Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-27
DINING Ar THE ToP SEED
COOkinE and Serving Meals 60 Trav-
elera on the Railroad
Flyers.

SO Ia the comfortable surroundings OF a
car Of this kind and sip your coffee while
the telegraph poles are fllclxing BY You at
the rate Of sixty miles an hour you take IL
all as a matter of course, just as YOU do
the high speed and the safety OF modern
! railrOading. IL you stopped to consider the
matter at all you would probably conclude
that the running Of the dining car service
on any railroad system Is considerable OF
a feat And II Is. 80 much 90 thae the men
who are at the heads OF the service draw
very comfortable salaries in exchange for
their brains and energies.
On the really up-to-the-minute lines.
where every detail Of the department is
looked after with the. utmost care, 1t is
possible for the traveller TO procure every
edible that is In season and many that
are very distinctly not so. 1t takes a very
elaborate set Of machinery to keep the
larders and lockers OF fifteen or twenty
modern dining cars stocked so as TO be
able TO meet every reasonable and unreas-
enable order. The travelling public Of Amer
lea wants what It wants when It wants II,
and the line that is best able to cater to its
whims Is going to get the most Of the
high-class passenger business.
The later cars Of the dining type are
being made larger. The older cars seated
eighteen people, but later ones accommo-
date twenty-four very comfortably. A car
carries a crew of six men, a conductor,
two cooks and three walters. With this
force on duty any party who may desire
can have an elaborate dinner served on
short notice. The ice chests and lockers
are stored with all varieties Of meats,
fresh and boiled. Where 1T Is possible TO do
so without conflicting with the game laws,
game Is carried and served to those who
have the price. Wet goods Of various sorts
are handled In the states that allow the
sale Of liquors.
When the car is on the road the con-
ductor Is the commander of all its crew.
The head man of the Kitchen is the chef
and his assistant is known merely as a
cook The chef Of a dining car hs to be
scientist in the realm of the culinary. In
the old days the chef went his own sweet
way in the preparation OF dishes OF vari-
Gus sorts. They tasted adj right, of course,
but he was not inclined to be economical.
That sort Of a thing has been changed
The chef is no longer inyulted when he is
given a book Of standard recipes and told
to follow them exactly. Everything must
be conducted nowadays from a formula.
So much Of this and so much Of that,
everything being measured by pounds,
ounces or liquid measures He no longer
takes a pinch of this or a handful of some
thing else. There is no mystery any more
about his art II a passenger of the
finicky type insists, he can be told the
exact ingredients of any dish that he has
questioned.
The kitchen is the really interesting part
of the dining car. There is not very much
space at the command of the chef and his
assistant. The range, the lockers and the
Ice boxes pretty we'll fill all the floor area.
The range and the heating ovens I'LL one
side Of the wall, water tanks and filters
are suspended overhead and on the other
side are storage boxes, kitchen utensils
and a row Of cupboards that reach to
the deck sash of the car.
Just back OF the kitchen, between it and
the dining room, is little pantry full of
linen and silver. and in this the walters
come to give the orders and receive their
trays. Every article Of food and table
equipment has its place, and if 1t is not
found there when wanted there is trouble
for somebody Everything that is at all
pershable is kept in a refrigerator.
Walters are each allowed SIS per month
for breakages that are bound to happen.
Ou6 OI lnS walters 10 uSIdlleu as llhSu
man, and it is his duty to "check in" the
soiled and clean linen at the close of
every trip. The local storerooms have nu-
merous lockers, in which thousands of
dollars worth of table line of various
kinds is kept to meet emergencies.
The really valuable dining car superin-
tendent is the one who can guess accu-
rately what the travelling public is going
to want while moving from place to place.
He has to be a man of long experince In
gastronomy. He works days ahead, pre-
pairing a menu card that will appear on
all his cars at a certain day. The sales
from the cars are the indications as to
whether or not he has guessed right in
making up the bill of fare. Now and then
he takes it into his head to go out on the
road or down in the yards on little tour
OF inspection. He has learned the value
of cleanliness, and there is trouble in
large quantities for the crew that brings
in a car with little dust showing here
and there on the polished wood of the
tables or the walls. The superintendent
takes q handkerchief from his pocket and
rubs It gently along the woodwork, and IL
1t comes away soiled ever so little there
is a general board OF inquiry called, and
conductor and assistants are called up to