Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1901-01-01
WASTE or RAILWAYS
NOW oLD LOCOMOTIVES, CARS, RAILS,
ETC., ARE DISPOSED OF.

At cnce the deneht ana the dread OF great
railroad systems. No sooner does one
magnificent locomotive place a railroad
1t the front Of civilizations line of ad-
vance than better engine comes along
and proudly plows it into the waste pile.
Admired and advertised today, the new
locomotive is sold tomorrow to logging
road and thereafter groans out Its time
on steep grades under loads that make
it's round feet slip on the rusty rails.
What Is true Of the engine IL true of the
rails, of the ties under the rails and Of
the fastenings that hold them together.
The statement Of the purchasing agent
for the New, York Central makes this
fact Of railroad wastage most graphic.
He said, 1--WE receive over 81, 100000
year for the waste material of our 5000
miles Of track" He got out his book and
after going over it carefully added, Eyes,
we get an average of 100000 a month"
On this basis all the railroads Of the
United States would dispose Of about
$50 ,OOO, 900 of wastage every year. The
| theory and practice Of economy therefore
are an important part of railroad mans.
| educatiOn.
1--WE could save more than we do" con-
| tinued the agent, 'but often it would cost
more than dollar to save dollars
worth Of material. To one not familiar
with railroading it might look like pure
waste to let the dollars worth of nate
rial be lost, but nothing is worth saving
unless it will sell for more than it costs
to save it. 1t is on this theory that we pay
pc attention t. stubs at pencils and to
empty ink bottles, short lamp wicks and
triHes Of that class, although have,
! heard that some systems do save them.
1 sSA 49, 3vnk
concern. we could perhaps get some re-
bate by returning the bottles, but the
saving would not justify itself. Broken
lamp chimneys, on the other hand, are
another proposition. Many Of these are
OF flint glass, and We save the pieces. It
is surprising how many glass globes and
articles Of good glass are broken among
our thousands Of employees. Every
month we gather up the fragments and
| sell the mass to the glass men for one
fourth Of q cent q pound.
Every scrap Of iron that falls BY the
wayside, every bit Of iron bored out In
drilling holes. every broken bolt, old raih
and old hinge 10 saved and sold when
there 10 bulk enough. This material
amounts to hundreds Of thousands Of
pounds monthly. The iron waste IL
gathered easily and practically without
cost. The borings are swept up In the
repair houses and factories In the mere
operation Of keeping the places in order.
A for iron that drops from trains On tho
road, the section hands pick that up %
they chance to see Il, toss It on their
handcars and let, Il accumulate at their
section house. When there IL enough to
make It worth while. = train takes It to
market. @
.Empty barrels. carboys pieces Of
rope, scraps OF gold leaf used for letter
Ing. sections Of rubber hose. rubber cloth
and such things have: q market value that
makes them worth saving. The chief
items Of saving are In the heavy articles.s
We get about $25 900 Z year for discard
Cd ties. These ties are Of yellow pine,
and when cut into short blocks make
splendid FIRE. Some Of the best people Of
this city use them in their old fashioned
fireplaees. We sell the ties for dime
each, and they are cheap fuel at that.
i We cannot afford to haul them to market
from the distant places on the line, ans.
what the farmers and section men there
do not want to take free we burn up TO-
get them out of the way. Thefts of ma
terial from the roadside are 80 trifiing
i as to be not worth considering.
trails come next to ties in value The
best and heaviest rails must be used on
the main lines all the time. Many rails
are retired from the main line while still
good for lighter service. These are often
placed on side tracks. Often rail- that
is OF no value to us>at all is good enough
for some road using lighter locomotives
or on some backwoods logging road, and
SO it goes to another master, serving until
finally worn out. when it finds its way to
/ ~, oIHs.~ a. So,
haps "a a rail. but more likely in some
other form.
"The greatest loss in operation is in the
locomotives and cars. There as so many
new types of engines and cars that it is
impossible to tell fairly what they cost.
But for the purpose of showing waste we
will strike an average. A new engine
costs from $4,000 to $4,000, and will
last about Is years by being shifted from
the main line to side lines and switches.
In the end it is sold for about $1,000 or
81 GOO, according to condition. 1t may be
utterly unfit for our work and yet besof
value to some smaller road. or to some
factory for shunting cars among ware
houses Often. however. an engine ac-
tually wears ont in our service. and then
it goes directly into the melting pot On
every engine there will be certain parts
that are not worn, and the old machine is
carefully dismantled of all valuable ma
terial before it il sold as scrap.
"Old cars are passed along the line in
much the same way. A new passenger
coach costs about $4,000 and after Is
years OF service will bring about $500.
A new freight car will cost from $3.50 to
500 and will sell after Is or 20 years
service for about $150. New cars are al
q A. IA.