The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-05-20
OLD CARS GOING 70 JUNK HEAP
Big Companies Find That 1t Is Not
Only Economy to Build Cars of Steel
But That Lives of Passengers Are
safe-guarded by New Equipment.
BY Harold F. Lane, Associate
Editor, Railway Age Gazette.

Editor, Railway Age Gazette.
That the wooden passenger car is
rapidly becoming relic of the past on
American railways, is indicated by the
results of an inquiry just completed by
special committee of the railways.
OF $50 passenger cars under construc-
tion on January LIST only three were of
wood, while 725 were being built en-
tirely of steel and 228 were of the
steel underframe type.
To ascertain the progress of the
building of steel passenger cars and the
cost Of replacing with steel the pres
emit wooden equipment this committee
issued q circular letter to the railways
of the country, and the replies show
that the steel cars are replacing wood
about as fast as the builders can turn
them out. OF the 4,495 cars required
by the railways of the United States
during 1914, 1856 were all steel, $40
were steel underframe and only 200
were wooden cars, while for the past
Eve years most Of the new cars have
been of steel. In 1909 there were only
500 all steel cars in service, and of the
new cars acquired in that year only 26
per cent were all steel, but in the five
years beginning with 1910 the proper
tion of all steel cars added each year
has ranged from 55.4 to 74.6 per cent,
while that of steel underframe cars has
increased from 14.S to 20.9 and the per-
centage of wooden cars has dropped
from 90 to As. The percentage of
wooden cars under construction on
january was only 3.
Over half Of the sleeping cars in the
country are now of steel. The Pullman
Company has been building steel cars
exclusively for its own sleeping car
service for the past three or four years
and on January it had 2,490 all steel
cars and 1899 steel underframe cars, as
against 1885 wooden cars.
The total number Of passenger cars
in service in the United States on
January ] was 62,112, of which $4,000
were all steel $500 steel underframe
cars over 1909 being 1851 per cent.
While the percentage of wooden cars
is still high, the committee finds that
4,614 of them have been retired in
three years, 1,04S in the calendar year
1914, while practically nc new ones are
being added, and as the age Of the
wooden cars increases the number re-
tired is bound to be larger each year.
To replace $4,000 wooden cars with
steel, the committee figures, would cost
$559,901 300, the average cost for the
various types of steel cars ranging
from $500 for a baggage or express
car to $4,000 for a parlor, sleeping or
dining car, as compared with about
$4,000 for wooden car. This would
mean an annual interest charge at 5
per cent of $27,995,o95.
These figures represent what it would
cost the railways to comply with law
requiring them to scrap their wooden
cars Immediately and replace them with
steel. Such legislation was seriously
proposed two or three ago, although the
most drastic proposals recently consid-
cred have only contemplated requiring
the replacement of the wooden cars
gradually over a series of years. The
railways believe they are demonstrate
ing that any such legislation is I'M
necessary.
While railway men recognize the
greater safety of the steel cars, they
are greatly concerned on account of
their greater cost, and especially on ac-
count of their weight, which adds to
the cost of operation, and this has been
one of their strong arguments for an
increase Of passenger fares. While the
old wooden day coach averaged in dead
weight about one thousand pounds per
passenger, a similar average for the
steel day coach is about fifteen humid
red pounds, and for sleeping cars the
increase in dead weight per passenger
is even greater.
Edmund Pennington, president of the
500 Line, recently made public some
figures for trains, in Wisconsin show
ing that while the average number of
passengers per train, forty-nine, is
about the same as in 1907, before the
two-cent fare Law was put into effect.
the cost of the train has increased from
$4,000 to $143,200 and the weight
from 357 tons to 65S, while the amount
of fares received for a distance of one
hundred miles has been reduced from
$4,000 to $9s.00
The number Of men employed on the
railroads of the United States during
the year ended June 80, 1914, was
1875 less than for the preceding
year, according to the advance sheets
of the statistical report of the Inter
state Commerce Commission just issu-
ed. The percentage of decrease looks
larger when reduced to smaller terms.
The number of employees in 1914 was