The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-28

Plant to be Handsomely Painted
Few persons are aware that since
h Atlantic Coast Line consolidated its
car building shops in Wilmington.
they are the most extensive south
of Baltimore. They have turned out
magnificent trains of cars of the vesUi-
buled Pullman pattern. and The Mes
senger some ten days & mentioned
that another train of four elegant Pull
mans was being constructed. In ad-
dition to the extensive rebuilding and
repair Of coaches. the shops are build
ing 100 box cars a month Fifty box
cars and % fiat cars have just been
finished for the Charleston and West
ern Carolina branch Of the Coast Line.
During this month 40 box cars and 80
fiat cars have been turned out of the
shops. Yesterday the painters put the
finishing touches on Is box cars and 4
fiat cars. Nine fiat cars which had
beer finished and painted were sent
out on the line yesterday.
a Messenger reporter who dropped
into the paint shops yesterday was
kindly shown through by Mr.. G.. r.
SdsoLS IL 4OiCllldll. iOllS-INe pdllll-
ers and letterers were busy at work on
eight vestibuled Pullman cars to be
used on the main line this fall and
winter. Several of these cars Were
combination cars that have been trans
formed n Pullman's and one was an
elegant new car that has just been
completed in the car building depart
ment. One Of the four new cars men
toned recently was painted and turn
ed out on the yards ready for use on
Friday.
The paint shops occupy two brick
buildings, one Of which Is 70 feet wide
and go feet long and the other 20 feet
wide and $50 feet in length. Inside the
buildings are fourteen tracks on which
cars stand while they are being paint
ed. The cars are run into the paint
shops from a transfer pit, the track
tables of which are operated by COM
pressed air. The tables are operated
simply by pulling a lever inside the
shops, the compressed air being thus
turned on to tranfer the cars On the
table to any track in the shops.
Thousands of dollars worth of mate
rial are kept in the storeroom in one OF
the buildings. Here Mr.. Casey has his
private office, and in charge of the
storeroom is Mr.. H. NJ. Murphy, who,
with exactness weighs out to each
painter all material and issues a ticket
containing the amount. All material
left over is returned to the storeroom.
weighed again and returned to the
stock, while hat not returned is charg-
ed to the particular Job which Is being
worked upon, enabling the stock keep
er to calculate to the fraction Of cent
the cost Of painting every job.
In the stock room the paints for
freight and fiat cars are kept ia four
big iron reservoirs containing $50 gall
Ions QaPh and a1nnocida of them cfond
three more such reservoirs in which
are kept ~turpentine and oils. Tin
paints are mixed by compressed air
which is made by the steam engine In
an engine room along side one of the
buildings. By simply pulling down a
lever over the reservoirs the compress
ed air Is forced in at the bottom OF
each reservoir, causing h paint to
bubble and Toll violently, and this
mixing it thoroughly for use. Three
hundred gallons of paint can be mixed
by this e in two minutes, where
as, by the old hand method of mixing
paint in buckets the work would re-
quire the 1aborious efforts of two men
a day. After being mixed, the paints
are drawn off by fawcetts in any guam
tity desired. In this way there is not
only a great saving Of time and labor
but the shops r kept clean
In the storeroom there r paints OF
every possible description, 1relSnt
blacks, japans, varnish. oils, and other
material.
The shops also include watts for bur-
nishing brass and bright metal pieces.
In n vat a bath of I've removes all
grease and dirt from the metal pieces,
and then they are given a bath in
strong acid that makes them as bright
as if they were new. The pieces are
then FURNISHED. and lacquered and
placed in a ase to dry off. There Is a
vat for cleaning paint buckets WIFI
are let up and down in the material
which cleanses them.
The cars which are turned out Of
the paint shops are models of artistic
painting and lettering, and no work
Of the kind can be surpassed in Ameri-
ca The PullmanS are all painted IN
regulation bottle greer.
The men in the shops will Don be
employed in painting every building,
wooden or brick. connected with the
plant. The colors are to be the regular
railroad color, sage greer trimmed
with dark bottle green. Already the
side with cold water paint has COM
menced This work is done by COM
pressed air, the paint being sprayed on
the ceilings and walls by rubber hose
with spray nozzles. In this way the
withdrawing is lone very rapidly by
n man, or as many as may be put
to work on a building. The outside
painting is to be lone by hand.
When all the buildings shall have
been painted the railroad yards will