The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-30
Santa Fe Awards Fifty Thous-
I and Worth of Contracts.
Money Nearly All forlNew Build
ings in Shop District.
HALF MILE IN LENGTH
Addition to Car Repair Shops
Makes One Immense Structure.
New Lock Building for WOrkmen
andTelephOne System for Shops.

Contracts have been let by the
Santa Fe for improvements in the
shop district amounting to $49, { D
and this does not include nearly $40
900 necessary to rebuild the portion OF
the boiler and machine shops de-
stroyed by fire Thanksgiving day The
money will all be expended for new
buildings with the exception of $1,000
which will be required for remodeIing
the round house and $2,375 which will
be expended in rebuilding the smoke
stack recently constructed but which
has proven to be defective.
Work has already been commenced
on some of the buildings and Will be
on the others as soon as the material
can be secured and will be completed
within the next few months as all OF
the buildings which are to be con-
structed are badly needed. The largest
building will be 165 by 2OS feet, con-
Meeting the car sheds and planning mill
and will cost $23.500. At present
there is no building in which the fin
ished material coming from the plan
ing mill can be stored and if. as it
frequently happens, the car repairers
are not ready to use it, it remains ex-
posed to the elements and is damaged
to a greater or less extent.
When this building is completed it
will fill in a gap and make one build
ing almost a half mile in length. as
the car repair shops are 900 feet in
length, the planning mill almost as
long and the building which will con-
meet them 165 feet in length. Another
building 80 by ESQ feet will be built
west of the steel car shops and will
be an addition to this building which
is far too small for the purpose for
which it is used.
a locker building VIII be con-
structed for the use of the employees
in the territory adjacent to the 1oca-
ton which it will occupy and it will
cost $500 and afford accommoda-
D-I~r L
will have an individual locker in
which to keep his clothing. He will
be given key and when he comes to
work in the morning his street cloth
ing can be placed in his locker where
1t will be absolutely secure while he is
at work
Another locker will be constructed
for the use of the men employed
about the lumber yard and though it
will be considerable smaller than the
first it's cost will be $500. Two
1avatories will be constructed for the
use of the workmen. after their days
work is completed and these will cost
$1,75O each. The basins will be of
white enamel ware and the buildings
supplied win hot and cold water.
One of Largest in World.
The Topeka shops are not only the !
largest of their kind in the west but
in the world and there is not a thing
required in the operation of a railroad /
lIldl CdiHOI De luTneQ out at the santa |
Fe shops, Topeka, Kansas, U. S. A. |
The area covered by the shops is that |
of Il good sized farm, 10 acres being |
included in the tract and much of the /
space is under cover and the plans |
now under Amusement contemplate |
still further improvements.
While 1T is easily the biggest thing |
in the city from a standpoint of a pay
roll it is one of the institutions which |
has not been affected by the money
stringency which has placed MANY of |
the larger institutions in the east out |
OF business temporarily at least Not
so at the shops, as there has not been
a day since the clearing house rule
has been in effect in this country that
new men have not been added to the
pay roll and one day so additional
men were employed.
Every man who is suitable for any
OF the varied classes of work about
the shops is placed at work. and at
that there is a shortage of men in sew
eral of the departments. Engines are
ordered by the dozen and it has been
but short time since an order was
placed for AZ of the big machines and
they are being set up as fast as posi-
Bile and placed in service.
One of the most wonderful sights
about the shops is the planning mill
which daily prepares from forty to
fifty thousand feet O" lumber for the |
car repair shops. The really wonder
tut feature IS that all of the machin-
~ - Supplleu Win power from one
immense steam engine which is fed
on the refuse from the saws planes
ana waste about the building. There L
is no scooping, dragging or handling
about the process and the big building
is as free from dust as the ordinary
store building
Underneath each machine is a. re-
ceptacle which catch es the refuse and
II is carried upward by means of air
shaftS and conveyed to the boilers
Where 1t is fed into the furnaces an
tomatically. Over the boiler room
there Is an immense iron box and into
this the shavfngs and saw dust first
rams and this acts as a reserve to be
used in case that the machinery is noti
supplying tho demands of the fur
naces- Not only does the saw dust
furnish fuel for, the furnaces but if ia
shipped to other points on the line of
the Santa Fe where it is used in a va
riety of ways.
To Weigh the Cars.
An enormous pair of car scales are
being installed at this time with ca
pacity OF thousands of tons for the
purpose OF weighing incoming and I
ty and 1t is this scale which is re-
sponsible for the eapaeity narIxs
found on all freight. cars = ;
The privilege OF. spending a week in |
the shops If it could be obtained Il
would be of vastly greater value to
time spent in travelling about the
country. But few Topeka people an
prectate the enormous amount of
money and the magnifcence of the +
institution which has been building in 4
their midst within the past few wears
ment has been made during this
e ; 8 I s- 81 L