The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-06-27
A FRErGHT cAR,s ENp.
Brings Up i'm the Zone Yard 70 DC
Burned or Carted Away Piecemcal.

A Big Four live stock car was
showed on repair track in The Cr-
press yards Of the Missouri Pacific
Railroad one day last week. One
end was battered in, the sides we're
bulged out and the heavy tImbers
supporting the floor were broken and
splintered. II was out of service, as
any one could plainly see, although
the big capital letters, &C c G G."
looked boldly--even defiantly- at the
cars standing on the numerous stor-
age tracks near by, as IL to say:
They will fix me up and l will be
good for many more runs before
quit this business"
But as the car rolled on down the
repair track It creaked and g-naned
as II from many aches and pains. At
last 1t bumped hard against heavy
steel coal car, which was waiting for
a new draw bar. Then 1t seemed to
sigh and say pathetically:
II am all in"
Hello, old 1855, back again, ]
see, exclaimed the repair foreman
He stopped and looked at the car
critically. He shook his head and
chuckled: well, it's you for the
bone yard this time, sure" He gave
sign to his gang of workmen.
The Doneyard, as 1t is called, is
the place where all freight cars must
so, soon or late If they do not hap
pen to be caught in a wreck and
smashed to pieces or burned along
the right of way. They may cross
and recross the continent journey
from the Lakes to the Gulf, take
many side trips on branch lines, tie
up in railroad yards or private
switches for years and years. But at
last, when they are old and worn out,
Or battered and splintered beyond re-
pair, they all bring up in the bone
yard, and there they are burned.
Five freight cars were ablaze in
the boneyard when the Big Four car
was dumped there that afternoon.
Workmen first stripped it of every
thing of any value that could be used
In car repairing-the side doors, the
better part of the lumber, the air
brakes and couplings, the springs and
some of the iron. Then they rolled
the body off the trucks and it crashed
down the embankment and landed
near pile of scrap iron where an
other car had been burned. Four or
five boys and two women, with axes,
made a rush for it and began hani-
mering off the splintered boards and
carrying them away to their homes
for kindling and fuel. BY and by a
man built fire under each end of
the car, and then the flames cracked
about it until nothing was left but
pile of bent and twisted iron rods,
bolts, nuts and nails.
when a car is out of service, or is
wrecked so it will cost more to re-
pair it than it is worth, we send it
to the boneyard," the foreman ex-
planned. THAT is the easiest and
quickest way to dispose Of it, OF
course we make use of the trucks,
the draw bars, springs, brake coup
linge, and some of the wood work,
but \Je always burn what is left"
DO all the railroad companies
burn their worn out cars?" the lore
man was asked by bystander.
Some of them do some of them
DON'T he replied. Some of the
roads strip the cars of everything of
value, then tear them to pieces and
sell the wood at so much for a load.
But we burn them. We send an aver
age of a dozen cars to the boneyard
every month from these yards. 1 do
not know just how many they send
to the boneyard at other places on
the system. Ask me something easyl
could not begin to tell how many
freight cars the Missouri Pacific owns.
Our business here is to repair cars
and we repair hundreds. l suppose
the company buys new cars as fast
as the old ones are put out of SER
vice. New cars are coming to us all
the time. There is q string of them
over there"
He pointed to a track on which
stood freight train that had Just
pulled into the yards.
What is the average life of a
freight car? Well, there you've got
me. don't know. Some of them
don't last long; some of them last
for years"
What do you do when a car be-
longing to another railroad is too
badly wrecked or worn out to re-
pair?"
IF car comes to us from another
road and il is in such a condition
that we can't get 1t off our hands.
why, there is nothing to do but -
cfr