Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-07-23

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that the car must be handled with care
until il is unloaded and placed upon
the repair tracks. Another card de-
notes the condition of the air brakes.
The car may be in such shape that it
must so at the rear of the train, and
have no connection with air. or it may
DE that it can be run between cars
c; air, but that the reservoir of the car
must he cut out, the air simply passing
through the pipes of the car, without
having any effect as to setting the
brakes upon it. Box cars with leaky
roofs must be transferred to some dis
tinct line of of traffic, such as the car
rying of coke.
No one can well doubt. that the csr
repairers are skilled workmen. They
must be able to discern checks on a
wheel and know that eventually it may
mean a crack which will develop into
broken wheel. A broken wheel, in
turn, may mean fearful wreck. When
a man begins as a car repairer he must
first work about the repair track with
some one who is experienced, and be-
fore he learns perfectly every part Of
the trade should spend, perhaps, two or
three years. 1t would seem that these
men would receive big pay, but they
do not get as much as in many Of the
other departments. Western roads, it
is said, pay men more than the east
ern for this work. In some parts of
the eastern and central states they get
but 1912 cents an hour, while the
sWitchmen of the same locality get in
the neighborhood of 25 cents an hour
This the repairers believe is bit
unjust. and they are now in some sec
tions Of the country asking that their
wages be raised.
OF late there has been a tendency
to change the plan of this work to thai
Of piecework, but the change has not
yetsbeen in effect .ong enough for the
man to feel just sure how they like
it. BY the piecework plan they are
paid certain scale rate for each
separate bit of work they do. For
example, if there is to be a sill put
into a car the workman is paid the
scale rate for placing sills. The ques-
tons which arise, however, relate to
whether he is to be paid for the extra
work. he must do in tearing away
timbers and bolts in disabled car
prior TO putting in the new sill. In
some instances this would require
long time; in other instances not so
long.
Wrecking crews are usually station
ell at two or three points on a diyi-
sion. There is usually one large stea m
wrccker, with a lifting capacity Of so
tons, and then there will be one or
two hand-wreckers. The men on these
wrcckers receive the same wages as
..-e car rcpalrcrs who work on the re-
pairs tracks, except that for extra time
the men on the wreckers receive about
20 cents an hour. The average wreck
CT carries q crew of 12 men. These,
of course, are skilled in their particu-
lar line. The modern machinery with
which they work is marvellous in many
respects Every one is familiar with
the remarkably slu.t TN" Vat is re-
CURED to clear track in this day.
That which would require but few
hours now would have taken several
days a quarter-century ago.
The average American railroad sys-
TEN employs several thousand men
in it's repair departments alone. In
the big shops of the companies the
largest numbers are employed, but
even in small cities as high as 125
men will be kept steadily, at work.
Inese men are capable cI' building a