The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-31
Concentrated Hotel Is the
Railroad Dining Car.
And Kitchen Is IA Feet Long
and 2 1-2 Feet Wide.
THERULES ARE STRICT
Economy in Space as Well as in
Supplies.
Other Items OF General Inter-
est in Traffic World.

What would your cook say if you told
her to prepare a meal for 100 guests,
and provided a kitchen with a floor
space IA feet long and 214 feet wide
and a pantry about six by four? 1t is
safe to say that she would give no.
tice'' before you had time to explain
that you wanted a menu offering as
wide a choice as that of the best ho-
tells. And if you added that the kitch-
en- and dining room would be travel
ing at a speed of from so to 70 miles
and hour while the meal was being
cooked and served, imagine the 1ndlg-
nation of your outraged servant.
Yet this is what IS being done on
the railroads of the country every day,
and these limitations imposed by the
lack of space and the necessity for
speed are not the greatest that must
be overcome. Did you ever stop to in
quire how the little restaurants dart
ing about the continent are stocked
and controlled? Hotel managers know
the difficulty of keeping track of sup
plies and equipment when they are
standing in one place, but suppose they
were in so or 90 different localities and
moving fast as powerful engines
could haul them towards 80 or GU other
localities! The problem would then as
sumo proportions that would make the
hotel man gasp.
The solving of the problem of feed
travel on the American railroads each
day has been one of the latest develop
ments in railroading. A glimpse into
the inside workings of the service is of
interest to everyone who travels ana
eats.
Different roads have different meth
DDS, of course. but the system on those
which give the best service does not
vary greatly. On the Pennsylvania,
which was one of the pioneers in this
3n1I iese
ing cars and restaurants with an once
in the new station in New York city
who has charge of the service on the
lines east of PittSburg.
Under his supervision there are 10
steel dining cars. 10 wooden cars, ana
six station restaurants. The normal
force of employees working under ms
direction is about 112O. Last year
there were 100000 meals served in the
dining cars on this road alone, and l.
1893 900 in the restaurants; total OF
3123,000 meals, everyone OF which had
to be duly recorded and checked against
the amount of supplies given out, ana
the cash receipts, in the office of the
superintendent.
Every year the dining car service is in
creasine in extent and in efficiency. 1t
was not till the fall of 1882 that the Penn
sylvania began to serve meals on ltS
trains In that year four dining car, cars
cd. In 1906 the company was operating
80 dining cars s. trains, while today
Provisions for the restaurants are
bought direct and kept in their own store
rooms and refrigerating plants, but nat
urally this cannot be done on dining cars
The base of supplies for them is a COM
nnissariat. When car is put into SerV-
ice it is fitted out with standard equip
ment costing about 5000. The conductor
or steward. then takes charge and makes
ont a requisition for necessary supplies
lie is responsible for everything contain
ed in the car, and if a bottle of cream or
an oyster fork is missing at the end of a
run it is known 20 minutes after the car
gets back to the central station at Sunny
side or Love island When the steward
turns in his he reports any breakage
of dishes, or loss of silverware through
the activities of souvenir collectors, and
the loss is Immediately replaced from the
reserve stores. The steward is the cap
tain of the dining crew which consists
of nine men besides himself four cooks
and five walters. All the cooks and wait
ers employed by the Pennsylvania are
colored and the latter are assigned to
crews according to size and shade; the
short mulattoes on one and the tall
blacks on another. When the meal begins
and they line up by their tables, they pre-
sent an even rank.
In the little dining car kitchen every
thing is arranged with marvellous in
genuity in the economy of space. Rules
issued to the chef provide for the very
best care of everything entrusted to him.