The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-30
CAR WORKS KEPT BUSY.
Georgia Company Finishing the
Last of a /, 900 Car Order.

Last or a 1.OUD Gar OfdeF.
The renewed activity that has charac-
terized railroads all over the country for
the last few months and the CONSEQUENT
demand for new cars calls attention to
the fact that in the Georgia Car Manu-
featuring Company Savannah has one of
the best equipped plants for the manu-
facture of cars in the country, and that
the fact is so well real zed by the rail-
roads of the country that the factory is
kept busy the year round.
While 4he factory was established in
1897 its first work was in repairing cars
and IT was not until the present year
that the manufacture of the completed
car was attempted So successful has it
been, however, that it has been able to
compete with the largest concerns of its
kind in the country. Nor are the con-
tracts secured received from merely local
lines which. were il the case might be
attributed to favoritism; on the contra
ry, the product of the factory has gone
not only all over this country, but even
20 Yucatan. and the company is even now
making an estimate on a number of cars
that are wanted for the banana trade of
Jamaica.
Since building completed cars was begun
the factory has built cars for the Florida
Central and Pennsuiar road, the Plant
System, the Triton and Northeastern, the
Jacksonville and Southwestern, the
BrowneH Improvement Company of Chi
cago, and Dolese & Shepard of the same
city, In addition to this record there is
being now delivered ehe last of an order
of 1000 cars for the Chicago and Alton
road, and is also engaged on an order Of
$50 cars for the Atlantic, Naldosta and
Western. In smaller quantities the COM
pany has shipped cars aiso to Cleveland,
and to Ironton. o.
The factory now has an order from
the Plant System for 100 box cars, on
which work will be begun within the next
day or two as soon as the material ar
rives. Other orders which are already
| booked. will keep the factory running at
its full capacity. ten to twelve cars a
day. until at least Nov. l.
The outlook for further orders just at
present is not quite so good as it has been,
said Mr. W. d. Thomas the contracting
agent yesterday. The trouble is this is
a presidential year. and there is dispo-
sition on the part of all large interests
TO hold back until the election is over. -
Continuing the discussion of the factory
and it's business, Mr. Thomas said that
! the chief source of trouble to contend
with is the difficulty of getting the ma
! terial rapidly as il is wanted, and
when wanted. We make it a point" he
! said, ito buy everything that we can at
home, giving Savannah the preference in
every case" and. he added. parentheti-
cally, IF all of the other manufacturing
| concerns end the people generally would
| do the same thing, the prosperity of the
| city would be materially increased" Get
| ting back to the material he said that all
of the lumber used was bought from Sa-
vannah merchants and is of the ong-leaf
| Georgia pine where oak is called for in
the specifications, that also, is of
Georgia growth. The wheels are bought
from Birmingham, and the axels from
Richmond.
As an example of the strength and good
workmanship of the product of the fac
tory Mr.. Thomas cited the case of a wreck
a few weeks ago on an Illinois road in
which one of the cars made by the fac
tory played an interesting part. II was
a coal car of $1,000 pounds carrying ca
pacity. and was loaded to the limit In
some inexplicabe manner the engine of
one of the trains got on top
of this load. and as the wrecking
crew found it inconvenient to re-
move ii the car carry its load of coal
and the additional weight of the heavy
locomotive was pulled into Bloomington.
The car was neither injured in the wreck,
nor damaged by the tremendous load.
The company is strictly Savannah
concern run by local officers and with
local capital. 1t employs so men, and
disburses monthly between $1,000 and 3d.
OJO in salaries. There are five miles of
tracks in its yard, and half a mile of
Shoes 10 feet vice. To accommodate its
worknen it is necessary to run each day
to and from the plant a special train.