The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-05-28
RAILROAD NEWS.
Frame For New Santa Fe Black
smith Shop Nearly Completed.
The First Of the New Shop Plant
to Be Built in Topeka.
TO BE FINISHED JUNE 1
Steel Work Has Been Under
Construction Five Weeks.
Veteran Dispatcher Quits the
Memphis at Fort Scott.

The completion of the steel frame for
the new Santa Fe blacksmith shop is an
event confidently expected to occur
with the expiration of the month of
May Making allowance sufficient for
all ordinary delays, it is calculated that
by next Saturday the last rivet will
have been driven and the frame fin
ished, ready for the remaining con
struction work This is the beginning
of a new and better era for Topeka, re-
sulting finally in the building Of rail-
road shops which shall scarcely have an
equal in all the west
The inception Of this particular part
of the enterprise dates back nearly a
year, when the plans for the new shops
were drawn and after awhile the foun-
dalton of the blacksmith shop put in.
Then arose doubts as to whether To-
peka would stand by the undertaking
financially, and assist the Santa F'e in
constructing the new plant The work
of building was stopped until the peo-
PIE could show where they stood on the
proposition. This matter was decided
at the municipal election in April over
whelmingly in favor o the bond propo-
SitiOn, and the railroad CON pany at
once prepared TO build. As soon as the
result of the election became known
the bridge gang working under Frank
Hammond in New Mexico was ordered
by wire TO return to Topeka with all
possible haste and begin the cOnstruc-
ton of the new shop Five weeks ago
today the erection of the blacksmith
shop frame was begun and has been
carried on with surprising rapidity to
its completion. The gang of WOrkmen
which has done this is composed of 50
men. nearly all practical bridge build
ers, and under the direction of Frank
Hammond. who has several gangs of
bridge builders along the Santa Fe. All
except a few of these men receive 81
per day for their services, and the IA
thing remarkable They have put to-
gether 500 tons of steel and have driven
$1,000 field" rivets. It is interesting to
note how this riveting process goes on.
There are six gangs of four men each
doing this work. one man has charge
of a forge by means of which the rivetS
are heated to a white heat Then the
forge man with a pair of tOngs losses
to another member of the gang the hot
rivet, which is caught by the latter
with a powder can, and is Immediately
inserted and riVeted in the place where
wanted. Each gang puts in on an av-
erage of $50 rivetS a day, and the men
show great skill in doing the work
In this framework there are seven
teen trusses weighing twenty-five tons
each. The trusses We're assembled on
the ground. and by means of the large
derrick or traveller shown in the cut
were raised into place and then fast
ened together. Then as rapidly as this
was done the traveller was moved back
and a new truss raised
The dimensions of the building are
400 by 100 feet, with a height of 43 feet
from the ground to the peak of the roof
Following the completion of the frame
the brick and carpenter work viii be
begun. The roof will be partly of tile
and partly of gravel Already excava-
lions are being made in the north end
of the shop for two big trip-hammers,
which are part Of the equipment Of
the blacksmith shop These excavations
are 16 feet deep, and in then Will be
built a concrete foundatia-- -----, which
the hammers are to rest The work Of
painting the frame has been begun
and two coats of lead colored paint viii
be put on before the shop is completed
The cost of erecting the steel alone is
about IS. 200. this including only the Ia
Dor that has been put in, and not men
tioning the cost of the material itself
The construction of the shop is to go on
without interruption. and it is thought
within ninety days the building viii be
ready for occupancy.
The erection of the steel frame of the