The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-09-23
Ripley of Santa Fe
Urges a Plan.
Standard Freight Car
for All Roads.
POOL FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK
Slap at Politicians Who Make
the Laws.
Other Items of Interest in the
Traffic World.

Adoption by the railroads through
out the United States of a standard
| freight car. uniform in all of it's de-
tails, has been suggested by E. F.
Ripley, president of the Atchison, To-
peka & Santa Fe railway, in the fol-
lowing copyright article which APP
pears in the current issue of the OFF,
cial Railway List:
A few years ago L was returning
from the east and encountered on the
train a friend who was also in the
railroad business. Conversation nat
urally was on railroad subjects, and
/ mentioned that / had recently con-
tracted for a lot of freight cars for
which 1 had been obliged to pay near
ly S1,400 each. He expressed doubts
as to the wisdom of paying so much,
stating that he had recently con-
tracted for a car similar at least in
outward appearance for about $500.
Although perfectly conscious that the
difference was simply that which gem
orally exists between the price of a
good article and that of a poor one l
naturally pursued the subject with the
view of ascertaining what could be
said in favor of the cheap construc-
ton of box cars. | found that my
friend being strictly limited as to
available cash-having many needs
and little money-considered units as
of more consequence than quality;
that having, for instance. a million
available dollars he would prefer to
buy with it LOO cheap cars rather
than rs good ones. He did not deny
that the cheap car would be in the
long run more costly by reason of con-
tinued repairs, but believed that pres
ent use of more units was of more
consequence to him individually than
a cheapening of maintenance costs
through a series of years. And. more
over, he called my attention to the
fact that in practice a car was a car,
and that his cheap car would earn just
as much on other roads as mine
would. He admitted that when we
gave him a good car in return for Il
cheap one he got the best of the bar
gain and that when we put one of his
cheap cars in one of our trains we
took chances of accident by reason of
their weak construction: the danger
of broken wheels or aXles, of weak
draft rigging and broken stills are a
menace to the safety of our trains.
Uniform on All Roads.
All this led me TO consider the mat
ter of car construction seriously, and
the more I think of it the more it
seems to me that freight car cOnstruc-
ton should be upon certain standards
and uniform on all roads in the
United States-even if it is necessary
to resort to law in order to get uni
formity. Not only would this result in
a probability that a foreign car
would be in fit condition to be loaded
and run (Which is now very doubt
fuD: not only would danger from
cheap and inherently weak cars be
eliminated. but all parts would be in
Interchangeable and great savings would
be made by no longer hav-
ing to carry in stock certain items of
special equipment used in conformity
with the prejudices and idiosyncracies |
of the carbuilders. or other officers of
any one road and condemned by all |
others.
l suggest a standard car uniform in |
all essential details to be arrived at
by agreement if possible-arbitratio
if necessary. If in addition we could |
establish a freight car pool, or an
equipment company, the stock of
which should be owned by the rail- |
roads. so much the better. There is |
no sort of doubt that we shall be
forced to something of this kind even |
tually. Why not make the attempt |
to do it voluntarily and properly in
stead Of being obliged to do it by law
with the necessary accompaniment of
federal inspectors and the cumber-
some and often impractical BILE notions
of the particular politicians who hap
pen to be making laws for us at the
time.