The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-06-25
TOUR THE SHOPS.
Merchant Guests Visit Great
Santa Fe Improvements.
John Purcell Explains Work of
Different Depa II
PICKS UP AN ENGINE.
One Is Handled as If It Were
Toy.
Most Interesting Feature of the
Weeks Outing.


the trip through the Santa Fe shops
during the forenoon today. The Santa
Fe shops form by far the largest sin
sle institution in Topeka
| Nearly 1000 people went through on
the trip this morning. Most of the
number were out of town people, but
there was lively sprinkling of To-
peka people in the crowd. Topeka peo-
| pie as general rule have but little
idea of the vastness of this big insti-
tuition, and Topeka people could learn
many facts that would prove of no
little interest by trip through the
shops occasionally.
The crowd gathered at the Santa Fe
depot and a special train was in wait
| irg to conduct all in the crowd to the
east end of the shops. Eight large
coaches, including one chair car for the
ladies composed the train which left
| the Santa Fe depot at $3.50 this morn
| ing.
| number of prominent Santa Fe
officials were in the party and lent their
efforts as chaperones and personal
conductors Prominent among the Of
ficials were John Purcell. superintend-
ent of the shops; w. c. Garvey, local
freight agent: ). c. Burnett, general
fl eight agent; L. NJ Gain chief cleo
trician; B. f. Akers. chief clerk in the
division freight agents office; F. J.
McKie, chief clerk in the office of the
general superintendent and a number
| of others.
! The party was unloaded at the east
end of the new addition TO the shops
about a mile east of the Santa Fe
depot The freight sheds were the first
place visited. The guests of the city
were shown through the long 900 foot
building which houses this big depart
ment, employing 300 men. Mr.. Purcell
explained the different buildings and
their purposes to the guests and every
question of information was answered.
The new planning mill was the next
| object of interest. In this building
| where eighty men are employed $1,000
| feet of lumber on the average is planed
| and fitted up for use in coaches of
| various kinds and the different type of
which surprised many of the guests
was the big machines boring a square
| hole in heavy oak timber.
/ The new steel car shops and the
| blacksmith shops where all the metal
work in connection with steel freight
cars is done, was an object of special
| interest. The shops in which the steei
car wheels are turned out has an out
put of 800 pairs of wheels a day.
| Between the new shops addition and
the old shops is a lumber yard which
extends for two blocks and which con-
tains the vast supplies of timber neces-
sary to use in the work of the big
| shops. The dry kilns in which the lum-
| viewed by the crowd. These kilnS con-
| tain capacity of eight car loads of
| lumber which are dried in 1t every day.
| In the big lumber yards are located
not form much Of an idea of the
| amount of space occupied by this
amount of lumber until he sees the big
piles in the Santa Fe yards.
Passenger Engine Lifted.
One of the greatest centers of inter-
est and where more was seen than any
other place, to awe the crowds was the
machine shops which every day give
employment to 1,200 men of Topeka
The big cranes which pick locomotives
UP and carry them around to any Sec
tion of the big building thousand
feet in length, were put to a practical
| test for the edification of the visitors
One of the big 500 type of passenger
engines. which weighs in the neighbor-
hood of 250,000 pounds, was lifted up
| and was carried from one end of the
shops to the other. 1t was swung
| around over the heads of the guests
much in the same manner that a mon
key handles a cocoanut in tropical
forest.
Another great object of interest
| was found in the big blacksmith
shops where ESQ men are employed
| In this shop large iron shaft
weighing nearly a ton was heated to
a white heat and then pounded into
Shape ny d ldISc hammer, the
whole process being enacted for the
benefit of the crowd.
The electrical light plant with the
| big dynamos. motors and storage
batteries and other electrical ap-
p1iances furnished considerable in
terest to the crowd.
The passenger car sheds and the
brass finishing department were
viewed. In the brass department
Mr.. Purcell took a bunch of old brass
screws dipped them into two differ
ent solutions and in the brief space of
ten seconds turned out handful of
new looking screws which were
eagerly seized as souvenirs of the oc-
casion.
The fire department headquarters
were visited. Ten men man the
Il headquarters at all hours of the day
and night. A large reading room
with periodicals of all kinds and
: descriptions, baths and other i'm
portant features make this a great
tentiof to the fact that the Santa Fe
} had 5000 feet more hose than the
city department The shops are well
provided with safeguards against
fire. Hose reel houses and fire plugs
are located all through the grounds
and building and Gamewell fire
alarm system furnishes adequate
methods of spreading the alarm.
). The large finished material plat
form was passed over, where the i'm
i mense piles of castings and other
materials are placed ready for in
stant use.
Not the least in interest among the
buildings visited was the large gem
era1 storehouse. Here supplies for use
all over the entire system are carried.
The stock represented amounts to
nearly s1.500.000.