
the pattern makers with their intricate
carvings and quaint designs. Without
the pattern maker there would be no
castings nodded, and without castings
railroads trains would be few and far
between. The pattern-maker is abso-
lutely Indispensable. Inventions are
born of necessity every day in the rail-
road shops, and to the pattern-naker
falls the lot of making the first model
of the newborn invention. The age of
invention is not new, but 1T IS steadily
progressive, and the pattern-maker is
always on hand to make possible the