The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-05-10
THE RAILROAD SCRAP HEAP
Fortunes from Vast Amount of Mate
rial Thrown Away.

The wreckage of hundreds of thou
sands of tons of steel and iron that was
piled up after fire and earthquake had
devastated San Francisco was called the
biggest scrap heap in the world. Yet it
shrinks into insignificance in compari-
son with the amount of scrap material
that the railroads of America accumulate
every year.
The scrap heaps of the railroads grow
larger and larger every year, owing to
the steady expansion Of business. They
are composed Of used-np locomotives,
machinery and material of every sort
and description. Even at the small prices
per ton or per pound at which this met
al waste is sold it brings in millions of
dollars every year.
OF all the vast amount OF material
that railroad purchases every twelve
month, 30 per cent. eventually finds its
way into the scrap heap. In no other
business are the odds and ends that are
no longer serviceable collected with so
much care. Everything from the frames
of tin lanterns to the ponderous driving
wheels of locomotives reaches the scrap
dock in the end.
But before anything is "scrappeds it
has to be passed upon by about a dozen
experts. They look it over to see if
there is possibility of its being used
in any other way before it is sold to the
junk man. On one of the eastern rail-
way systems few years ago a large
quantity of steel freight car holsters
were found to be unavailable for the
type of car for which they were original
ly intended. One by one the mechanical
experts shook their heads and voted that
they be sent TO the scrap-dock. But one
of the examiners suggested drilling an
extra hole in the condemned holsters and
using them on a different class of truck
than that for which they were intended
This was done at little cost, and their
journey to the junk-pile was delayed.
After the material gets to the scrap
dock another set of experts goes over it.
There was time when the Junk dealers
know more about the value of scrap
metal than railroad men. The dealers
bought craftily and at low prices, be-
cause the scrap was sorted into only
few classes when it was offered for sale.
After buying the material the dealers re-
sorted it and made big profits. Many of
them grew very rich.
Nowadays the Railway StOrekeepers'
association is as wise TO the value of the
scrap as the dealers The members OF
the association have been studying il
year after year and discussing it at their
annual meetings. At present scrap Is
classified into more than hundred diff
ierent grades and varieties. Each has its
market price. There is no longer a
chance for speculation or guessing. The
Railways are getting more for their
waste material to-day than ever before.
The average is between SIS and sic a
ton.
When the car-scrap is picked up and
loaded on the cars it il only roughly
sorted. lts final sorting and classifiea-
ton occurs when il reaches the scrap
docks. The manual labor Of unloading
aud handling this material used TO be a
very heavy item Of expense. Now big
clectro-magnets attached to movable
cranes save much time and money. One
of these cranes viii do the work OF ffty
men--HsrPers Weekly.