The age-herald., 1902-01-24
ID BUILD STEEL FREIGHT CARS AT
 ITS ENSLEY PLANT Southern Car and Foundry Company to Enter a
 New Field
THIRD IN UNITED STATES
Building Will Be Completed and Ma chlnery Installed By Middle of Next Summer--Facts About
 Manufacture of Cars.

Not since the Tennessee Coal Iron and plant has there been an industrial enter prise set on foot in this district of such far-reaching importance as the manu- facture of steel cars. The Southern Car and Foundry Company, whose general of fees are in Birmingham, began last June Ensley, and the grading Is only now com pleted; but the buildings will be up and the machinery installed by the middle of next summer.
 The Birmingham Southern Railroad Company is putting down side tracks on this property, and witt two or three weeks the building material will be as- sembled and the work of construction under way
 Foundry to Be Added
 The Southern Car and Foundry Com panys site is about 500 feet west of the steel works, and only short distance from the coal mines. It embraces forty acres and the grading necessitated the removal of 5000 cubic yards of rock and earth This is perhaps the heaviest piece of grading ever done hereabouts. A tract more even might have been acquired somewhere near Ensley, but matters of first consideration from the view point of economy were proximity to coal and prox- unity to the steel plant, from which the company is to draw its working material.
 The Southern Car and Foundry Com pany started out to build at Ensley only car works, but Capt. J. M. Elliott the president, states that a malleable foundry Is to be added to the plant. The company already operates four large shops-one at Gadsden, one at Annlston, one at Lenoir City and one at Memphis. The Memphis plant is one of the largest and best equipped, and the Ensley plant will, in a general way, resemble 1t. The buildings will be chiefly of brick and steel.
 Some of the points about the Ensley plant will be:
 The first works in the south manufac- turing steel cars.
 Cost, s6OO,OOO.
 Capacity, twenty cars a day
 Number of wage-earners, 1000.
 No commissary, the workmen to draw their entire wages in money.
 We hope to be turning out steel cars by the first of July" said President EI- liott We will start with about 600 men. but the number will be increased to 1000 or more'
 No Commssary Policy.
 Asked about his mo commissary pol icy, Captain Elliott said he had always found 1t to work well. The men, he said, preferred the cash system. and he felt that 1t was good thing to be in har- mony with ones employees. In his sixteen years experience in the car business he had only the friendliest kind of relations with his men. He had never had a strike and was sure he never would have any trouble of that sort.
 Speaking of the use and advantages of steel cars for freight over those built of wood, Captain Elliott said:
 "The Northern lines have been using only steel cars for some time past, but the Southern lines have yet to adopt them. The Louisville and Nashville Com pany Is just now about to build 100 steel cars in its shops at Louisville by way of experiment.
 As soon as our company gets to work 1t will have orders from the Southern lines. We will have as much work as we can do. It is a noteworthy and cheering fact that the Southern railroad compan- les throw their business as far as possi- ble to Southern concerns. In few years after the Southern Car and Foundry Com pany has been operating its Ensley plant the coal cars built of wood will have dis- appeared from this part of the country.
 "Steel Is being used because of economy. The steel car Is more durable of course, and 1t Is more satisfactory In every way than the old style. The difference in the original cost between the wooden car and the steel car is $200. We get $500 for the old style and we will get 5000 for those we turn out at Ensley.
 When first took hold of the car brisi- ness the capacity of freights was about 40,000 pounds. It was advanced to 6O,OOO pounds, then to 5000 and now the capaci- ty reaches the 100000 mark. There will be no further increase for cars are as large now as the tunnels will admit"
 Iron for Car Wheels.
 twill steel ever take the place of cast iron in the manufacture of wheels for freight cars?" Captain Elliott was asked.
 "No," was the reply. Engineers have considered this question of steel for freight wheels and have experimented with them, but after all 1t is very sim pie proposition. Iron will always be used. This is one of the few cases where steel does not get the best of iron.
 Here are the facts: A steel wheel will wear three times as long as an iron wheel, say fifteen to twenty years. The iron wheel lasts six or seven years. Car companies guarantee iron wheels for five years. The iron wheel sells for $S, and when 1t has outlived its usefulness for rolling service the manufacturer takes it