Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-10-01
RIPLEY SUGGESTS
STANDARD SIZE
FOR CARS
Santa Fe President Has Excel
lent Plan for Uniformity in
Rolling Stock IhrOughO,..
Country.


Adoption by the railroads through
out the United states OF a standard
freight car. uniform IN an 0f 10 de-
tails, has been suggested by E. r.,
Ripley. president 81 the Atchlson To-
pcka and Santa re railway. in the
following article which appears In
the current issue o fthe Official Rail-
way List:
a few years ago I was returning
from the cast aud encountered on
the train n friend who was also In
the railroad business. Conversation
naturally WAS on railroad subjects,
and | mentioned that / hadt recently
contracted for a lot OF freight cars
for which I had ncon Obliged 20 pay
nearly 81. 600 each. lie expressed
doubts rs 10 the wisdom OF paying
80 much, stating that he had recently
contracted Tor ear similar at least
IN outward appearance for about
$500. Although perfectly conscious
that the difference was simply that
which generally exists between the
price OF "A good article and that OF a
poor one. I naturally pursued the
subject with the view Of ascertaining
/
| cheap construction OF box cars. |
found that my friend being strictly
limited as 10 available cash--havlng
many needs and little money
sidered units az of more conse-
quence than quality. that having. for
instance, a million available dollars.
he would prefer TO buy with Il LOO
cheap ears rather than 7i5 good
ones. He did not deny that the cheap
car would be In the long run more
costly by reason Of continued repairs,
hut believed that present use of
more units was OF more consequence
to him individually than cheapening
Of maintenance costs through series
OF years. And. moreover. he called
my attention to the fact that In prac-
tice o 'car was car" and that his
cheap car would earn just as much
on other roads az mine would lie
admitted that when we gave him n
good car in return for cheap one
ho got the best OF the bargain and
that when We put one Of his cheap
cars in one of our trains we took
chances of accident by reason oi
tehir weak construction; the danger
OF broken wheels or axlcs. OF weak
ldrau rigging and broken stills are q
menace 90 the safety OF our trains.
! All this led me TO consider tn,
matter of ear construction seriously
and the more I think OF II the NOR,
80 seems to me that freight car con-
siruction should be upon certain
standards aud uniform on all rail.
roads in the United states even u
81 is necessary To- resort 60 law Ia
order TO get uniformity. Not only
would this result In a probability
that foreign" car would be In fi
Icondition So be loaded and rur
(which b. now very doubtful. NO
only would danger from cheap an,
inherently weak ears be eliminated
but all parts would he interchange
able and great savings would ulti
mately be made by no longer hav
ing Ia carry in stock certain items 81
lspecial equipment used IN conform
lity with the preiudiccs and idlosyn
cracies of the car builders. or othe
officers of any one road and con
domned by all others.
suggest standard car uniform
In an essential details to be arrives
at by agreement, II possibility ar
filtration, " necessary n In addition
7 we could establish freight car poo
or an equipment company, the stoc
: OF which should be- owned by tn
railroads. SO much the better. Their
d. mo- sort of doubt that we shall D
forced 90 do something ot this kin
eventually why not make the al
tcmpt 10 do IL voluntarily and prop
erly instead of being obliged Go do
n lby law with the necessary accompan
4 imcnt Of federal inspectors and IN
. cumbersome and often impractical
81 notions of the particular politician
1 who happen 10 Doe making laws IA
as at the time?