The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-04
RAILROAD NEWS.
Pullman Company Will Make
Steel Cars.
Proposed Shop to Be Biggest
Of Kind in the World.
MEANS SAVING OFLIVES
Coaches to Be Proof Against
Fire and Demolition.
Gossip and Matters Of Interest
in Railroad Circles.

Chicago is to have a new show place
for the globe trotters.
Like the stockyards and her other
typical sights, this will be primarily
work place. It will be at Pullman,
where the Pullman company began this
week to work out plans for making chi
cago the worlds center in the manu-.
facture and commercial exploitation OF
the "wreckproof's steel passenger coach.
This is not exactly the Pullman COM
pany'S invention. Any one might have
taken the lead in the manufacture or
steel cars. The point is that nobody
has and the determination of the Pull
man company to stake its millions on
the future demand for this costly prod
uct is. likely. to make the year 1907 a
memorable one in the record of prog
ress and the saving of human life.
This step was determined upon at q
meeting of the directors some six weeks
ago. Among those who are said to have
discussed it at the time are ]. Pierpont
Morgan, w. Seward Webb, Frederick
w. Vanderbilt, and President Robert
T. Lincoln.
Plant to Be Constructed Soon.
A majority vote authorized President
Lincoln to proeeed with the construc-
ton of a new plant on the Pullman
property, near One Hundred and Fourth
street. Details were left, as usual, in
the hands of the management.
President Lincoln already had worked
the scheme out to the point where 1t
ordinates. This was done a fortnight
ago, and this week General Manager
Thomas Dunbar set the drafting de-
partment at Pullman at work on plans
for a new plant with an initial capacity
of 300 steel cars per year. 1t will be
built in close proximity to the big
foundry at the north end Of the Pull
man works.
what will the new steel coach be
like?' repeated Pullman official.
''Well, just watt and see.
I'VE are building a sample car. so to
speak, in our regular car shops now,
and will run it out for inspection in a
few weeks. AS, a forecast of the twen-
tieth century coach 1 think it will prove
of considerable Public interest.
To BE Made Entirely of Metal.
I'm the first place, it is exactly what
it's name declares it-an all metallic
coach. The foundation is of steel, of
course. but considerably heavier than
we usually make Nhem, and the body of
the car is built t6 match. Our model
car hasn't a stick of wood in it, alumni
ium 0and other metals making success
to continue that expensive policy in the
manufacture of cars for commercial
purposes it IS stiff little too early to
-staee---HVe -eaTa--tlarss out-a--eomfGrtabl a-
and at the same time artistic sleeper
without a splinter Of wood, but 1t costs
money, and fthefeiSis a limit to the
amount of money that a Pullman sleep
er can earn on its investment"
Il.
He added that the new coaches, in
any case, would have so little wood
about, them as to. be practically nom
com busttble, and would be- So, solid
that. the usual Demolition Which takes
place in a railfo8d wreck would be
practically impossible.
1--WE already feel that the Pullman
COACH built as .it..is, has an enviable
minimum in the record of accidents
and fatalities" he said. 1.-The records
-NeNs to
sion show that few people, compare
lively speaking, meet with mtshaps in
Pullman. cars partly, of course, on
account of their advantageous loca-
count of their solidity. But the new
coach, we are confident, will prove
nearly equivalent to life insurance
The directors not only believe in the
future of steel cars but seem de-
termined, if possible, to push them
into general service"
Experiments Made by Railways.
The Pennsylvania railroad made
several steel cars last year in its shops
in Altoona. Pa. but has not seen fit to
tackle 1t on the scale which the Pull
man people will undertake. One or
two others out of the thirty-nine car
shops in the United States have made
tentative beginnings. Chicago and
Northwestern. Commuters" recently
caught a glimpse of such a coach in
That company has not vet determined,
however, to go into the market for
them to any great. extent
Meanwhile the town of Pullman is
agog over the proposed erection of
the new car shops Officials Of the
company refuse to give out any de-
tails, but rumor says that the plant
will call for LOO men,. General Man
ager Dunbar said it was impossible to
tell how soon ground would be broken
for the new enterprise. Tt is known
that the management hopes, however,
to have the building under way within
sixty days at the outside.
Anxiety Among the WoodwOrkers.
There is one group at Pullman
and a pretty large group at that-the
members of which are beginning to
wonder what effect the new move will
have on their welfare. They are the
skilled woodworkers, the artists in
strange woods, finishers, and polish
ers of the fanciful. mahogany, maple,
and oak interiors, which grace the
present Pullman sleepers and the 9TH