Terminal Cost Data Terminal Cost Data By BRUCE V. CRANDALL Price, $2.50 PUBLISHED BY RAILWAY EDUCATIONAL PRESS CHICAGO Copyright 1919 Railway Educational Press, Inc. Chicago, Illinois TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I Increased Revenues, Decreased Operating Expense or Both 11 CHAPTER II Cost of Turning Engines 16 CHAPTER III The Value of a Locomotive 21 CHAPTER IV Xecessity for Labor Saving 25 CHAPTER V Wage Savings 31 CHAPTER VI Comparative Costs 38 CHAPTER VII On the Santa Fe 46 CHAPTER VIII On the Chesapeake & Ohio 54 CHAPTER IX On the Pere Marquette 63 CHAPTER X Average Savings 71 CHAPTER XI Cinder Pit Track and Conveyor Layouts 75 CHAPTER XII Other Installations of Robertson Conveyors 85 CHAPTER XIII Inclined Track Coaling Station 95 4 1 FOREWORD The extreme importance of the locomotive terminal and the effect which the terminal has in determining the effective working hours obtained from the locomotive, are perhaps so well recognized by rail- way officials that it need hardly he mentioned. Proper layout and proper equipment at the locomotive terminal will decrease the delay to the locomotive, thereby increasing its earn- ings. Two hundred and forty feet of track and twenty locomotives stand- ing waiting their turn at a hand-operated cinder pit, shows that some- thing is basicly wrong as regards terminal layout and equipment. The purpose of this book is to show where and to what extent power operated cinder conveyors have decreased delays to locomotives and increased their earning power, at the same time tremendously reduc- ing the labor cost of handling cinders. It has impressed me that, while the importance of the terminal is realized, concrete data on various details or portions of the terminal was lacking. And having at hand a large amount of definite, accurate and very valuable data on one phase of terminal operation, it has seemed to me that I should get this up into book form for the benefit of the railroads; and as indicating a solution of one of the trouble- some problems. With the immense problems confronting the railroads today, it is small wonder that the importance of some features are overlooked and underestimated. It is with the hope that the data in this book will be of some value upon a feature until recently very largely over- looked, that it is being gotten up in this form for ready reference. As indicated in various parts of the book, the cost of labor has gone up from year to year and will doubtless continue to follow the same course to a greater or less extent in the future. In every case, where possible, the figures have been brought up-to- date and figures of several years ago also shown where they were available. It is possible to use the same tables and substitute prevailing rates or different rates at any time, to estimate the increase or decreases in the net figures obtained. And for this reason, it is believed that O the tables will be of great value even in places where similar rates are not now paid or to figure current savings where the rates vary from year to year. A simple arithmetical substitution and computa- tion will serve to reduce the results to figures corresponding with the wages paid at any particular location at any particular time. Every bit of the information given in this book has been collected and written by members of my staff. While it deals specifically with the product of a railway supply manufacturer, none of the informa- tion was obtained from him or the members of his company. B. V. C, June First, Nineteen Nineteen, at Chicago. CHAPTER I Increased Revenues, Decreased Operating Expense or Both? Railroading in the United States of America has been developed to an ex- ceedingly high point in a remarkably short time. Extreme shrewdness has been required of officials to meet com- petition, to reduce op- crating expense w h i 1 e in- c r e a s - wages, in order that a de- creased rate of rev- enue may be ad e- quate. The ex- t r a o r d i- n a r y de- mands of the public and the shippers have been multiplied, insisvt ed upon and added to by Government regulations. ever known, "The American Railroads." All these things made many big problems in railroading before the war. Since that time, we have added to all these problems; first, a much more string- ent labor short- age; sec- ond, all the problems which have fol- lowed gov- e r n m e n t conjtroil; and third, the new problems which are facing us today in the period of r e a d- justment. Just now we have the prob- 1 e m o f Two of Six Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyors at Grand Rapids, Mich., where $7,420.00 Per Year Is Being Saved in Labor Cost. wages w h i c h have been raised very high, on account Things have been demanded which of the war and the increased cost of seemed impossible. These and more have been accomplished by these intel- lectually tireless workers on the greatest upper and factors of civilization the world has stockholder living. The railroad official is between the nether millstones. His expects dividends, the (n) ^R MINAL COST DATA Four of the Six Units of Robertson Conveyors at the Large Terminal at Argentine, Kans. This Installation of Robertson Conveyors is saving $26,300 Per Year. Government demands service, enforces safety and many other regulations, and wages are higher than ever and increas- ing. It is not ' contended that these things are not as they should be. Our railroads should give the traveling pub- lic good service and they should be oper- ated with utmost safety, not only to passengers and employes but to the gen- eral public, which is all in closer or more remote contact with railroads all the time. The Two Additional Units of Robertson Conveyors at Argentine. Note These Two Units Are Located Close Together. On the other side of the official is the laboring class which has been accorded increases in view of the greatly in- creased cost of living. And it is not contended that these increases were not in large part justified by the rise in cost of living. To offset all of these things, the Government during the war allowed a substantial increase in freight rates Compare the Robertson Conveyor with the Hand Pit Shown Herewith. There Were Only Three Men in the Cinder Pit Gang When the Picture Was Taken. Full Crew Is Seven Men. Note Height Cinders Must Be Thrown Above Laborers' Head to Get Them Into the Cars. (12) INCREASED REVENUES DECREASED OPERATING EXPENSE OR BOTH? O (73 H W s CO 05 2 s O *- CO ,_ l "s H < < OH CO ^ ^3 W g O O 7 t-H S E * -1 * -H--H--H--H--H--H--H-++-H--H--H--H-HH- OOOOOi-iOOOOooCOON C a >> M^5 4 j - W Q; ' CO CO O_^ O O5 i-T c>f w rf ooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooo H .6 | S S| 03 W i . S ^ ^ .. o c "- S oS ^ u ^-Thr 1 ^ ..- i-i-i rt P . n rt crj ^'^ ^ .u , si rt > ii^ .^- - a -< c C ri C> O W S-rt'S .fiu g'-ag'g-S.n '- C - *- r- 'J " cfl X C L H>- 3 ^> ? o rt "S "S- & tfl e - E fi -a >> J3 >% ^ >. ^3 O H to H- (13) TERMINAL COST DATA and may be expected again to allow in- creases when found necessary. Every one realizes that there are two vays of increasing dividends. One way is to increase the gross revenue and the other way is to decrease the cost of operation. And it was with the idea of showing where an enormous decrease could be Commerce Commission on the railways of the United States. This number rep- resents locomotives fit for service. With this large number, it is interesting to note the savings that can be made in labor alone, at the cinder pit by adopt- ing modern power equipment. A table is given herewith, showing a study made of twenty-five different Showing the Three Sets of Double Conveyors of Which Illustration on Page 11 Is a Part. The Pit Which Was Originally at This Place Was a First-Class Hand Pit and Probably Operated As Cheaply As Any Hand Pit Could Be; Yet There Was An Immense Saving Made Through the Use of the Robertson Conveyors. Note That Two Units Are Located Very Close Together So That the Fires from a Locomotive Can Be Dumped Into Two Carts at the Same Time. made in labor costs that this book is terminals where actual figures were ob- being offered. Railroad men cannot tained, upon cost of handling cinders help but appreciate voluminous and ac- before and after power equipment was curate data showing exactly how one of installed. the big labor problems on the railroad As shown in the table, total savings may be solved, and at the same time save at these twenty-five installations under millions of dollars. the present scale of wages is $195,588 There were 65,314 locomotives listed for 1,127 locomotives. This figures a in the 1916 report of the Interstate possible saving of $173.00 per engine (14) INCREASED REVENUES DECREASED OPERATING EXPENSE OR BOTH? per year at these twenty-five locations. With 65,314 locomotives, then, there is a possibility of a saving, in cinder pit labor alone, of $11,300,000 per year. This saving is already being made at a large number of terminals where Robertson cinder conveyors are in- stalled, yet there are still thousands of terminals which are handling cinders by antiquated hand shoveling, where a pro- portional saving might be made. And an even larger saving may be made in the time of the .locomotive by the use of this power equipment because the pit is then always ready for a loco- motive and there is no delay. On the average this is equivalent to a saving of at least 15 minutes per locomotive per day. At 76c per minute (see Chapter III) this figures $11.40 per locomotive per day or about $4,260 per year. For 65,314 engines this totals $264,000,000. Note in This Hand Operated Pit as Usual There Is a Large Accumulation of Cinders. Also Note the Man Standing Beside the Car and the Height Cinders Must Be Thrown Above His Head to Get Them Into the Car. Note Height That Cinders Must Be Thrown to Get Them Over Side of Car at This Hand Pit. Also Note Accumulation of Cinders Which Is the Usual State of Affairs At a Hand Operated Pit. (15) CHAPTER II Cost of Turning Engines The human element varies so greatly of the same town, directly under his mentally and physically, that there has been created a tendency to blame the man in charge instead of his layout supervision, both handling the same kind and amount of power, and we find the startling fact that one of these whenever the performance sheet shows roundhouses stands at the top of the list up poorly. Regardless of the variance and the other at the bottom on the per- in conditions, references are constantly formance sheet in the cost of turning given to records made at different engines then we must admit that there Eight Units of Robertson Conveyors at McGregor, Iowa, Where High Capacity Has Been Provided. points; or by the predecessor of a man is something vitally wrong with one of at the same point, where possibly the layout is the same but other conditions have materially changed. For this rea- son, comparative figures are not always final in indicating the ability of a man and his organization. When, however, a Master Mechanic has two roundhouses at opposite ends the layouts. The condition mentioned above was noticed on the terminals of one of our large American railroads; and the ac- tual figures taken from the monthly performance sheet produced indisput- able evidence that great and startling differences in cost of turning engines (16) COST OF TURNING ENGINES View of Eastern Portion of North McGregor Terminal Yard and Abandoned Creek Channel. may exist in two terminals under the jurisdiction of one man; and where all conditions, except those of layout and equipment, would be very similar. In one of the summer months of 1918, one of these roundhouses turned engines at a cost of $10.20 per engine. For the same month, the other roundhouse turned engines at a cost of only $3.60 per engine. Here is a difference in cost of $6.60; or in other words, it cost al- most three times as much to turn en- gines at one point as at the other. At the terminal where the higher cost This Locomotive Terminal Is Located Between High Hills and Where Space and Layout Are Restricted by the Narrowness of the Valley. A Terminal Where Cinders Are Not Being Handled to Advantage and Where Great Delay Is Resulting. (17) TERMINAL COST DATA A Modern Terminal Having Large Capacity Indicat- ing the Realization of the Necessity for Terminals Which Will Handle Power Quickly and Keep It In Service. is prevalent, 35 engines are handled every day ; and if the cost could be low- ered to that prevaling at the other term- inal, a saving could be made here of $231 a day or $84,315 per year. A very short investigation uncovered the reason for this great difference in cost of turning engines at these two terminals. The low-cost roundhouse A Small Terminal. had a Robertson Inclined Cinder Con- veyor, while at the other roundhouse cinders were still being loaded by hand from a hand operated pit. Xaturally, the other equipment around the modern roundhouse was in accordance with the cinder pit layout. There was an up-to- date coal dock and a water spout, with sand house and coal dock so arranged with the inclined cinder conveyor, that only 37 minutes were required from the These Robertson Conveyors at Illmo, Mo., Do Not Require Any Cinder Pit Laborers At All, the Cinders Being Loaded By the Hostlers. In 1917, and At a Rate of $1.75 Per Day for Labor, This Installation Was Sav- ing $2,000.00 Per Year. Today At the Rate of 43c Per Hour the Robertson Conveyors Are Saving $4,825.00. (18) COST OF TURNING ENGINES time the engine arrived till the time it went under the smoke jack. At the other roundhouse, 50 minutes was the minimum length of time required for the same operation. And the only way that it was kept down to 50 minutes was by a great increase in the labor force an additional labor force costing almost $6.60 more per engine. sheet, we many times lose sight of the great increase in the size of locomotives and the greater severity of all other conditions, following the great develop- ment of our railroads. There has been an enormous change in power without in many cases there being a correspond- ing change in appliances, installations and layouts to meet the greatly in- This Illustrates How Cinders May Be Pulled from the Two Ends of the Fire-Box At One Time Into Two Robertson Conveyor Carts. This Saves Time for the Locomotive, Does the Work with One Spotting and Takes the Full Fire from the Locomotive Without Waiting for a Cart to Go Up and Dump. Note Excellent Loading Done By the Conveyor Without Any Hand Shoveling. Photograph of Two of Six Units at Grand Rapids, Mich. This incident is certainly impressive, and indicates the advisability of a very painstaking consideration of the layout and equipment at a terminal, omitting consideration of nothing because of its seeming unimportance. In checking up the performance creased requirements. Certainly, with a locomotive worth 76c per minute (see Chapter III), we are justified in in- stalling the most modern and greatest time and labor saving devices and ap- pliances possible to procure at our loco- motive terminals. We are justified in (19) TERMINAL COST DATA making a most careful survey of the layouts with the idea of making care- fully planned changes to reduce delays. And in such a survey, the primary consideration must naturally be the re- duction of labor requirements at the same time in order to promote economy in the terminal as well as speed in turn- ing engines. The loss mentioned of $84,315 in a year at this one terminal would have purchased inclined cinder conveyors and eliminated a great big expense and ina,ny laborers; and beside this, would have furnished a goodly amount toward the installation of all the other modern appliances and changes in layout which would have made the terminal an up-to-date one. It should also be borne in mind that this $84,315 per year represents simply the labor and other loss around the terminal and does not take into consid- eration the value of the locomotive and the increased time it is spending in the terminal due to improper and in- adequate layout arid equipment. If the value of the locomotive were com- puted on a basis of the unnecessary de- lay, it would add a very large figure. And beside this, there are many other contributing expenses which would come in to swell the total, such as capital charge on the locomotive, other delays, and disorganization of the work all the way through because of the inad- equate and overloaded equipment and layout. At the modern terminal, a minimum saving of 13 minutes is made in han- dling every locomotive, while the max- imum saving will run up to 45 minutes with the locomotive worth 76c per minute. (20) CHAPTER III The Value of a Locomotive In April 1915, Mr. X. U. Ballantine, then assistant to 2nd Vice-President of the Rock Island Lines, gave a paper before the Western Railway Club on the value of a freight locomotive from a transportation standpoint. In this paper, Mr. Ballantine stated that an analysis of his figures indicated that an engine with an average tractive ever, simply figuring on the 25 per cent raise in freight rates, the same locomo- tive is now worth 95c per minute, while running, and $220 per day. We can figure up the cost of a loco- motive on a different basis and get some very interesting figures. In the Twenty-Xinth Annual Re- port of the Interstate Commerce Com- This Locomotive Is Worth 76c Per Minute When Pulling a Load. This Indicates the Necessity for Decreasing Terminal Delay. power of 37,700 Ibs. and an average mission, showing statistics of railways gross per train mile of 808 tons was worth 76c per minute while running, or an average of $176 per day. Since that time, we have had a 25 per- cent increase in freight rates; and be- side this, a great increase in the mini- mum loading of cars with the result that considerably less dead-load is carried per train than formerly. For these reasons, the value of an engine is much greater now than it was then. How- in the United States for the year ended June 30, 1916, the gross operating rev- enue is given on page 51 as $3,472,641,- 941. And on page 15 of this same re- port the total number of locomotives in service is given as 65,314, including switching locomotives. On this basis, each locomotive was worth $53,168 per year in 1916 which figures $145.44 per day. This also in- cludes switching locomotives but these (21) TERMINAL COST DATA One of the First U. S. R. R. A. Locomotives Com- A Lar 9e Locomotive Being Delayed Near a Hand, pleted. operated Cinder Pit. are necessary, however, in the work of getting the traffic over the road and therefore they should be included. On a basis of a 25 per cent increase in revenue since 1916, the locomotive is now worth $181.92 per day instead of $145.44 per day. Now if the locomo- tive is only actually pulling freight 4 hours per day, it is earning while it pulls the freight one-fourth of $181.92 or $45.48 per hour or 75-4/5 cents per minute. Mr. Ballantine in his report figured the locomotive was running only three hours and thirty-eight minutes per day. This actual running time has probably been increased, which is our reason for using 4 hours. The small difference be- This Giant Engine Is a Big Money-maker for the Railroad When It Is Pulling Freight, But Is An Ex- pense When In the Terminal. Photograph of Another Large Valuable Engine. (22) THE VALUE OF A LOCOMOTIVE tween Mr. Ballantine's figures (with 25 per cent increase), and the figure $181.92 per day, is probably because one average includes switch engines, and the other does not. We have used the lowest, and therefore the most con- servative, figure in our computations. We see how important it is then that any unnecessary delay to the locomotive be prevented. This means getting more work out of the locomotives which we now have, and means not only the sav- ing thus effected but a reduction in the It doesn't take long for the money to pile up when it is considered that the locomotive is worth 76c per .minute. A delay of a couple of hours getting into and out of a terminal, especially if it is multiplied by some fifty or sixty thousand locomotives in the United States, runs into a figure of respectable size. As mentioned above, back in 1916 and 1917 and before those years, the loco- A Giant Locomotive, Worth More Than the Average, and which Must Be Kept Working the Greatest Pos- sible Number of Hours Per Day. Delays To This Kind of Equipment are Doubly Disastrous. The Time of the Switch Engine is Almost As Valu- able As That of the Giant Mallet. Unnecessary Term- inal Delay to This Power Means a Great Economic Waste. requirements for new locomotives, and therefore a reduction in the capital re- quirements of the road. If we can, by better utilization of equipment, decrease the capital account of the road, we, of course, decrease the overhead charge very greatly and make motive only pulled freight for from hours to 4 hours per day on the average. If most large businesses were run with such an incomplete use of any of the earning units, it would be unable to compete in its field. This does not mean, of course, that it is possible to it possible to put the money in the divi- run a locomotive for 24 hours per day, dend column that was formerly eaten but certainly it ought to be possible to up by interest charges. get more than a maximum of 4 hours (23) TERMINAL COST DATA a day on the average out of a locomo- All these things impress upon us tive. very forcibly, the fact that there is much Part of this delay, and a good share preventable delay to locomotives ; and at of it, is chargeable to the transportation 76c per minute, there is every incentive department. But there is enough time for cutting this delay down. Add on over which the mechanical department top of this 76c per minute, the capital has full sway to make large savings outlay and overhead charges on the ex- possible. They have not complete con- tra number of locomotives which must trol, because of the fact that they can- be provided when we are using a loco- not always have the equipment which motive only 4 hours per day, and you they know is necessary in a properly- have some conception of the importance equipped and efficiently-run terminal, of reducing engine delays. (24) CHAPTER IV Necessity for Labor Saving For many years the labor problem has been one of the most formidable that we have had to wrestle with and this was particularly true with the rail- roads. Formerly the railroads were unable to pay sufficiently high wages and the men sought employment elsewhere. This inequality of the railway laborer's wage has received attention in recent years, with the result that the labor reduce the labor requirement than it was formerly. Where you could once save $5 a day by decreasing the labor requirements by three men, you can now save $10 by making the same reduction. Labor is probably just as independ- ent now as it was before the higher wages were paid, and in many cases, more independent. Under these cir- cumstances, the amount of work ob- tained from them under the high wages Battery of Robertson Cinder Conveyors at Milwaukee Which in 1917 Was Savinq $7,200.00 Per Year. shortage is possibly not as stringent as is probably no more on the average than it used to be. But on the other hand, the wages have increased to such an amount that the necessity for labor economy or cutting down the number of laborers required, is more vital than ever before. In other words, we have solved one problem to make another. If anything, it is of even more importance now to il was when they were paid lower wages. Naturally, when laborers are scarce they seek out the most remunerative and the most attractive jobs from the standpoint of wages, personal comfort, ease of work, etc. This is the reason that for years there has been no labor available for cinder pits except foreigners; and in many (25) TERMINAL COST DATA Robertson Conveyors at Saginaw, Mich. Part of 19 Robertson Conveyors on the Pere Marquette R. R. Laborers Reduced from 6 Under Hand Operation, to 2 Under Robertson Conveyor Operation. cases even this class of men has shunned the cinder pit and negroes have been used to a large extent. And even negroes became very scarce for Avork around this most undesirable place in the railway terminal, the cinder pit. It is getting so that no man, white or black, cares to flirt with lung trouble around a Yet the cinder pit is a necessity, just as the shop also is a necessity. If the cinder pit does not work the shop will not work and transportation will be without power. The Peak Load. When hiring laborers for any given A Long and Extremely Expensive Hand Cinder Pit. dusty, disease-breathing cinder pit when other employment can be had. Note the Usual Bad Conditions Here, Which Are Found At Most Hand Operated Pits. The Accumula- tion of Cinders Shows the Difficulty of Keeping Enough Men Around to Handle Them. Two Lifts Are Neces- sary Here, One From the Pit to the Platform and Another From the Platform Into the Car. (26) NECESSITY FOR LABOR SAVING w 2 o o tt - Q 2 o 2 o CO H w PQ o O Z in K O 25 2 s ^> ' 5 O OO O ^ "* JB "* ** """ - * N * WM ^| W * N <> * vco iTj-3 lMr-5 -t- * V r\j 00 j: o U " ) O/ 0) rf ^J- CM 100 i oo o u iMouca o o ^ * * 0\ CM^^-^O'tt^vot^^-OO^^ vi oorf ^V=^2 ^^ ^ 2 ^ > c S .2 rt >> ~ "c. ^ - * ^ * ^3 13 ^3 0*^<0 o C C ?0 5-* cr ] KjT ^O ^^ ^rt^ O 1 ^ 00 TtH TH OO <^ OQ JN ^ 2> J^ O^ t** aj a ' > C ' Zj - t^* > o 1 1 H . | -s ^ s | ^~^if ^ I ^ < u J O ^ 0' S ^ g^ % ~ ! 5 -d - ! <; Ef-S.-tTIll 1 . , - to o^.c l " H Jr : S.S o&'o'p c.s? s t:'* :! y rt '-'OT:^ 11=11 111 jsl^llll (33) TERMINAL COST DATA selves, with the result that actually less work is being obtained from a laborer now at 37c to 43c per hour than was obtained from the cinder-pit laborers when they were only getting 20c per hour. In other words, the saving which results from the use of proper kind of power equipment at the cinder pit, is still greater than the difference in wages would indicate; for even more laborers railroads. There has been an immense increase in the labor expense of operat- ing railroads for which some compen- sating factor must be found. Wher- ever a saving can be shown, therefore, by the installation of labor-saving, power-operated equipment, there is more reason for this installation now than ever before. It is only by the use of such equipment that higher labor Robertson Conveyor at Macon, Ga. Part of 31 Robertson Conveyors on the Southern Railway. Wage Sav- ing Here on Basis of Present Wages, $3,300.00 a Year. are now required at 37c to 43c per hour costs may be overcome. And higher at the hand cinder pit than were re- labor cost seems to be with us to stay, quired when the rate was 20c per hour, because the cost of living has increased On the other hand, it is even more so very materially. important at the present time that During the war, the stock of usable money be saved at the cinder pit than it Ipcomotives greatly decreased because ever was before. All railway expenses the purchase of new locomotives was have increased enormously. What has curtailed far below that of normal happened with respect to the wages of times. In addition to that, locomotives cinder pit laborers has also happened have been used much harder in order to with respect to all other labor on the move the greatly increased amount of (34) WAGE SAVINGS traffic, with the result that many of them have had to be relegated to the scrap heap probably a larger number per year than has been customary. Every engine is more valuable today, if in working condition, than it was two years ago. The value of equipment has increased as much if not more than have wages. A choked hand-operated cinder pit means delay to the locomotive a delav which it is more necessary now to Note Accumulation of Cinders in Tracks at Right Hand Side of Illustration. These Cinders Had to be Pulled Out of a Locomotive Because the Cinder Pit Was Full, and they were Left Piled Up in the Middle of the Track and have to be Shoveled Into the Cars. This Illustrates the Fact That Congestion at Hand Operated Pits is the Rule Rather than the Exception. No Chance to Save Wages at This Pit. eliminate by the use of the proper kind of power-operated equipment, than it ever was before. On top of all this we find that the quality of coal has greatly deteriorated with the result that now fires are dirtier and harder to clean ; and the extra time used in cleaning the fire must be com- pensated by eliminating former delays which- occurred at the hand-operated pit. Safety requirements on railroads have been enforced more stringently than ever before with the result that every kind of equipment which is in- stalled is observed more minutely to see whether its installation means increase in safety conditions or the opposite. There are some methods of handling cinders which are absolutely too dan- gerous to be tolerated and one of these is the water pit. Many men have been drowned by water pits; so many, in A Hand Pit -Full of Water and Which Is Out of Service for This Reason. Compare the Difficulty of Draining This Large Cinder Pit with the Small Exca- vation Required for a Robertson Conveyor. Also Note that the Robertson Conveyor will Work Temporarily Even Though the Pit is Under Water, While With the Flooded Hand Pit the Laborers Can't Get In It To Do Any Work At All. fact, that it is becoming customary now to place large danger signs where water pits are installed. In some cases, short sections of rafts of old ties are placed on the water pit, so that any person un- knowingly walking into them, will not be drowned. Light cinders rise to the top of the water and form a very effective imitation of the cinder covered ground around the pit, with the result that a (35) TERMINAL COST DATA man may easily walk into a water pit thinking he is stepping upon the ground. We say that many men have been drowned in these water pits, but to say that they are drowned is not quite cor- rect. The water in these pits is full of chemicals which come from the cinders, and it is said that a single swallow of this water has been sufficient to cause death at some pits. At any rate, it seems to be the case that as soon as a necessity for the increased use of labor- saving equipment at cinder pits. Even had the cost of the Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor increased pro- portionately, the enormous increase in savings because of higher wages would still more than justify its installation at every cinder pit handling 10 engines or more. These figures show very clearly that Front View Robertson Cinder Conveyors at Detroit, This Large Locomotive Is Worth 76c Per Hour When Mich. Wage Savings Here, $7,410.00 Per Year. Pulling a Load, So It Is Costing 76c Per Hour While It Is Here Delayed Waiting for a Chance To Get On the Hand Operated Cinder Pit. man gets one swallow of this water, he is incapable of fighting for his life as as the wages of the laborer increase, the he would be if the water was fresh advantage of using labor saving equip- water. This illustrates the fact that the ment increases in at least the same pro- power-operated equipment selected to portion. And as a matter of fact, the overcome high wages, must at the same advantage of using labor saving ma- time be absolutely safe. chinery increases in even larger pro- We show on page 33 a table giving portion, because of the fact that as actual data on cinder pits with column wages increase, showing that the de- showing the percentage of increase in mand is greater than the supply, the cinder pit wages in recent years. efficiency of labor decreases; and a These enormous increases, 250 per larger number of laborers are required cent in an extreme case, show more pow- for doing the same work, erfully than anything we can say, the But where the laborer is simply tak- (36) WAGE SAVINGS ing care of some labor saving ma- chinery, where he has practically noth- ing to do but oversee its operation, the output does not decrease as the demand for laborers reduces their efficiency. In the table on page 33, all of the cinders are handled by Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyors which load the cinders by compressed air. All the operator has to do is to press the button when the bucket is loaded. There has been no increase in the number of laborers employed at these pits on account of any decrease in the efficiency of labor. The laborers have so little to do around these pits anyway that they are always up to the demand, whether they are good laborers, poor laborers or indifferent laborers. (37) CHAPTER VI Comparative Costs In considering costs on a railroad, the cost of operation is always of more im- portance than first cost; provided, of course, that first cost is within reason. First cost sinks into insignificance if the cost of operation is high or if some- thing more expensive would last longer and require less labor and attention in doing its work. In this chapter we are going into the by locomotive cranes, and the Robert- son Inclined Track Conveyor Pit which is illustrated in Fig. 6 of that report. How do the first cost figures of these various types of pits compare? A comparison from the plans fur- nished by one railroad for each type of pit mentioned, follows; that is, a com- parison between the locomotive crane operated pit, the hand operated pit and Plan and Section of Water Pit fop Locomotive Crane. Note Depth of Excavation. subject of first cost of equipment for manning a cinder pit. This subject is brought to our minds very forcibly by the report on cinder pits submitted by the American Railway Engineering Association and reprinted herewith. In this report the committee went on rec- prd as recommending the mechanical handling of cinders where twenty-five engines or more are handled every 24 hours. It also discusses and illustrates various types of cinder pits including hand-operated pits, water pits operated the Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor Pit. The water pit on which figures are given is operated by a locomotive crane, and not by a traveling crane as illus- trated in the report of American Rail- way Engineering Association. The locomotive crane is not so expensive as the traveling crane, and has been used more at pits for the reason that it can be taken away and used on other work in emergency. Some men will contend that this is not an advantage, however, but COMPARATIVE COSTS The Danger Sign Shown In This Illustration Is To Prevent Men Being Drowned in the Water Pit Back of the Sign. an objection in that the pit is often de- prived of the use of the crane exactly when it is most needed. Cinder Pit Operated By Locomotive Crane. The locomotive crane pit described and illustrated in the plan is not a large one. As a matter of fact it is a very small one arid the figures given would COST OF LOCOMOTIVE CRANE OPERATED PIT. Excavation and unloading, 292 cu. yds. @ 75c _ $ 219.00 Concrete, 110 cu. yds. @$14.00 including forms and placing reinforcing 1540.00 5250 Ibs. of 24 in- corrugated, bars at 4-1/lOc per Ib 215.00 Old rails 3.5 tons @ $30.00.... 105.00 Total . ....$2079.00 be even less favorable to this type of pit provided an average- sized pit was con- sidered. Even this small plant costs 4 or 5 times as much as the Robertson In- clined Track Cinder Conveyor pit to start with, and there are other pits of this same type which would cost 10 to 15 times as much. The plan and cross section of this pit are shown. The fig- ures in the table were carefully made from this plan. It is necessary to make the excavation larger than the dimen- sions of the drawing, in order to have plenty of room to set up forms, etc. The figures are conservative and the same allowances are made for each type of plant. Hand Operated Cindbr Pit. At first glance the hand-operated cin- der pit would seem to have the advan- tage over mechanical types, in that it INITIAL COST OF HAND OPERATED CINDER PIT. Excavation 1250 cu. yds. @ 75c $ 940.00 Concrete 496 cu. yds. @ .$14.00 including forms and placing reinforcing..: 6950.00 Corrugated Bar reinforcing 5840 lbs.@4.1c 249.00 Old rail reinforcing 6.2 tons @ $30.00 186.00 Total ....!...."... ....$8325.00 requires practically no equipment, and thus the initial cost would seem to be A Typical Water Pit. Note Extreme Length, and the Hazard To Employes In This Type of Pit. At Many of These Water Pits It Is Necessary To Put Up a Danger Sign To Prevent Employes Being Drowned. (39) TERMINAL COST DATA r rt- ^H L" . 4 1 -TfnferlKe STTroik'-y i _ L ...- s __ ..._^|| i - -- i t : 1 . ._ I93 i 1 I -X-.:~^ i- -j Incline Off* Plan and Section of Hand Operated Cinder Pit. Note Amount of Excavation and Concrete Necessary- Many Times As Great As For Robertson Cinder Conveyor. lower. The cost of excavation and con- crete is so much greater, however, that this is not the case. The long incline adds to the cost. With the hand-operated pit particu- lar attention should be paid to the ulti- mate cost of operation, the large num- ber of laborers required and to the high cost of repairs. The concrete exposed simultaneously to red hot cinders and A Hand Cinder Pit Which Cost Many Times What a Robertson Conveyor Costs. Besides First Cost the Cost of Operation of This Pit Is Immensely Greater. ice cold water, rapidly breaks up and requires renewal every year. The plan and cross section of this pit were made up from measurements made with a steel tape. The wall designs were made similar to those used in the Loco- motive Crane Pit. Robertson Inclined Track Conveyor Cinder Pit. The two unit Robertson Conveyor cinder pit illustrated herewith has a very A Typical Hand Cinder Pit. Notice the Men Neces- sary for Operating It. Man Has To Be Placed On Top of Car To Shovel the Cinders Across To the Other Side In Addition to the Many Men Who Have To Be Employed To Hoist The Cinders Up Over the Side. (40) COMPARATIVE COSTS Robertson Conveyors at Saginaw, Mich., Which In 1917 Were Saving $3,643.00 Per Year With Cinder Pit Labor Waqe at 34c Per Hour. At Present Rate of 43c These Robertson Conveyors Are Saving $4,600.00 Per Year. large capacity. Furthermore it has the fire pulled. There is no danger of cin- advantage over either of the other types ders staying in it long enough to freeze INITIAL COST, CINDER PIT OPERATED BY ROBERTSON CONVEYORS. Excavation and unloading 107 cu. yds. @ 75c $ 80.00 Concrete 60 cu. yds. $14.00 _ 840.00 Reinforcing 167 Ibs. @ 4.1c 7.00 Old rails . None Total $ 927.00 of pits, that the cinders must be imme- diately loaded after each engine has its INITIAL COST THREE TYPES OF CINDER PITS. Locomotive Hand Robert- Crane Op- Operated son'Con- erated Pit. Excavation and un- loading $ 219.00 Concrete 1540.00 Reinforcing bars, lo- comotive crane. 215.00 Old rail 105.00 Pit. veyor Pit. $ 940.00 6950.00 249.00 186.00 i 80.00 840.00 7.00 None Total $2079.00 $8325.00 $ 927.00 _ ^. J_ "| ! "_t'J ~ Unloading Jroci* I y-dd-K'fol _,._ 'I A *" 54 *K 7'6* >c 6'5* *- /y K -^h'3" >i 7'^* >*< *i'4* >l i* \/t- f- Plan and Section of Robertson Two Unit Conveyor Cinder Pit. Note Great Saving In Excavation and Concrete. (41) TERMINAL COST DATA in the winter time, a very serious draw- back in either of the other types. The installation shown herein is more elab- orate and expensive than necessary, having entrance holes at each end of the cinder pit so that it is possible for a man to get under the locomotive from the ends. These entrance ways are pro- vided for emergencies, as it is not neces- sary for a man to go under the locomo- tive to pull a fire. In the table the comparative cost of excavation, concrete, etc., for the three types of pits can be grasped at a glance. The figures used for concrete and ex- cavation can be changed to fit various locations, and similar comparisons made. Where the excavation would have to be done entirely by hand it would cost under present labor condi- tions more than 75c per cu. yd., and the cost of concrete might be higher. Where concrete is placed in such small quantities, the use of a large mixer is not justified and usually the concrete would be mixed by hand. These figures show the Initial Econ- omy of installing the Robertson Con- veyor. The summary shows the aver- age cost of operation of these three types of pits at 23 locations, in which the Ultimate Economy of using Robertson Conveyors is demonstrated conclusive- ly. The figures from the Pere Mar- quette and Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- roads are authorized figures obtained from the railroad. The initial economy, economy of operation, economy in depreciation and interest on the investment, of a Robert- son Inclined Track Conveyor are shown clearly in the above figures. A summary of these figures indicates the ultimate economy. COST OF CINDER PIT OPERATION. No. Pits. C. & O. 10 P. M. R. R. 5 Illmo, Mo. 1 Total Cost Operating Robertson Conveyor. $20,886.26 8,820.00 555.00 1,017.32 255.50 871.00 Chicago 1 Memphis 1 Macon 1 Chicago 1 Southern Points 3 Totals .... $32,405.08 (19 Pits) Aver, per pit $1,705.00 Operating Total Cost Locomo- Operating tive Crane. Hand Pit. $44,376.94 23,738.40 2,555.00 6,056.00 3,066.00 2,190.00 $ 4,380.00 20,100.00 $81,982.34 $24,480.00 (19 Pits) (4 Pits) $4,314.00 $6,120.00 Average Saving in Operation of Robertson Conveyor. Over Hand operation on 19 pits $2,609 per pit. Over Crane operation on 4 pits $4,415 per pit. Interest and Depreciation on Entire Installation. On Locomotive Crane Installation (16%) $2240.00 On Robertson two unit Conveyor (11%) 594.00 On Hand Operated Pit (16%.) 1330.00 SUMMARY. Crane Pit. Hand Oper- ated Pit. Initial Cost $2,079.00 $8,325.00 Average cost op- eration per year 6,120.00 4,314.00 Interest and De- preciation, per year 2,240.00 1,330.00 Robert- son Con- veyor Pit. $ 927.00 1,705.00 594.00 The figures used herein were based on costs prevalent in 1918, both for labor and material. Labor costs are now higher and material costs have not ap- preciably receded from those prevalent at that time. (42) COMPARATIVE COSTS REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON BUILDINGS.* Ashpits. The ashpit is one of the most expen- sive structures on a railroad from a maintenance standpoint. Therefore, a great deal of thought should be given to the design. The usual procedure at an ashpit is to drop or wash the hot ashes into the pit, and this heats up the walls and other parts of the structure. Then cold water is thrown on the ashes to cool them. This rapid cooling causes con- Vitrified brick facing has been used, but on account of the nature of the work and the tools used, experience shows that it is soon knocked off. Slag and gravel concrete has been used in place of limestone concrete and makes a good substitute. If trap rock is available it makes a better concrete than either of the above materials. Various Types of Pits: ( 1 ) At outlying districts, where few engines are handled, cast-iron ties, ap- proximately 12 inches high, are used to prevent burning wood ties. These should be located on spur tracks. (2) Pit located between the track rails, of length to suit the business han- dled. The cinders are shoveled out on Fig. 1. Fig. 2. traction in the material of which the the track level and loaded by hand into structure is built, and when repeated many times weakens and sometimes de- stroys the structure. Another destructive element is the sulphuric acid produced by the water and sulphur in the ashes. This destroys the steel parts (coming in contact with it) at a rapid rate. Most ashpits are built of concrete, in which limestone is a principal ingredi- ent. Hot ashes causes this limestone to swell and disintegrate, and in a short time the concrete will begin to spall off. *American Railway Engineering Association. cars or loaded into barrows and wasted at a convenient place. These pits are sometimes fitted with buckets which are handled by station- ary, traveling or gantry cranes. Where stationary cranes are used, track is placed in the bottom of the pit, buckets are equipped with trucks to permit of their being moved to the crane and loaded into cars. (3) Pit similar to Type No. 2, one side open, with depressed track along- side; the relative location of the top of the car with respect to the floor of the (43) TERMINAL COST DATA pit to be such as to give the easiest shov- mechanical means, the cinder bucket or el ing condition. car running on rails placed on an in- (4) Depressed pit filled with water, cline, car being run high enough to into which the cinders are dropped, dump in a car located on a track parallel One feature being to design the pit so that cinders will drop directly into the Fig. 3. water and reach the main body of the pit freely. Another feature being the easy removal of the cinders by grab bucket operated either by a gantry, traveling or locomotive crane. Depth of water in pit should not be more than 5 feet below the drainage outlet. Railing or iron posts with chains hooked between to be placed around PTT WITH GANTRY CRANE. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. to and approximately 25-ft. centers from ash track. General: All types of pits should be equipped with water supply to wet down the hot cinders. To warn and prevent persons from falling into the pit proper, an exten- sion floor should be placed under track at both ends of all pits. This floor to be inclined on a 20 per cent grade for a length of 15 feet. Fig. 4. pits, except across tracks where stand- Where twenty-five (25) or more ard clearance diagram is to be followed, engines are handled in twenty-four (5) Pit equipped with bucket or car hours, the mechanical handling of cin- located under the track and hoisted by ders is recommended. (44) COMPARATIVE COSTS So Many Men Were Drowned In This Pit That Sec- tional Rafts Were Made To Cover It. The Clam Shell A/orks In a 9- Foot Space Between Rafts. Note That the Cinders Floating On the Water Effectually Camou- flage the Water, Making it Look Like Cinder Covered Sround. (45) CHAPTER VII On the Santa Fe The service demands on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe System are severe. This system feeds the territory from Chicago to the coast. Crossing a most rugged country, and maintaining the close schedule that it does, this company must have its motive power subject to delivery on notice. This is one thing that is to be found at practically any terminal on the Santa Fe Railroad, ex- cept in those isolated cases where mod- this progressive railroad, where the question of handling cinders has been given the benefit of an impartial inves- tigation. Labor conditions on this road have, of course, been somewhat similar to that on other roads, in that it was impossible to get the desired supply; and the officials of the Santa Fe have shown Four of the Six Units of Robertson Conveyors at the Large Terminal at Argentine, Kans. This Installation of Robertson Conveyors Is Saving $26,300 Per Year. The Two Additional Units of Robertson Conveyors at Argentine, Kans. ern improvements are planned but not themselves to be keenly alive to the ad- yet finished. vantage of using labor-saving ma- The class of power on this railroad is chinery and equipment, varied, the preponderance of power be- The cinder pit wage has advanced ing engines of the large Pacific type, from 17c per hour in 1916 to as high as Fires from this class of locomotives are 43c per hour at present. And even if necessarily large, and soon fill an old- laborers were now plentiful, the wages time, hand cinder pit to the congested which are paid for cinder-pit work make point. This is the reason for the rapid it necessary to reduce the number of disappearance of this type of pit upon laborers so far as humanly possible. (46) ON THE SANTA FE The labor saved at the cinder pit can be used to great advantage at many other places in a large terminal, under pres- ent conditions. In many districts through which the Santa Fe System goes, the class of laborers obtainable is not very satisfac- tory. Negroes, Mexicans and Mexican Indians probably form the bulk of the labor forces ; and the great trouble with this kind of labor is that it is not de- great advantage in being as far as pos- sible independent of the labor supply in a terminal. At the locations visited, where Rob- ertson Inclined Track Cinder Convey- ors are installed, great satisfaction was shown by the men who have charge; and at points where Robertson In- clined Track Cinder Conveyors are not yet in, and w r here cinders are being Note In This Installation That the Cinders Have to oe Shoveled Up from the Ground and Again Shoveled Into the Cars. And Also Note the Accumulation of Cinders Which the Men Are Trying To Remove. Here Is Another Long Expensive Hand Operated Pit, With Cinders Enough Accumulated to Keep a Gang of Eight Men Busy for a Week Provided No More Cinders Came In. pendable from day to day. The men lay off frequently and without giving notice, and it is extremely difficult to keep a terminal running smoothly un- der these conditions. Hence, there is a loaded by hand, the constant query is: when are we going to get our Inclined Track Cinder Conveyors; we are sure tired of this miserable way of handling cinders. COST WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR, 18TH ST., CHICAGO. 1 man days, 12 hours @ 37c per hour, per day $ 4.44 Cost per fire (25 fires) .177 FORMER COST WITH HAND OPERATED PIT. 3 men days, 3 men nights, 72 hours @ 37c per hr $ 26.64 Cost per fire 1.06 Saving per fire with Robertson Conveyor _.. .883 Saving per year with Robertson Conveyor. - '. 8,025.00 (47) TERMINAL COST DATA Robertson Single Unit Conveyor at 18th St., Chicago. Only 25 Engines Are Handled Here. This Conveyor Is Saving $8,206.00 Per Year. Another View of Robertson Conveyor at 18th St., Chicago. 18th Street, Chicago They handle 25 engines per 24 hours The 18th Street terminal of the with a single unit Robertson Conveyor. Santa Fe, Chicago* is not a very large The engines do not bunch up very bad- COST WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS, CORWITH YARD. 4 men days and 4 men nights, 80 hours @ 37c per hour Cost per fire (48 fires) including pulling the fires PREVIOUS COST WITH HAND PIT. 6 men days and 6 men nights, 120 hours @ 37^c per hour Cost per fire (48 fires) including pulling fires ..$ 29.60 .615 ..$ 44.40 .925 Saving per engine with Robertson Conveyor .31 Per year, 17,500 fires 5,430.00 one, being used mainly for passenger train service. Another View of Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor at 18th St., Chicago. Here They Are Trying To Take Care of Cinders Without Any Pit At All, Simply Dumping the Fires in the Middle of the Track and Piling Them Up To One Side. These Cinders Will Be Shoveled Two Or Three Times Before Finally Disposed Of. (48) ON THE SANTA FE One of the Three Robertson Conveyors at Corwith Yard. These Conveyors Are Saving $5,430 Per Year. The Two Other Robertson Conveyors at Corwith Yard. ]\ so that the single unit takes care of units at a point where 25 engines are the engines in pretty good shape. If handled. COST WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR. CHILLICOTHE. 1 man days, 1 man nights, 22 hours @ 43c per hour Cost per fire (30 fires) LOADING BY HAND. 5 men days, 4 men nights, 99 hours @ 43c Cost per fire Saving per fire with Robertson conveyor $1.42 32c = Per year, 10,950 engines 9.46 .316 42.50 1.42 1.10 12,045.00 the engines did hunch up, more satisfac- tory results would be obtained with two Electrically Operated Robertson Conveyor at Gallup, N. Mex., on the Santa Fe. A Hand Operated Cinder Pit. At This Location It Was Easy To Place the Cars Lower Than Is Usually Possible With a Hand Operated Pit. Even at This Pit, However, There Will Be Noted a Large Accumu- lation of Cinders Awaiting for Men. (49) TERMINAL COST DATA Robertson Conveyor at Lexington Junction, Mo., Which Is Saving $3,760.00 In Cinder Pit Labor Charge Per Year. Note Great Saving In Excavation Over the Hand Pit. Corwith Terminal. At Corwith, they despatch about 46 engines per day of 24 hours. They have three units of Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyors in use, two of them located close together and the third lo- One Look At This Pit Is Enough To Show How Difficult It Is For Men To Throw Cinders Up Over the Side of the Car In Loading Them. It Is Also Noted That a Good M.iny of the Cinders Do Not Go Over the Car But Fall Off to One Side and Have Just About Got the Track Buried In This Illustration. Cinders Will Accumulate In a Hand Operated Cinder Pit and Cause Congestion and Trouble. cated on the other side of the round- house near the coal dock. Chillicothe. 111. About 30 engines are handled here, per day of 24 hours. A two-unit Rob- ertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor is provided at this point, where the An Exceedingly Long Hand Operated Cinder Pit Showing the Usual Accumulation of Cinders. (50) ON THE SANTA FE COST WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS, SHOPTON 1 man days, 1 man nights, 20 hours @ 43c per hour Cost per fire (50 fires per day) FORMER COST BY HAND OPERATED PIT. 11 men days, 8 men nights, 209 hours @ 43c per hour Cost per fire . Saving per fire with Robertson Conveyors Saving per year with Robertson Conveyor 8.60 .17 & 89.87 1.80 1.63 29,600.00 labor conditions were formerly very un- satisfactory. Shopton, Fort Madison, Iowa. At this point they handle 50 fires per terminal. One double and one single unit, making three units in all of Rob- ertson Inclined Track Cinder Convey- ors were provided to take care of the work. Practically no extra, labor is em- ployed here for the purpose of loading Close-up View of One of the Robertson Conveyors at Corwith, III. day and with a hand-operated pit, 19 men were required to load the cinders. This is a, very busy and important Note Exceedingly Serious Accumulation of Cinders In This Hand Operated Pit. The Laborers Had All Quit Here On Account of the Way the Work Piled Up and the Problem Is Now to Find Somebody to Load These Cinders and Make the Pit Ready for the Next Engines Which Come In. cinders with the Robertson Conveyors, the work being done by the fireknock- er's helpers; so that the cost of loading COST WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR, LEXINGTON JCT., MO. No men required. Yearly maintenance $ Cost per fire 10.00 .0034 FORMER COST WITH HAND OPERATED PIT. 1 man days, 1 man nights, 43c per hour $ 10.32 Cost per fire (8 fires) 1.29 Saving per fire with Robertson Conveyors 1.29 Saving per year with Robertson Conveyors 3,760.00 (51) TERMINAL COST DATA COST WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS, ARGENTINE. 8 men days, 8 men nights, 43c per hour, 24 hours per day Cost per fire (50 fires) including pulling fires PREVIOUS COST OF HANDLING PITS. 15 men days, 15 men nights @ 43c per hour Cost per fire ; Saving per fire with Robertson Conveyors. 82,56 1.65 154.30 3.09 1.84 Saving per year with Robertson Conveyors 18,300 engines 26,300.00 cinders is practically nothing. We have assumed, however, that the time of one man days and one nights will be charged to loading. Lexington Junction, Mo. At Lexington Junction there is a small terminal with only one unit of the Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Con- veyor. They only handle 8 engines per day here. It is interesting to note the savings which may be made at a point even where so few as 8 locomotives are being handled. Argentine Shops, Kansas City, Mo. They have four single-unit Robert- son Conveyors and one double unit Robertson Conveyor at this point, which is a large terminal. They handle 100 engines per day here and 16 men are employed who clean the fires, attend the pans and operate the conveyors. The former arrangement consisted of two long pits. The cinders were load- ed into large buckets, and then lifted and dumped by an electric hoist. Summary. These figures show in a general way, as would be expected, that the larger and busier the terminal, the greater the amount of money to be saved with Rob- ertson Inclined Track Cinder Convey- ors. An installation for only eight en- gines is shown to be very profitable at Lexington Junction, Mo. The Robertson Inclined Track Cin- der Conveyors illustrated are made by William Robertson & Co., Great Northern Bldg., Chicago. The Santa Fe has installations' of SUMMARY OF SAVINGS. Cost Per Engine Hand Cinder Pit. Cost Per Engine Robertson Pit. Saving per Engine with Robertson Conveyor Saving per Year with Robertson Conveyor 18th St., Chicago $1.0(1 0.925 1.420 1.800 1.290 3.090 $0.177 0.615 0.316 0.170 Fire Knockers Operate 1.650 $0.883 0.310 1.110 1.630 1.290 1.840 $ 8,206.00 5,430.00 12,045.00 29,600.00 3,760.00 26,300.00 *Corwith, 111 Chillicothe, 111 Shopton, la Lexington Jet, Mo. .. *Argentine Shops Total .... $85 341 00 * Includes cost of pulling fires. (52) ON THE SANTA FE Robertson conveyors at Lexington Jet., Arkansas City, Ark. ; Corwith, 111. ; Mo.; Wichita, Ivans.; Emporia, Ivans.; Las Vegas, N. M.; Argentine Yard; Gallup, N. M.; Tulsa, Okla.; Pekin, Chicago, 111.; Shopton, la.; Chilli- Ill.; Guthrie, Okla.; Topeka, Ivans.; cothe, 111. (53) CHAPTER VIII On the Chesapeake & Ohio On July 16, 1915, a Robertson Con- the conveyor was installed, it indicated veyor was loaded on cars for the Chesa- a saving of $2,749.40 per year, peake & Ohio Ry. for installation at Peach Creek, W. Va. They had been loading cinders at this place by hand, which required three Following the installation at Peach Creek, a conveyor was shipped to Hunt- Robertson Conveyor at Peach Creek, W. Va., Which In 1918 Was Saving $2,749.00 Per Year, With Wages at 21c Per Hour. At 37c Per Hour This Conveyor Will Save $4,840.00 Per Year. Robertson Conveyor at Peach Creek, W. Va., Show- ing Flooding System. Here the Cinders Are Flooded As They Are Dropped Into the Gondola Car. men by day and three by night, or six ington, W. Va., Oct. 20, 1915, which laborers, who received 21c per hour, and made a reduction of 2 men in the cin- an additional gang of men for cleaning der-pit force and showed a saving of up twice a month. Thirty-five engines $1,829.60 per year, are handled every 24 hours. As soon as January 14, 1916 a conveyor was LOADING CINDERS AT PEACH CREEK BY HAND. 7 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR. 4 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days Maintenance of the conveyor during the year Total cost of handling cinders by conveyor. Cost by hand Cost with Robertson Conveyor Amount saved in one year by Robertson Conveyor (1917) Increased wages now paid at Peach Creek, ....c per hour Increased saving possible with Robertson Conveyor, wages 37c per hour. (54) .$6,438.60 ..$3,679.20 10.00 .$3,689.20 $6,438.60 . 3,689.20 .$2,749.40 . 4,840.00 ON THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO shipped to Peru, Ind. ; May 24, two conveyors were shipped to Hinton, W. Va.; July 17, a conveyor was shipped to Lexington, Ky. ; October 21, a con- veyor was shipped to Paintsville, Ky.; and November 24, a conveyor was shipped to Charlottes ville, Va. January 27th, 1917, a conveyor was shipped to Boston, Ind.; March 5th, a conveyor was shipped to Gladstone, W. Va. ; June loth, two conveyors were shipped to Russell, Ky. ; June 21st, two the figures' obtained on handling cin- ders at the several locations investi- gated, showing how the figures were ob- tained in each case, so that the reader may check up the statements made. Handling Cinders at Huntingdon, W. Va. The terminal at this place handles 43 engines every 24 hours. Previously, under hand operation 6 Robertson Conveyor at Peru, Ind. Conveyor Cart Just Starting Up Incline With Its Load. This Con- veyor Was Saving $1,806.00 Per Year In 1918 When the Wage Rate Was 21c Per Hour. At the Rate of 37c Per Hour This Conveyor Will Show a Saving of $3,180.00. Robertson Cinder Conveyor at Peach Creek, W. Va., Dumping Its Load. conveyors were shipped to Handley; men were required and this force was reduced to four after the conveyor was installed. The engines are gotten into June 2nd, another conveyor was shipped the sh P much sooner, no longer being to Hinton; and two conveyors to Sum- delayed on the cinder pit as they were mit, Ohio. The Chesapeake & Ohio in the past. now has 28 Robertson Conveyors. On the hand operated pit only 35 en- This succession of constantly recur- gines could be handled without conges- ring orders shows better than any argu- tion, while with the Robertson Convey- ment, the success of handling cinders with Robertson conveyors on the Ches- apeake & Ohio Ry. Below we give a short description and or as many engines can be handled as the fire knockers can take care of. The cost figures are given in the table which follows : (55) 3T/tT/4AJ C/TY, /f/?AS. TERMINAL COST DATA LOADING CINDERS AT HUNTINGTON, W. VA., BY HAND. 6 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $5,518.80 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR. -1 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $3,679.20 Maintenance of conveyor during the year 10.00 Actual saving in cost of labor through use of Robertson Conveyor (1917) Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyor, wages 37c per hour $3,689.20 $1,829.60 $3,230.00 Handling Cinders at Peru, Ind. Twenty- three engines are handled daily at this terminal, and by hand it required two men days and two men the labor requirements in half. One man takes care of the loading of cinders Robertson Double Unit Conveyor at Hinton, W. Va., in the Foreground, and Single Unit Conveyor In Dis- tance. This Conveyor Was Saving $4,479.00 Per Year in 1918 When Cinder Pit Laborers Were Paid 20'/ 2 c Per Hour. At 37c Per Hour This Conveyor Will Save $8,100.00 Per Year. Robertson Conveyor at Peach Creek, W. Va., Coming Back to Seat In the Pit Ready For Load. nights; four men per day, 21 cents per hour. and does the work easily. The main- The installation of the conveyor cut tenance cost of the conveyor at this LOADING CINDERS AT PERU, IND., BY HAND 4 men at 21c per hour. 12 hours per day, 365 days Maintenance of hand pit (not obtainable). WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR 2 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days Maintenance labor per year, $5.00. Three packing leathers, $28.20.... .$3,679.20 .$1,839.60 33.20 Cost by hand Cost by conveyor. $1,872.80 .$3,679.20 . 1,872.80 Saving through use of Robertson conveyor (1917) _ Increased wages now paid at Peru, c per hour. Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyor, wages 37c per hour. (58) .$1,806.40 .$3,180.00 ON THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO point was $33.20 during the last year. Cost of maintenance of the hand-oper- ated pit was not obtainable, but couldn't have been any less than this figure. The comparative costs are shown in the table. Handling Cinders at Hinton, W. Va. Hinton, W. Va. contains some pretty good sized shops, which take care of a large amount of supervision. The installation of the Robertson conveyors has eliminated engine congestion at the pit, and reduced the cost of loading cinders per yard from 17c to about 5c. Under hand operation 7 men were required to handle forty engines per day, but with Robertson conveyors 67 engines may easily be handled, or even more if the fires can be knocked fast enough. Another View of Robertson Conveyor at Peach Creek, W. Va. work for two divisions and show effi- ciency in handling 65 engines every 24 hours. Robertson Cinder Conveyors, consisting of one double and one single unit, are installed at this location. Laborers were paid 20%c per hour in 1917 and under hand operation required A Hand Pit Full of Water and Which Is Out of Service For This Reason. Compare the Difficulty of Draining This Large Cinder Pit With the Small Exca- vation Required for a Robertson Conveyor. Also Note That the Robertson Conveyor Will Work Temp- orarily Even Though the Pit Is Under Water, While With the Flooded Hand Pit the Laborers Can't Get In It To Do Any Work At All. Handling Cinders at Lexington, Ky. The terminal at Lexington is not very large, 20 engines being handled each 24 hours. LOADING CINDERS AT HINTON, W. VA., BY HAND 7 men at 20 l / 2 c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $6,285.30 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR 2 men at 20J^c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days ~ _ $1,795.80 Maintenance during year _ - _ 10.00 Total _ _ $1,805.80 Saving with Robertson Conveyor (1917) _ $4,479.50 Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyor at 37c per hour wage rate $8,100.00 (59) TERMINAL COST DATA The labor requirements here were cut in two when the Robertson conveyor was installed, and the cost was reduced in about the same proportion. The pit men clean up the ground around the pit and around the ash pans. It only requires two minutes to operate the conveyor for each locomotive. With the hand pit here previously, a locomotive crane was used to load the cinders after they had accumulated. Below are the* figures showing cost before and after installing Robertson conveyors. Handling Cinders at Charlottesville, Virginia. At this point 46 engines are handled every 24 hours, the engines operating on the two divisions which enter this place. Two Robertson conveyors are needed for this work. With the former hand pit, which was and even these caused some litfie con- gestion, whereas the inclined convey- ors will take care of all the engines which come in and have plenty of time to spare. The following are the costs as ob- tained under hand operation and the costs of handling the pit with Robert- son conveyor after reducing the num- ber of men to two. LOADING CINDERS AT CHAR- LOTTESVILLE, VA., BY HAND. 4 men at 19c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $3,328.80 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS. 2 men at 19c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $1,664.40 Maintenance per year 10.00 $1,674.40 Total saving through the use of Robertson conveyor $1,654.40 Increased wages now paid at Char- lottesville c per hour Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyors at 37c per hour wage rate $3,200.00 LOADING CINDERS AT LEXINGTON, KY., BY HAND. 4 men at 18c per hour. 12 hours per day, 365 days ....$3,153.60 Crane work, per year 45.00 Total cost of operating hand pit, per year $3,198.60 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR. 2 men at 18c per hour, 12 hours per day, 305 days $1,576.80 Maintenance of conveyor during year _ 10.00 Total $1,586.80 Saving per year with Robertson Conveyor (1917) $1.611.80 Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyor, wages 37c per hour $3,300.00 congested most of the time, they had four men regularly throughout the year working twelve hours per day, and one extra man in the winter; whereas the Robertson cinder conveyors will handle the work with two men. Not over 46 engines could be han- dled at the former hand operated pit Handling Cinders at Boston, Ind. At this place they formerly had no pit and simply dumped the cinders in the middle of the track and piled them up. Then when they got a chance, they brought in a locomotive crane and a clam shell bucket and picked up what they could and loaded it into the car. (60) ON THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO Whenever the crane was in operation, two men were required to steer the clam shell down onto the pile of cinders. Often they had to load the clam shell with a scoop because the cinders were not high enough for the clam shell to take hold; and the track had to jbe cleaned up by hand shaveling, The crane, besides its overhead expense, re- quired a couple of hours repairs and maintenance every week. The conveyor here took the place of the crane and greatly improved condi- tions all around. The cost for handling cinders is given below, as well as the savings with the Robertson conveyor. LOADING CINDERS AT BOSTON, IND., BY HAND. 1 crane, maintenance per year $ 53.56 3 men, 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days 2,759.40 Cost per year $2,812.96 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR. 1 man at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $ 919.80 Maintenance per year 10.00 $ 929.80 Saving with conveyor $1,883.16 Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyor at 37c per hour wage rate $3,230.00 Handling Cinders at Gladstone, Va. At Gladstone the former hand oper- ated cinder pit was built with a solid concrete wall under the track, and although a well-built pit, investigation indicated that a Robertson conveyor would be a money saver. Two laborers were formerly required here in the summer and three in the winter, working 12 hours per day, and 29 engines are handled, which come in over two divisions. The conditions at the cinder pit make the cost high; com- parative costs are given in the table be- low: LOADING CINDERS AT GLADSTONE, VA.. BY HAND 2 men at 19c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $1,664.40 1 additional man 6 months per year in the winter at 19c per hour, 181 days - 412.68 Total cost of handling cinders by hand $2,077.08 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYOR. 1 man 1 hour and 10 minutes per day at 21c per hour $ 89.46 Maintenance per year 10.00 Total $ 99.46 Saving with Robertson Conveyor.. ..$1,977.62 Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyor at 37c per hour wage rate $3.480.00 The fire knocker can handle this con- veyor at practically no cost. When he gets through cleaning a fire he simply presses the button and the cinders are dumped and the bucket comes back to place; and he is then ready to clean the next fire. It does not require over two minutes of the fire knocker's time to dump the bucket. Handling Cinders at Handley, W. Va. At Handley they handle an average of 39 engines every twenty-four hours. Three divisions enter this place and there were formerly two hand-operated pits. Trouble was experienced here with labor and an arrangement was made whereby the railroad payed 75c (in 1917) for cleaning an engine and load- ing the cinders into the car; and this has made the company an appreciable (61) TERMINAL COST DATA LOADING CINDERS AT HANDLEY, W. VA., BY HAND 8 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $7,358.40 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS. 4 men at 21c per hour, 12 hours per day, 365 days $3,679.20 Maintenance during year 10.00 $3,689.20 Saving with Robertson Conveyor... .$3,669.20 Increased savings possible with Robertson Conveyors at 37c per hour wage rate $6.480.00 yearly saving and reduced the number of men on the pit. The installation of provided at this point. Eight laborers were formerly re- quired here under hand operation, working twelve hours per day, while the Robertson conveyor requires only four. The wages of these laborers were formerly 21c per hour. Three units of cinder conveyors are provided at this point. The succession of orders which the Chesapeake & Ohio has made for Rob- ertson Cinder Conveyors indicates very plainly the satisfaction it is giving and the prompt and keen foresight of the officials of this road in adopting labor and money saving appliances. The 1917 figures given herein were checked by the Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. The Chesapeake &, Ohio Ry. has 28 Robertson conveyors at different points on its lines. SUMMARY OF ROBERTSON CONVEYOR SAVINGS ON THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO. Location On Basis of 1917 Wages Increased Sav- ing on 37c an Hour Wage Rate Annual Cost With Hand Pit Annual Cost With Robertson Pit Annual Saving With Robertson Pit Peach Creek, \V. Va $6,438.60 5,518.80 3,679.20 6,285.30 3,198.60 3,328.80 2,813.96 2,077.08 7,358.40 . $3,689.20 3,689.20 1,872.80 1,805.80 1,586.80 1,674.40 919.80 99.46 3,689.20 $2,749.40 1,829.60 1,806.40 4,479.50 1,611.80 1,654.40 1,883.16 1,977.62 3,669.20 $4,840.00 3,<230.00 3,180.00 8,100.00 3,300.00 3,200.00 3,230.00 3,480.00 6,480.00 Huntington \V Va Peru, Ind Hinton, W Va Lexington, Ky Charlottesville Va Boston, Ind Gladstone, W. Va Handley, W. Va Total . $39,040.00 CHAPTER IX On the Pere Marquette Conditions in the railway field 5 ago gave indications of what has since happened. Wages were going up and rates were going down or remain- ing stationary. Cost of material as well as of labor was on the increase. These things nat- not nearly as strong as today. Many new labor and money-saving appliances were installed. And through the great economies effected by this and other means, the status of this railroad was remarkably improved in the short pe- riod of five vears. Showing the Three Double Conveyors of the Robertson Inclined Track Type on the Pere Marquette R. R. at Grand Rapids. The Number of Laborers at This Place Was Reduced From Six to Two Men When tha Robertson Inclined Track Conveyors Were Installed. The Amount of Money Saved Totals Over $7,400.00 a year. The Pit Which Was Originally at This Place Was a First Class Hand Pit and Probably Operated as Cheaply as Any Hand Pit Could Be. Three Engines May Dump Their Cinders at One Time At This Pit, and This, With the Fact That the Cinders Can Be Dumped From the Bucket in About 30 Seconds Means That There Is a Very Large Capacity and That Many Locomotives Can Be Handled With the Abso- lute Minimum of Labor. urally caused far-sighted railway offi- cials to adopt labor and money saving appliances in ever-increasing amounts. The Pere Marquette R. R. was near the head of this movement, even though at that time its financial position was One of the most important points at which remarkable savings were effected, was in the cinder pits. While the rate per hour at the pits was small at that time, many men were required to shovel cinders and the aggregate wages paid (63) TERMINAL COST DATA amounted to an attention-compelling figure. It was found that shoveling cinders at only 5 terminals cost them $94,953.60 in 4 years. It was then seen that much money could be saved by re- ducing the number of laborers em- ployed. The rate could not be reduced at each terminal by 3 or 5 men, but eliminated all the hand-cinder-pit night men and relieved engine congestion. Engines were out on time, repairs could be made in the time allowed and traffic began to move arid arrive on time. Two Cars of Robertson Inclined Track Conveyors Shown in Previous Picture, Both Dumping Load at Same Time. Note Perfect Working of Conveyor Indicated by Positions of Both Cars at Same Place on Their Tracks. Only One Operator Is Necessary. as there would then not be any laborers to be had. The problem was simply to find ways and means of reducing the number of laborers on the cinder pits. The way showed up in the form of Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Con- veyors. These conveyors not only re- duced the number of laborers required The moving of traffic on time soon attracted the attention of the shipping public and the road was increasingly patronized. An idea of the saving which was made up to 1917 at 5 term- inals, Detroit, Pt. Huron, Saginaw, Ludington and Grand Rapids, Mich., is given in the following table: (64) ON THE PERE M A R Q U E T T E COST OF Place Detroit LOADING C No. Men 6 INDERS BY HAND (1917) Hours Cost Worked Rate Per Day Per Year 12 29^ $21.24 $7,646.40 12 23 5.52 1,987.20 11 23 15.18 5,464.80 12 20 9.60 3,456.00 12 20 14.10 5,184.00 Per 4 Years $30,585.60 7,948.80 21,859.20 13,824.00 20,736.00 Pt Huron 2 Saginaw 6 Luding'ton 4 Grand Rapids 6 Total ..$23.738.40 $94,953.60 (1917) Per 4 Years $10,195.20 3,974.40 7,286.40 6,912.00 6,912.00 COST OF LOADING Place Detroit CINDERS V\ No. Men 2 riTH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS Hours Cost Worked Rate Per Day Per Year 12 29^ $7.08 $2,548.80 12 23 2.76 993.60 11 23 5.06 1,821.60 12 20 4.80 1,728.00 12 20 4.80 1,728.00 Pt Huron .....1 Saginaw Ludington 2 Grand Rapids 2 Total . $8,820.00 $35,280.00 $94,953.60 Cost 4 years by hand Cost 4 years with Robertson Saving with Robertson co conveyor 35,280.00 nveyors $59 673 60 This table shows the earnings made by the Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor over the hand cinder pit at the rates of 20c to 30c per hour, as paid in 1917. Since then we have had our great war, extreme labor shortage, (which has hit every hand cinder pit in the United States of America hard) and unheard-of wage increases. The wage of cinder pit laborers has jumped up to 37c and 43c per hour. According to the present rates paid at the places mentioned in the 1917 Robertson Cinder Conveyors at Waterville, Maine, in a Cold Country, Operated by Compressed Air. The Maine Central R. R. Has Robertson Cinder Conveyors Note the Accumulation of Cinders In and All Around Operating Satisfactorily with Both Electricity and This Cinder Pit. The Lone Laborer Obtainable is Compressed Air. Hopelessly Snowed Under. (65) TERMINAL COST DATA table, the money now being saved in a five year period, would be as shown in the table on page 68 on a 3 shift day 8 hours to the shift. Handling Cinders at Detroit, Mich. This terminal is equipped with a double-unit Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor. They despatch 20 engines every 24 Cost of Loading Cinders By Hand at Detroit, Mich., 1917. No. Men Rate per Hour Cost per Year 6 2m ' m ^-~.j^*;MB^ Z 4- 6 8 10 12. 14 16 16 20 22 24 26 Z8 30 3Z 3f 36 38 40 fZ 44- 46 48 6~0 *?">>* "36 -rf PfllLY LABOR COST OF CINDER PIT OPtfflTfOtf fffPOLLMti & CEffTd, - 60 Diagram Indicating Average Savings Which May Be Made With; Robertson Conveyors Wher*ei Sufficient Units Are Installed and the Layout Is Correct. horizontal and vertical lines because the units must be in whole days of labor. When the cinders at a terminal require more than two men, you have to hire three men, and immediately the expense jumps a full day's wages for one man; though possibly only three or four cinder shovelers have been done away with entirely, the hostlers or fire knock- ers operating the Robertson conveyors. In these terminals the savings would run $22.20 per day instead of $14.80 per day, as shown in the diagram. It is easy to pick out from this din- (70) AVERAGE SAVINGS gram the average savings which may be made at a pit of any size up to 90 en- gines, through the use of Robertson In- clined Track Conveyors as compared with hand operation. The saving is represented by the horizontal line be- tween the two curves, expressed in the scale at the bottom of the curve in dol- lars and cents. Of course it is not to be expected that these figures will be the exact figures in every case. The figures number will very closely approximate that shown on the diagram. Reference to the tables given in pre- vious chapters, will also show that in many cases even greater savings are being made than this diagram would in- dica,te and also in a few cases, that the savings are somewhat less, depending on the local conditions. This diagram was figured out for pits where laborers are hired for handling AVERAGE COSTS OF CINDER PIT OPERATION. Hand Cinder Pit Operation vs. Robertson Cinder Pit Operation. -o c >> -' >, *" w ^ c w >?3lo ' ^ Jo" 'rt-o g o n " o P.5 o ag> ^ '-D ^H U .2 .* Q rt rx *& .2 J*^ ^ ^ a . tn a bfl ^ t- * ' K? rt O r O ** tn "- O O , o o ^65 cc , o rt t-'u 2 o rt p^o P^O 12 2 7.40 00.00 1 $ 3.70 12 2 7.40 00.00 2 7.40 17 4 14.80 7.40 2 7.40 22 4 o 14.80 7.40 2 7.40 27 6 2 22.20 7.40 4 14.80 32 6 14.40 7.40 4 14.80 37 8 3 29.60 5 18.50 42 8 3 29.60 5 18.50 47 8 3 29.60 5 18.50 52 9 4 33.30 9.60 5 18.50 57 10 4 37.00 9.60 6 22.20 67 12 5 44.40 12.00 7 25.90 77 13 5 48.10 12.00 8 29.60 97 14 6 51.80 14.40 8 29.60 are based on a rate of 37c per hour which is a very conservative average for cinder pit laborers today as tables quoted in previous chapters have shown. While possibly each individual case will differ some from the figures indi- cated on the diagram, if a, number of pits are equipped, say from eight to a dozen, the average savings on the whole number of pits will be found to easily equal those indicated on the diagram; and the average figure for the whole the cinders, and the fire knockers,, or hostlers, do nothing but take care of the fires and engines. There are a number of reasons for a variation from average figures in han- dling cinders. The most important of these reasons, next to the installation of power equipment of sufficient capac- ity to handle the rush, is the schedule of the engines over the pit. It requires a larger force of men to handle 15 en- gines, 10 of which go over the pit in an (71) TERMINAL COST DATA hour, than to handle 30 engines at the rate of three per hour. In order to keep things moving, you've either got to provide enough labor to handle the peak load, or install equipment which will do the work of the laborers. It's pretty difficult it's impossible in many places to keep a sufficiently large crew to prevent con- gestion on hand pits. And even if veyors are installed, the peak load is taken care of with gratifying ease. And when engines are not arriving, there is an almost negligible loss of labor wages. In this connection it will be of some interest to quote the comparative costs as compiled in January, 1918, by E. C ordeal, Assistant to General Superin- tendent of the Texas & Pacific Rv. Double Unit Robertson Conveyor at Macon, Ga., Which, When Wages Were $1.50 Per Day, Was Saving 1,319.00 Per Year. On the Basis of 37!/ 2 c Per Hour, This Installation Is Now Saving $3,300.00 Per Year. enough laborers can be obtained to load "The cinder pit problem at engine the cinders fast enough to prevent con- houses is one of greatly increased im- gestion, these men will be out of a job, portance at the present time on account killing time a portion of the day. The of the practical impossibility of secur- cost of shoveling cinders is extremely ing laborers for this class of work at high where engines bunch up morning anywhere near a reasonable rate, and evening. And this means at prac- "J n the past, most railroads have tically every pit handling 10 engines or been content with installing up-to-date more - cinder handling facilities at their larger If Robertson Inclined Track Con- terminals, using hand labor at the less (72) AVERAGE SAVINGS important points, although a good many of us have realized that a machine, han- dling cinders, was more economical, even at the smaller roundhouse points. The tendency has been to avoid the initial expenditure for any improved facilities and to drift along with the old style, uneconomical hand pits. "Right now we are confronted with a condition, which is very likely to force us to do what we should have done in the interest of economy long ago. If men are not available, we must handle our cinders with machinery, and the engines per day, show the following re- sults : COST OF HANDLING CINDERS PER ENGINE. 40 ENGINES PER DAY. Hand Labor $0.26 Power - 00 Interest and De- preciation 02 Crane Conveyor $0.10 $0.06 .03 .01 Total ...$0.28 $0.25 .04 $0.11 "The interest and depreciation fig- ures in the foregoing statement include those items for both the pit and the hoisting device. Views of Kankakee, III., Conveyors. Pit Shown At Left With Cart Seated Ready For Load. fact that we will save money by so do- ing is our consolation in being forced to make the necessary installations. "Experience with various methods of cinder handling has convinced me long since that there is only one justifiable method of operating cinder pits where ten engines per day or upwards are handled. Comparative figures, taken from actual time studies, covering the cost of handling cinders by various means for a terminal averaging forty "For a terminal handling an average of ten engines per day, the figures would be as follows : COST OF HANDLING CINDERS PER ENGINE. 10 ENGINES PER DAY. Hand Crane Conveyor Labor _ $0.26 Power 00 Interest and De- preciation 08 Total ....$0.34 $0.10 .05 .48 $0.63 $0.06 .01 .16 'My experience with the Robertson (73) TERMINAL COST DATA Conveyor has been highly satisfactory. I have seen these machines in operation in the dead of winter, in Michigan and Minnesota, and in the heat of summer in California and Texas, and their per- formance has been uniformly good un- der all conditions. I do not believe that there is any question in the minds of railroad men who have used this device, as to its superiority over any other means of solving the cinder pit prob- lem. "I am of the opinion that the men, who contend that cinders can be loaded by hand at a cost of 9c or lOc a yard, have never actually figured on the prop- osition. My own experience would in- dicate that a cost of approximately 20c Cinders Accumulating. per yard would about cover where ma- terial is merely shoveled from the ground onto cars. "The cost of loading cinders from an engine pit is an entirely different propo- sition, however, and cannot be accom- plished at anywhere near this rate. In the first place, the cinders are hot and must be thoroughly wet down before they can be handled. Again, the pit men are constantly interrupted in their work by engines arriving at the pit and dumping fires. In addition to this, the work is laborious and disagreeable on account of the heat and the water in the pit. For these reasons, the men that can be secured to work in cinder pits are not the accomplished shovelers who would handle cinders off the ground at the 20c per yard rate." Author's note: Since these figures were made up there has been approx- imately a 100 per cent increase in wages of cinder pit laborers, and a like in- crease in prices. Under these condi- tions the cost would be as follows: COST OF HANDLING CINDERS PER ENGINE. 40 ENGINES PER DAY. Hand Labor $0.52 Power 00 Interest and De- preciation 04 Crane Conveyor $0.20 $0.12 .03 .01 .24 .08 Total $0.56 $0.47 $0.21 COST OF HANDLING CINDERS PER ENGINE. 10 ENGINES PER DAY. Hand Labor 52 Power *. 00 Interest and De- preciation 16 Total .. ....$0.68 Crane Conveyor .20 .12 .05 .01 .96 $1.21 .32 $0.45 (74) CHAPTER XI Cinder Pit, Track and Conveyor Layouts Railroad men know through expe- rience that a layout or installation which will handle the work at one place will not of necessity handle the work at another place. And no layout can be made for a terminal which will adequately answer the purpose without a considera - tion of the conditions to be met. In lay- ing out a cinder pit, we must take into consid- eration first the time ele- m e n t or the num- ber of loco- motives which will come to the pit during the rush hour, and the facilities necessary for taking care of this peak load with- out delaying engines; second, the size of the locomotives; and third, the num- These Two Units of a Battery of Six Units of Robertson Conveyors at Grand Rapids, Mich., Are Located Close Together So That Fire May Be Pulled from Both Ends of the Fire Box at the Same Time. The Whole Fire of a Large Locomotive May Be Pulled Into These Two Buckets and They Are Dumped Simultaneously by One Operator. her of locomotives over the pit. Consideration of the first two factors will show the necessity and the ultimate economy of installing a sufficient num- ber of con- veyors to adequately take care of the en- gines with- out caus- ing delay at any time. There are very few places where a single-unit coinveyor will be suf- ficient for handling the peak load with- out caus- ing delay. Not be- cause of the capac- ity of the conveyor, which is ample to take care of all the cinders of 100 engines per day, but be- cause of the time it takes to pull a fire. It takes from 18 to 30 minutes, or even more sometimes, to pull a fire ; and (75) TERMINAL COST DATA I _ft Unloading Track tr - Plan and Section, Robertson Two-Unit Conveyor Cinder Pit. so installations should be such that on this basis the locomotives can be taken care of without delay during the rush period, and a layout should not be based merely on the speed of the Robertson conveyor, which will dump its load in 30 seconds. It is the capacity of the fire knockers and not the capacity of the conveyor which determines the number of units necessary. The capacity of the cinder pit may be increased in two ways. First, by providing two units close together so that fires may be pulled into two carts from the same engine at the same time. In this way, two hostlers can work, one on each end of the firebox, and reduce the time for pulling the fire of an en- gine by one-half. The second way to increase the ca- pacity is to increase the number of bat- teries of double units, placing them a sufficient distance apart so that locomo- Sprinkler Method Used on the C. & O. R. R. for Wetting Down Cinders in the Robertson Cinder Pit. There Is No Surplus of Water or Any Delay in Cooling Cinders In This Efficient Manner. Sprinkler Method Used on the Santa Fe for Wet- ting Down Cinders in a Robertson Cinder Pit. The Water Puts Out the Fire in the Cinders as They Drop, and As Soon As the Conveyor Cart Is Full It Can Be Immediately Dumped Into the Car. The Flow of Water is Easily Controlled, Which Prevents Flooding, or Freezing in Cold Weather. (76) CINDER PIT, TRACK AND CONVEYOR L A.Y O U T S Grand Rapids Hand Pit Before Installing Conveyors tives may be spotted over several bat- teries at the same time and fires be pulled from almost any number of loco- motives at the same time. In this way, the capacity of the cin- der pit may be made as great as de- sired in the original installation. Or the capacity of the cinder pit may be increased at any time by the installation of additional units, if the original in- stallation proves too small or the re- quirements increase beyond the capacity of the fire knockers to pull fires. To the casual observer, all railroad The Steel Work for the Grand Rapids Cinder Con- veyors Was Placed In a Very Few Hours With a Derrick. terminals may look alike, embracing a roundhouse, a coal dock, a sandhouse and a cinder pit; but the railroad man in charge knows differently. Conditions make the terminals en- tirely different. Even those terminals handling a similar number of locomo- tives may have entirely different condi- tions to contend with. There are large and small terminals, and similar-sized terminals with differ- ent layouts. Some handle heavy power, Men Connecting Up Steel Work After Derrick Has Completed the Erection. Knocking a Fire In the Grand Rapids Pit. (77) TERMINAL COST DATA some light. At many points congestion exists; at other points the power comes and goes at regular periods. In fact, time, labor and material vary sufficient- ly at different points to produce great variations, which must he considered in aji original installation. Previous installations also have their different terminals, provided a proper installation is contemplated. The cinder pit represents one of the main problems at any railroad locomo- tive terminal. Using the cinder pit for this reason as an illustration, let us as- sume that a particular terminal turns 80 engines of a heavy type every 24 To Increase the Capacity of the Cinder Pit at Grand Rapids, Mich., Three Sets of the Double Units of Rob- ertson Conveyors Located Close Together Were Provided. Thus it is Possible to Spot Three Large Locomo- tives Here and If Necessary, Have Two Fire Knockers Working on Each Locomotive, Each Pulling the Fire Out of One End of the Fire Box, All at the Same Time. In This Manner Locomotives May Be Released Very Rapidly At a Speed of 3 Every Fifteen Minutes If Desired. importance. Water, steam and air hours. The officials recommend the use pressure play their parts. To such an extent are terminals so utterly differ- ent from each other, that no installa- tion of even minor description should be made until every existing condition is given due consideration. Meritorious appliances are usually sufficiently flex- ible to meet the different demands of of six cinder conveyors but have them placed some distance apart; perhaps on different tracks. Such an installation might have been the ideal for another terminal, but at this particular point a loss in time is ex- perienced, due to the fact that the heavy power carries so much fire that two (78) CINDER PIT, TRACK AND CONVEYOR LA.YOUTS trips of the conveyor cars are needed to directly over the two conveyor cars when handle the dumpings. In the mean- spotted. All of the ashes are dumped while, the locomotive waits. without respotting the locomotive. This Fires should he knocked in a space of installation handles the cinders more time not greater than 10 to 15 minutes, than twice as fast as two units widely Double-Unit Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor on Pere Marquette Ry. at Grand Rapids, Mich., Dumping Both Carts At One Time With But One Man Operating the Conveyor. In this case, 25 to 30 minutes are re- quired, which is altogether too long. Typical Layouts. We illustrate the Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor at Grand Rapids, Mich., consisting of three batteries of two units each, placed close enough together so that both hop- pers of a large engine's ash pan are separated ; and if they were widely sep- arated, the fire knocker would have to walk from one unit to the other and the locomotive would have to be spotted twice to take all its ashes. The pictures also aptly illustrate how easy it is to operate both conveyors at the same time by use of one man's labor. One illustration shows two buckets be- ing dumped at the same time. At (79) TERMINAL COST DATA Grand Rapids, many Consolidated, Pacific and Mikado locomotives are handled. The three batteries of double units are so arranged and isolated that the use of one battery in cleaning fires will not conflict with the use of the others at the same time. Now if there were only one conveyor at this point, it would have to be loaded and the load discharged into the car and then the bucket brought down again under the rail ; and in the meantime the locomotive would be waiting. When the air pressure is right, this will entail a loss of only 30 seconds ; but if for some reason or other the air pressure is down a little, there may be a delay of 2 or 3 minutes. The installation of the Robertson In- clined Track Cinder Conveyors at Grand Rapids is right. It is right be- cause it is figured out particularly for the conditions at that terminal. Right for the simple reason that the arrange- ment of the three batteries provides for 'rush hours" without difficulty. Right, for the reason that the compact, two- unit installation allows fire cleaning for large engines to be accomplished in a minimum space of time, with only one spotting of the locomotive required and no walking from conveyor to conveyor by the fire knocker. Again right be- cause provision has been made for an ample supply of dry, compressed air at the necessary pressure. Another thing to note about this in- stallation is that it has three batteries In order to prevent either switching or respotting, it is advisable always to instead of J* one Three lar S e loo - have two units of Robertson conveyors motives can be spotted and have then- located closely together, and in such a fires P ulled at the same time ' thus ac ~ way as to most advantageously take complishing two very desirable objects; (1) quickest possible handling of each locomotive (fires pulled in not to ex- ceed 15 minutes) ; (2) provision for handling three locomotives at the same time without interference. This gives an average capacity of 12 locomotives per hour, four at each bat- tery. It is easy to realize what this means during rush hours. It means the care of the local conditions. Correct Installation. Again referring to installation, con- sideration should be given to getting the proper air pressure, and also to the condition of the air. No installation is capable of functioning at 100 per cent efficiency with insufficient air pressure, and even with maximum pressure, effi- ciency is lost if moisture-laden air is used. The result will be slow operation during winter months, and during warmer periods accumulations of water will wash away the oil necessary for lub- rication. practical elimination of all delay at the cinder pit in this layout. Need for Laborers Entirely Eliminated. At some points additional batteries of conveyors have been provided in or- der that it will not be necessary to have (80) CINDER PIT, TRACK AND CONVEYOR LAYOUTS The Robertson Conveyors at Illmo, Mo., Were Installed in Sufficient Number to Give Very High Ca- pacity and Prevent Any Delay to Locomotives During Rush Hours. any cinder pit laborers at all and the entire work can be handled by the fire knockers. It is easy to see that an ad- ditional investment in equipment is jus- tified to accomplish this. An installation of this kind, where cinder pit laborers are not employed at all, is that at Illmo, Mo. on the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad, which is illustrated. Four medium-sized engines can be spotted over the four batteries of conveyors and their fires cleaned at one time, if four fire cleaners are em- ployed. These engines can then be promptly moved off the pit and four more engines of medium size may have their fires cleaned in the alternate buckets without delaying even long enough to dump the buckets. Thus with a layout of this size, 4 engines may be handled with extreme rapidity without any cinder pit laborers at all; then after a delay of only a few sec- Robertson Cinder Conveyors Operated by Electricity at Gallup, N. M.; A., T. & S. F. Ry. Robertson Cinder Conveyor at Bangor, Me., on the Maine Central R. R., Operated by Electricity. (81) TERMINAL COST DATA ROBERTSON CONVEYOR ROBERTSON CONVEYORS ROBERTSON CONVEYORS J>LAHar TRACKS Four Double-Unit Robertson Conveyors Providing Two Ash Pit Tracks, Wtih Only One Loading Track Necessary. onds, the plant is again ready for four more locomotives. At this terminal it is necessary to handle engines fast, as they arrive in quick succession at certain intervals during the day; and they do handle them fast without any cinder pit labor- ers at all. The conveyors are operated by the fire knockers and when installed the cinder pit gang was taken off the books entirely. There is always a Rob- ertson Conveyor waiting for a locomo- tive at this terminal. And they are han- dled by the men who. at an average terminal, are paid merely for cleaning the fires. Eight Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyors Were Installed at McGregor, Iowa, in Order That Full Capacity Might Be Provided for Rush Hours. (82) CINDER PIT, TRACK AND CONVEYOR LAYOUTS At many other terminals, increasing the number of Robertson Conveyors slightly above the minimum required, will give a capacity such that cinder-pit laborers can be entirely done away with. This means of course a big saving in the payroll, but it means a much greater saving in trouble and delay in getting and holding laborers, and in the con- stant grief experienced with labor at the cinder pit. Where you have no need for labor- ers, you have no labor problem. The way to solve the labor problem at cin- der pits is to use power equipment- Robertson Inclined Track Conveyors, ajid enough of them. For if there is not enough power equipment in a cin- der pit, better not have power equip- ment at all, but be satisfied with the long expensive hand cinder pit and the shovel. Double Use of Loading Track. The illustration showing, four sets of double units of Robertson conveyors is a design for providing a maximum capacity where the engines have their fires pulled on two tracks and using a single loading track to accommodate all of the conveyors. This means a saving of room in that only one loading track has to be provided for two ash-pit tracks. This also leads to an advantage and economy in spotting cars for the con- veyors. Since all the conveyors are on one track, the locomotive when it puts in empties can spot the four cars with- out being delayed by switching them from track to track. T,l F' EYORS ! 1 ! > 1 ! ' O L tr- a" 1 , h 38 j ; i : r|- i o w i : i (/) ..j . -i ' ai ROBER1 03 K. a i 2 r ,** 7 PLflHcr TffflCKS obertson Conveyors at Gr Fwo Cars at the Same Tin i i B" 1 J ll fEYORS o: o X *" x c a) - r- '! ! _ 4^ ! Z a C ! t ll 5'"L. r ^ 3 " Z 5 Q ns ! ' J-L.J _ T o (0 * 17 -M~'~t H 1 r ..)j inr bl CD O K |1 1 P r3 U r ^F jut j in K O Ul and Cinder Pit Layout Similar Mich., Where Locomotive M ; ! r i u ; 1 o 2 S"_ _ - - : i 1'. 117 o Z h ; 1 0) 1- " i. . . . - J <* ROBER 2 7 (83) TERMINAL COST DATA If the same number of Robertson ash pits were put in on the same track, it would make the installation about twice as long and spread it over so much territory that the men attending the ash pits or pulling the fires may kill considerable time during the day and night by walking from one ash pit to another. Placing the four units as shown makes a very compact installa- tion, which is of utmost advantage from Rapids pit where three double sets of conveyors were placed on the same track. Special Plan for Saving Track Room. Where installed on level ground, the Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Con- veyor requires about 22-ft. track centers. Where it is desired to have cinder con- veyors on two tracks so that either track may be handled independently of the ROBERTSON CONVEYORS ROBERTSON CONVEYORS Plan for Saving 10 Feet of Track Centers in Putting In Double Unit Robertson Conveyors on Two Tracks. Loading Track is Used for Both Batteries of Conveyors. the viewpoint of the saving of time of other, the layout shown herewith will laborers and fire knockers. work out to good advantage. The With this layout, it is possible to loading track is laid out with a curve handle 200 large locomotives per day in it which makes it possible to save and do it conveniently. And simply 10-foot of track room, lengthening the installation will make As the loading track is not a high it possible to increase the capacity at speed track and is used very little, the any time by almost any desired amount, curve can be put in very sharp if de- This combination of double conveyors sired, so that these installations can be may also be used, if desired, for two put very close together, double-unit installations or for three With this installation, an engine can double-unit installations. be spotted on each track simultaneous- Local conditions will decide whether ly, and if one engine gets through be- this kind of a layout will be more ad- fore the other, it can be moved off vantageous to use at any given terminal promptly, and another engine spotted than the layout used on the Grand without any delay. This layout has (84) CINDER PIT, TRACK AND CONVEYOR LAYOUTS some advantage over the same number of units of Robertson Conveyors in- stalled on the same track, and requires no additional loading track. Summary. In laying out a cinder pit, various schemes, or combinations of them, may be used, to accomplish the desired re- sults i. e., to get engines in and out of the terminal without delay; and to re- duce the number of laborers needed to the minimum. The number of units of Robertson conveyor needed depend on ( 1 ) the number of engines which arrive per hour, in the rush hour; (2) the size of the locomotives; (3) the number of locomotives handled per day; (4) the efficiency of the air supply, and (5) the labor and fire knocker situation. In most cases, the man in charge of the cinder pits, or the hostlers, can give the information off-hand which after a few minutes' study, will indicate the lay- out to be used and the capacity to be provided. Where the layout is such that only one locomotive can be dumped at a time, the fire dumped into only one bucket, the layout will handle a locomotive on the average of about 30 minutes. Where two conveyors are provided side by side, close enough together so that two men may draw the fire into two buckets at the same time, the same locomotive can be handled in 15 min- utes. Putting in additional batteries of two-unit conveyors will make it possible to handle one additional locomotive every 15 minutes for every double-unit conveyor. While special layouts in the track are often found necessary, it is usually ad- visable to use the standard conveyoi layout, inclined rails and supports, be- cause it is always easier to get prompt delivery on standard layouts from a manufacturer, and cheaper for the manufacturer to furnish the standard layout than a special one. The fact should never be lost sight of that the design of a cinder conveyor is made for a certain specific slope and height of inclined rail and better satis- faction is obtained from the standard layout, which is the result of many years of improvement based on service, than can be obtained from a special convey- or layout or design. (85) CHAPTER XII Other Installations Macon, Ga. The Southern Railway realized the advantage of the Robertson Cinder Conveyor for cinder pits many years ago and has 31 installations now in service. The illustration is of one of these conveyor installations at Macon, Ga. cinders in each twenty-four hours. When this pit was operated by hand it required four men regularly ; and two men about 50 per cent of their time ad- ditional, and the pit was never clean. Even with this force at the pit, engines were often delayed and had to be moved around to different places and Robertson Conveyor at Macon, Ga. Part of 31 Robertson Conveyors on the Southern Railway. This installation, having two Robert- cleaned somewhere else in order to pre- son conveyors, was made in April, 1913 vent congestion at the cinder pit. and takes care of the engines for a 12- pit roundhouse. In a twenty-four hour day there are approximately three At- lantic, five Pacific, seven 22x30 Con- solidated, one American and one passenger locomotive taken care of ; be- dling the pit, these men are now able to sides twenty standard 20x26 switch en- keep the yard clean within a radius of gines. One 50-ton car is loaded with 100 feet of the pit. (86) Since the installation of the Robert- son conveyors, the number of laborers has been cut down to two, one working a day and one working a night shift of twelve hours each. In addition to ban- OTHER INSTALLATIONS HAND OPERATED PIT COST IN 1917. 4 men @ $1.20 per day $ 4.80 2 men 50% of time, @ $1.20 per.... day 1.20 .$ 6.00 Cost per day.. WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS. 2 men @ $1.50 per day $ 3.00 Credit for cleaning yard. 1.00 Net cost with Robertson Conveyor.$ 2.00 Saving with Robertson Conveyor per day approximately $ 4.00 Saving per year $1,319.00 These figures, which were furnished by an official of the railroad, would have to be revised in accordance with present wages. At 37c an hour, this saving would now be as follows: HAND OPERATED PIT. 4 men ...$14.80 2 men, 50% of time _ 3.70 Cost per day $18.50 WITH ROBERTSON CONVEYORS. 2 men @ $3.70 per day ."$ 7.40 Credit for cleaning yard _... 2.40 Cost with Robertson Conveyor per day $ 5.00 Saving, with Robertson Conveyor per day (maximum) $ 13.50 Saving per year (average) with Robertson Conveyor on same basis as other figures were made $3,300.00 The official from whom we obtained the figures on savings of this installa- tion has the following to say about it: "It has been my experience that there is no comparison whatever in favor of the depressed track cinder pit, as com- pared with the pneumatic (inclined) cinder conveyor. gines arrived at terminal, they could be placed on the pit promptly. Very often with the pit full we were moving engines about over the yard in order to clean the ash pans and get them in the roundhouse. "Since we have had the pneumatic (inclined) cinder conveyor our engines are all cleaned promptly on arrival at pit and the entire premises are in a thoroughly cleanly condition." Thirty-one Robertson conveyors are located on various parts of the Southern Ry. Memphis, Tenn. The single-unit Robertson conveyor illustrated herewith had been in use for five years when the picture was taken, during which time it had loaded ap- proximately 182,500 cubic yards of cinders. A special apron arrangement was in- stalled with this cinder pit to increase the capacity, at the same time prevent- ing cinders from falling outside the con- veyor bucket. Part of the cinders which fall on these two aprons slide into the bucket, and the rest are shoveled in when the cinder pit is not busy. This makes it possible to take care of the engines more rapidly. This conveyor is located at a terminal which has three main line divisions en- tering it. Forty-five engines are han- "We formerly had the depressed- died during 24 hours and about ll/2 cars, track cinder pit at Macon, at which or 100 cubic yards, of cinders are loaded time we kept four men employed con- per day. The cars are loaded very heav- tinually and they were not able to keep ily upwards of 60 yards being placed the pit clean to the extent that as en- in each car. There were four laborers at (87) TERMINAL COST DATA FORMER COST OF HAND OPERATED PIT. 4 men @ 48 hours per day Time charged up against Robertson Conveyor per day 8.40 .70 Saving per day with Robertson Conveyor $ 7.70 Saving per year with Robertson Conveyor $ 2,805.00 PRESENT SAVINGS AT 37c PER HOUR FOR LABOR. 4 laborers @ $3.70 per day $ 14.40 With Conveyor 4 hours per day $ 1.50 Saving per day with Robertson Conveyor $ 12.90 Saving per year with Robertson Conveyor $ 5,610.00 this point in 1917 working in 12 hour shifts, but only 4 hours per day, at a cost of 70 cents, were consumed in load- ing cinders. These men also knock the fires and they would have been re- quired for this work were there no con- veyors a,t all at this point. The ap- proximate actual cost for loading cin- ders per cubic yard at that time was about $0.007. The engines are handled easily at this place, without congestion, by the conveyor. Since the pit oper- ators knock fires, there is really a sav- ing of four laborers, which would be required, in addition, to load the cin- ders were they loaded by hand. As a matter of fact, before installa- tion of the Robertson Conveyor, 48 hours labor for loading cinders was re- quired at this pit, at a cost of $8.40. There was a saving of $7.70 per day, at the wage rate of 17 1 / / 2C per hour. Robertson Cinder Conveyor at Memphis, Tenn., Which from 1911 to 1916 Saved $14,052.50 When Labor Was Paid $1.75 Per Day. At the Present Rate of 35c Per Hour, Saving Per Year Will Run $5,610.00. (88) OTHER INSTALLATIONS One statement made regarding this conveyor is that really the cost of load- ing cinders is nothing because they are loaded between times, when the men would otherwise have nothing to do. There is practically no place in the country where a man who cleans fires is required to do any other work; in fact it would hardly be profitable to take a man away, who is employed for this purpose, for occasional odd jobs. Prac- packing leather; that is, packing a pis- ton, and the conveyor is now in first class condition. Twenty- four Robertson Conveyors are located at various points on the Frisco Ry. Illmo, Mo. At Illmo, Mo., is situated a terminal on the St. Louis Southwestern Railway where quite a number of engines have L Robertson Cinder Conveyors at Illmo, Mo., Where Four Double Conveyors Were Installed and No Laborers At All Are Employed. The Fire Knockers Handle the Conveyors and There Is No Labor Problem At This Pit. At Any Pit of Ordinary Size The Installation of a Sufficient Number of Robertson Conveyors Will Make It Possible To Do Away With the Cinder Pit. Labor Entirely. tically all of his time would be taken up in going to and from the different places where he works, with the result that he would frequently not be on hand when; it is necessary to knock a fire. Usually, the fire knockers are not busy between times of knocking fires, and can handle the Robertson conveyor when otherwise they would be idle. This conveyor had only been over- hauled once in its first five years of service. Xo repairs had been made in the meantime with the exception of one to be handled very expeditiously. The illustration shows the cinder pits at this terminal. There is a 27-stall round- house and six emergency tracks to take care of the engines which are turned. An average of 37 locomotives is han- dled here every 24 hours and about four carloads of cinders are loaded. These are not loaded heavily, however, their capacity being low. Previous to the installation of the Robertson conveyors, four laborers were required at this place to load cinders, (89) TERMINAL COST DATA and in 1917 these men were being paid $1.75 per day. One of the reasons for the adoption of the Robertson Convey- ors was the necessity for taking care of a large number of engines very rapidly, and this was difficult under hand opera- tion. The time that the locomotives were at the cinder pit has been cut down materially since the installation of the conveyors. The conveyors are operated by the men who knock fires and there are four cf these on each shift. Of course, these men would be required at this point anyway for knocking fires, there are no laborers required especially for the operation of the conveyors. The sav- ing in labor in a year's time was given by the official in charge, as $2,000 per year in 1917. At the present rate of 43c per hour, this saving would now be $4,825.00. It is apparent that we are saving four laborers at this place over what was necessary under hand-pit opera- tion; and in that degree reducing the labor requirements at this point. The officials look upon the Robertson cinder conveyors very favorably as a labor- saving appliance. The cars that are used at this point are loaded rather lightly, as they are cars of an old type which are not in general service. The cars are loaded with about 20 cubic yards of cinders so that there are about 80 cubic yards loaded each day. There are 18 Robertson Conveyors in use on the St. Louis Southwestern Railway. Kankakee, 111. Ivankakee is a medium-sized engine terminal on the Illinois Central R. R., where 35 engines are handled every 24 hours. The engines have to be handled quite rapidly at certain times during the day, and the cinder pit for this reason is a very important part of the terminal equipment. Formerly cinders were handled here by hand at a large expense for labor, and at this location as at most others, laborers were hard to obtain at anv Two of Four Units of Robertson Conveyors at Kan- kakee, III. Cinder Pit Laborers Here are Paid 43c Per Hour, and This Installation is Saving $4,825.00 Per Year. price and practically impossible to keep on the job more than a few days at a time. At the present time cinders are being handled at this pit with absolutely no cost for labor and they are being han- dled with absolute satisfaction and with- out any delay whatever. A stop watch test was conducted by a personal representative of the author at Kankakee to determine how long it took to handle a fire with the Robert- OTHER INSTALLATIONS TIME FOR PULLING AND LOADING A FIRE I. C. LOCOMOTIVE 2315. Spotted on conveyor 11:20 A. M. Rear end of fire cleaned 11:29:15^. Time for cleaning rear end of fire 9 min ^2 sec. Engine moved and front end cleaned 11:35:4854. Time for cleaning front end 6 min. 33 sec. Ash pan closed 11.37:10. Total time for cleaning fire 2 buckets of cinders 17 min. 10 sec. son Inclined Track Conveyor, with the above results. For dumping bucket No. 1, 22 sec- onds were required; 10 seconds to raise and dump, and 12 seconds to bring it back in place under the ash pan. Bucket No. 2 was dumped in 9 sec- onds and brought back and to place in 10 seconds, requiring 19 second j. It took 6 minutes and 2 seconds to wet down the cinders so the man at the pit put in 7 minutes and 1 second after the engine was moved, to load the cinders. The total time for handling the en- gine and letting down and loading the cinders was 23 minutes and 53 seconds. We give below comparison of the cost of handling cinders at Kankakee by hand and by the use of the Robertson Inclined Track Conveyor. Cost of hostlers and helpers for either hand-pit operation or Robertson con- veyor operation is the same. Of course it takes a longer time to clean some fires than to clean others, and the main thing to be noted in the time study is the length of time that it took the conveyor to handle the cin- ders after the engine was through dumping. The time for dumping the two buckets and bringing back to place was only 41 seconds. Added to this is 6 minutes and 2 seconds for wetting down the cinders, making a total of G minutes and 43 seconds for handling two buckets full of cinders. With proper water arrangement this time taken for wetting down cinders is entirely elim- inated. The time study above shows why the two units of Robertson Conveyors are put in close together. It not only saves excavation but it greatly hastens the work of pulling a fire, when there is more than one bucket full. If the con- veyors are located 60 or 80 feet apart there would be constant delay while the engine was being spotted, and while the helpers walked back and forth between these pits. With an installation like HAND CINDER PIT COST. Number of engines handled per year_.12,775 Number of laborers required 3 Rate, per hour $ .31^ Hours, per day 12 Total labor cost, per day -...$11.24 Cost, per year $4,002.60 Cost per engine, by hand $ .31 4/10 ROBERTSON CINDER CONVEYOR COST. Number of laborers required none Saving per engine $ .31 4/10 Total saving per year with Robertson In- clined Track Conveyors $4,002.60 NUMBER OF HOSTLERS REQUIRED. Hand Pit Operation. 2 hostlers @ 52}^c per hour. 2 helpers @ 22c per hour. Total per day $ 17.88 Total per year 6,526.20 Robertson Inclined Track Conveyor. 2 hostlers (5) 52^c per hour. 2 helpers @ 22c per hour. Total per day $ 17.88 Total per year 6,526.20 (91) TERMINAL COST DATA that at Kankakee there is only a few steps between the two buckets and the fire is pulled without any delay what- ever. As shown in the illustrations, the cinder pit layout at Kankakee includes four units of the Robertson Inclined Track Conveyor. The Illinois Central has 38 Robertson Inclined Track Con- veyors located at various points on the line. Somerset, Pa. The B. & O. R. R. terminal at Som- erset, Pa., was built 5 years ago. The Somerset division uses large Mikado engines, whose fires are twice as large as the ordinary engine. When compar- ing present and past costs for handling cinders, present and past sizes of fires must be considered also. This terminal handles 25 Mikado en- gines every 24 hours, employing 2 fire knockers who act as hostlers and oper- ate the Robertson Inclined Track Cin- der Conveyors also. Their time is charged to transportation. No cinder conveyor charge is made. It would require 6 more men to shovel and load the cinders from 25 fires of the 700 class engines (a smaller en- gine) and would take 12 men to shovel and load the cinders from 25 Mikado engine fires. At present wages it would half cent per minute. With Robertson conveyors only 40 seconds per fire are consumed to wet-down and load cin- ders. This costs $0.004 per fire or lOc for 25 Mikado engine fires. The management here says that, aside from loading cinders instantly and re- ducing the labor on the pit to a mere Showing the Layout of the Four Units of Robertson Conveyors at Kankakee, III. nothing, one great factor is that any man can operate the conveyor imme- diately. When hiring new men no time is needed for instruction. The temperature goes to 21 below zero here in the winter. Having the air line well laid out, they have had no freezing up of the air line during the five winters it has been in. The term- inal lies on ground that is flat for miles and the cold wind and snow has a good sweep over it. They have two single-unit Robert- son conveyors installed, 90 feet apart, cost $53.28 per day or $2.13 per fire for It requires one man from 40 to 60 min- the Mikado locomotives, if the men utes to clean one Mikado fire. The con- could be obtained. Wages have increased here since August, 1918, from 32y 2 c P er nour * 37c per hour. At 37c per hour they are paying wages of $0.006 or over a veyor consumes 40 seconds per fire of this time. The following table shows what it would cost to handle fires here with hand loading. (92) OTHER INSTALLATIONS HAND CINDER PIT. 6 men 37c per hour, per day $ 26.60 Cost per fire by hand 1.06 25 fires per day, 9,125 per year, cost per year 9,700.00 ROBERTSON CONVEYOR CINDER PIT. 2 men at 37c per hour, per day... .$ 8.88 Cost per fire .355 25 fires per day, 9,125 per year Cost per year with Robertson Conveyors 3,239.375 Amount saved per fire with Rob- ertson Conveyors .705 Amount saved with Robertson Conveyors per year 6,460.00 Nineteen Robertson Cinder Convey- ors are located at various points on the Baltimore & Ohio. tions is productive of speed and service. With the latter method, having dou- ble-conveyor installation with buckets seating under adjacent tracks, two en- gines may have their fires cleaned at once; and with double conveyors, four fires can be cleaned at the same time. This terminal handles the business of three divisions, the Eastern, Illinois and the Missouri divisions and 60 en- gines are handled every 24 hours. These engines are mixed classes, and in- clude Switch engines, Pacific type en- gines and Mikado type engines. The Double Unit Robertson Conveyors Arranged Back to Back, Two Conveyors Loading Into the Same Car. This Installation at St. Louis, Mo., is Saving $15,206.00 Per Year. St. Louis, Mo. The Missouri Pacific Railroad has installed two, double-unit, Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyors at St. Louis, Mo., placed back to back, whereas, in the usual double-unit instal- lations the conveyors are placed side by side, with buckets .sealing under the same track. Either of these installa- Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor at St. Louis. Car Dumping Its Load. power requirements' are irregular and bunched and this calls for the very least time possible being spent in cleaning the engines and getting them over the pits. Under hand operation, there was not always room for the engine when it came in, but with the Robertson In- clined Track Conveyors there is never any delay but always a bucket waiting for an engine as it comes in. (93) TERMINAL COST DATA COST WITH HAND OPERATED PIT. M. P. R. R. EAST ST. LOUIS. Cleaning Fires and Loading Cinders Complete. 4 fire knockers days, 4 nights, 40c per hour, per day, $38.40, per year $14,016.00 5 cinder shovelers days, 5 nights, 87c per hour, per day $44.40; per year 16,206.00 Total cost per year $30,222.00 60 fires per day, or 21,900 per year. Cost per fire, $1.38. WITH ROBERTSON INCLINED TRACK CONVEYORS. Cleaning Fires and Loading Cinders Complete. 4 fire knockers per shift 3 shifts. 12 men at $3.20 per day $ 38.40 Per year 14,016.00 60 fires per day or 21,900 per year. Cost per fire, $0.64. SAVING WITH ROBERTSON INCLINED TRACK CONVEYORS. Number of men saved, 6. Saved per fire $1.38 minus $0.64. or $0.74 per fire. Saving per year, $16,206.00. Under hand operation, 10 men were required, 5 days and 5 nights and the work was let out to a contractor. Trou- ble was experienced at this pit constant- ly with labor and with congestion. Under hand operation there were also 8 fire knockers and helpers so there were 18 men at this pit. Since install- ing the Robertson Conveyors they have eliminated the 10 cinder shovelers and are handling the work with the fire knockers and helpers. They actually have more fire knockers and helpers be- cause they have reduced the shift to 8 hours per day and while they use the same number of men for shifts they have an extra shift per day. These men knock the fires, load Robertson Cinder Conveyors at Waterville, Me. The se Conveyors Operate in Coldest Winter Weather, the Photograph Having Been Taken When it Was 32 Below Zero. (94) OTHER INSTALLATIONS the cinders, coal and water the en- this and the cinder pit is kept in first gines. class condition without any congestion With the hand cinder pit the shov- whatever. Conveyors are ready to re- elers and pits were in use or working at ceive the engines whenever they arrive, all times in the 24 hours and it was abso- Sixty-two of the large railways have lutely necessary that it should be so. anywhere from 6 to 38 Robertson Con- Loading the cinders with the Robert- veyors on cinder pits, handling from '3 son Cinder Conveyors has changed all up to 15 engines. (95) CHAPTER XIII Inclined Track Coaling Stations The cost of coaling locomotives de- pends very largely upon the cost of the apparatus or equipment necessary in the coaling operation. The cost of coaling stations usually runs up into the tens of thousands of dollars, entail- ing an overhead in interest and depre- ciation which makes their use prohibi- tive at any except large coaling points. The cost of handling the coal for en- inoney over what it would cost by hand, which is the only method that would be justified at a place where so few loco- motives are being coaled. The capacity of this machine is very greatly in excess of that required at this point. It takes only nine minutes to coal any one of the locomotives, so that actually the Robertson Inclined Track Coaling Station is busy only 36 min- utes per day, and handles an average of A Close-up View of the Robertson Inclined Track Coaling Station at Granite City, Ills. gines differs so greatly at different loca- tions, that average figures do not mean much. Difference in costs at the same location, showing former and present methods, however, are conclusive proof of the value of the methods or equip- ment used. Granite City, 111. The coaling station at Granite City, 111. is handling the coaling of only four locomotives per 24 hours and doing it economically. It is saving a lot of Robertson Coaling Station at Granite City, Which Coals Locomotives for 9/10c Per Ton. Ills., seven tons per engine, or 28 tons per clay. At Granite City, one man is em- ployed days and one nights, and he operates a Robertson Inclined Track Cinder Conveyor in addition to the Rob- ertson Coaling Station. These two men are also the fire knockers, and their time is charged up against the three opera- tions. The actual time that the men spend in coaling these locomotives is nine min- utes per engine, or 36 minutes per 24 (96) INCLINED TRACK COALING STATIONS Granite City, III., Cinder Conveyor, Where But 10 Engines Per Day Are Handled. This Conveyor Is Saving $3,241.00 Per Year. hours, actual cost about 24c. The ac- tual cost per ton of coal is 9-10 of a cent, a figure which could be multiplied several times and still be very econom- ical considering the number of locomo- tives handled. The Robertson Inclined Track Coal- ing Conveyor does not break up the coal, as the high lift mechanical plants do in lifting the coal 40 to 90 feet, dropping it three or four times and running it through yards of chutes. The engines have only a half hour in which to get coal, sand and water and ROBERTSON INCLINED T COALING STATION, GRA1> CITY, ILL. Number of tons handled per 24 hours RACK IITE 28 2 tons 4 36 min. 9-10c 2 37c Capacity of conveyor per trip Number of engines handled per day Time consumed per engine 9 minutes total Actual cost per ton with Robert- son Coaling Station Number of laborers 1 days and 1 nights Rate per hour have their fires cleaned and the cinders loaded. For this reason the quick oper- ation of the cinder pit and of tfre coal- ing station are necessary in order that sufficient time may be left for cleaning the fire adequately. Hence the installa- tion of Robertson Inclined Track Coal- ing Station and also a Robertson Cin- der Conveyor. Ithaca, N. Y. The illustrations show a Robertson Inclined Track Coaling Station at Ithaca, N. Y. where only a few en- gines are handled during the day. A single-unit station was considered large enough for this point. For any con- siderable number of engines to be coaled, there should be at least two units located close beside each other similar to the cinder conveyors on the Pere Marquette at Grand Rapids, Mich., or Robertson Inclined Coaling Station at Geneva, N. Y., Which is Saving $5,058 Per Year in Labor Charge Over Former Hand Methods of Coaling Engines. (97) TERMINAL COST DATA Robertson Coaling Station at Ithaca, N. Y. Dropping a Load of Coal. method of coaling it costs lOc per en- gine and for 9 engines 90c. Previous to the installation of the Robertson Inclined Track Coalino- O Station, the coal wa,s shoveled from the car to a broad platform sufficiently high so that the locomotive tender might be brought beside it and loaded by the shovel gang. With this method, two additional men loaded the tenders by shoveling from the pile of coal that they had previously unloaded from a car. Each worked on the dock at various times equivalent to 9 hours straight time, and at the present scale of wages Bu they would receive 40c per hour. The cars are run on a slightly ele- at Waterville, Me. With this arrange- vated track over a hopper capable of ment, the engines, of course, could be holding a carload of coal about 50- coaled very much faster, in fact just as tons. While air is pumped into the fast as with a, chute, where the air sup- drum, the hostler opens the horizontal ply was good. slide door at the bottom of the bin, and Nine engines are coaled here every twenty- four hours. No man is as- signed to the loader, the loading being done by the hostlers. The conveyors are worked from the compressed air from the locomotive. The air hose on the rear of the tender is attached to a long hose that connects with a large res- ervoir used with the hoist. This Robertson Coaling Station has been in about three years and has given splendid service, requiring only minor repairs. At the present time an engine is coaled in 15 minutes or for the nine engines the time is 2 hours and 15 min- utes. The hostler is paid 40C per hour. Robertson Inclined Track Coaling Station at Ithaca, This means that with the nrpepnt N ' Y " Which is Saving S 2 ' 295 - 00 Per Year Over Cost of Coaling Engines Daily By Hand. (98) INCLINED TRACK COALING STATIONS COST WITH HAND LOADING, AT ITHACA, N. Y. 2 men, 9 hours each. 40c per hour, per day $ 7.20 Per year 2,628.00 9 fires per day or 3,285 per year. Cost per fire, $0.80. COST WITH ROBERTSON INCLINED TRACK COALING STATION. 1 man, 2 hours, 15 minutes, 40c per hour, per day .90 Per year 328.50 9 fires per day or 3,285 per year. Cost per fire, $0.10. Number of men saved, 1. Saved per fire, $0.80 minus $0.10 or $0.70 per fire. Saving per 3^ear with Robertson Coaling Station, $2,299.50. lets a couple of tons of coal run into the car; then shuts the slide, which is oper- ated with a lever, and runs the car up and over tender where it dumps. Geneva, N. Y. A single-unit Robertson Coaling Sta- tion is sufficient for handling the 6 en- gines which are coaled at Geneva, X. Y. every 24 hours. One 42c per hour man works on the dock here, three hours out of 24 hours, coaling engines. He has no help. Part of his time is taken in cleaning the pit of coal and picking up coal around the dock. His cost in labor for 3 hours for six engines would be $1.26 or a half hour at each engine. This is 21c per engine or $1.26 per day. Robertson Inclined Track Coaling Station at Geneva, New York. View of Robertson Inclined Track Coaling Station at Geneva, N. Y., Showing Coal Car and Location of Hopper. (99) TERMINAL COST DATA COST WITH HAND OPERATED COAL DOCK, AT GENEVA, N. Y. 3 men. 12 hours each, 42c per hour, per day ....$ 15.12 Per year .... 5,518.80 6 fires per day or 2,190 per year. Cost per fire 2.51 COST WITH ROBERTSON COALING STATION. 1 man. 3 hours, 42c per hour, per day 1.26 Per year .... 4/59.90 6 fires per day or 2,190 per year. Cost per fire 21 SAVING WITH ROBERTSON COALING STATION. Number of men saved 2 Saved per fire with Robertson Coaling Station, $2.51 minus $0.21 or 2.30 Saving per year with Robertson Coaling Station 5,058.00 Before the Robertson Coaling Sta- tion was installed, coal was shoveled by one man working 12 hours days, and 2 men working 12 hours nights. Under the present scale of wages at 42c per hour, the day cost would be $5.04, night cost $10.08, or a total cost of $15.12. Mr. McNamara, who has been in charge of coaling at this point for many years, stated that the point was so small that expenses were high at the best. But an immense saving is being made, as the figures show, even though the cost per engine is not as low as in some other places. These are not the only installations of the Robertson Coaling Stations ; they are also found on such roads as the Sante Fe, the Hocking Valley, and the Southern Railway. The descriptions given, however, are sufficient to show what tremendous savings may be ef- fected by a Robertson Conveyor for coaling locomotives. (100) TABLE OF CONTENTS A American Railway Association ; Report on Cinder Pits 43 Argentine, Kans., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 4(i Article on Comparative Costs of Handling Cinders 72 A. T. & S. F. RY 46 Average Cost of Cinder Pit Operation 71 Average Cinder Pit Savings *70 Average Savings at Cinder Pits 70 Average Savings at Cinder Pits, Diagram 70 B Baltimore & Ohio R. R., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 91 C Charlottesville, Va., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 60 Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Summary of Savings Made with Robertson Conveyors 62 C. & O. Ry. Robertson Conveyors, On 53 Chicago, 18th St., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 47 Chillicothe, 111., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 49 Cinder Pit, Average Cost of Operation - 71 Cinder Pit Cross Sections 43-44 Cinder Pit, Hand, Plan of 40 Cinder Pit Layouts , 76 Cinder Pits ; Report of Committee on Buildings A. R. E. A 43 Cinder Pits ; Comparative Costs 38 Cinder Pits, Comparative Costs of Operation 72 Cinder Pits ; Water 35 Coaling Stations 95 Comparative Costs of Cinder Pit Operation 72 Comparative Costs, Cinder Pits 38 Conveyor Layouts, Robertson 76 Cordeal, E., Assistant to General Superintendent, T. & P., Article on Cinder Pits 72 Correct Installation 80 Corwith Terminal, Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 49 Cost Comparison, Three Types of Cinder Pits 41-42 Cost of Turning Engines 16 D Danger In Water Pits .;..... 39 Design and Layout of Cinder Pits ,. 75 Detroit, Mich., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 65 E Eighteenth St., Chicago, Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings. 47 Electrically Operated Robertson Conveyors 81 Engines ; Cost of Turning 16 Equipment, Value of 35 F Fort Madison, la., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 50 G Geneva, N. Y.. Robertson Coaling Station Costs and Savings 99 101 TERMINAL COST DATA Gladstone, Va., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 81 Grand Rapids, Mich., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 68 Granite City, 111., Robertson Coaling Station Costs and Savings 95 H Hand Cinter Pit Photographs 12, 15, 26, 29, 32, 35, 40, 47, 48', 49, 50, 51, 59 Handley, W. Va., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 61 Handling Cinders, Cost per Engine, 40 Engines per Day 73 Handling Cinders, 10 Engines per Day, Cost of Handling per Engine 74 Hand Loading of Cinders, Cost on Pere Marquette 65 Hand Operated Cinder Pit - 74 Hand Operated Cinder Pits, Cost Hinton, W. Va., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings .. 58 Huntington, W. Va., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings .- 54 I Illinois Central R. R., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings... .. 90 Illmo, Mo., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings Increase In Wages - Increased Savings 13 Installation, Correct 80 Installation of Cinder Pits : 75 Installation of Robertson Conveyors ,... 77 Ithaca, N. Y., Robertson Coaling Station Costs and Savings.. 97 K Kankakee, 111., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 90 Kansas City, Kans., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings . 46 Kansas City, Mo., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings .. 51 L Laborers Not Needed With Robertson Conveyors Labor Conditions Labor Costs Labor, Fluctuating Demand Labor, Fluctuating Supply Labor Saving - 27 Labor-Saving Equipment, Increased Use of... 37 Labor Saving, Necessity for - 25 Labor Shortage , Labor, Transient Layout Similar to Grand Rapids Robertson Conveyors 82 Layouts, Robertson Conveyors - 7c Layouts, Cinder Pit - 76 Layouts, Plan of, for Robertson Conveyors Layouts for Cinder Pits, Typical ....---- - "8 Lexington, Ky., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings.... . 59 Lexington Jet., Mo., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings... .. 51 Locomotive Coaling Stations, Robertson - ....95, 96, 97, 98, 99 Locomotive Delays, Cost of 22 Locomotive, Its Value 21 Locomotive Time Hauling Trains 22 Locomotive Photographs 21, 22, 23, 36 Locomotives, Decrease in Usable ,. 34 102 TABLE OF CONTENTS Locomotives, Number in U. S 14 Ludington, Mich., Robertson Cinder Convey or Costs and Saving's 67 M McGregor Terminal, C. M. & St. P. Ry 17 AI aeon, Ga., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 86 Memphis, Tenn., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings $7 Missouri Pacific R. R., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 83 N Necessity for Labor Saving 25 Necessity for Wage Saving 31 Need for Laborers, Entirely Eliminating ... 80 O On the Chesapeake & Ohio 62 On the Pere Marquette 63 On The Santa Fe 46 Operating Expenses 11 P Peach Creek; W. Va., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 53 Percent of Wage Increases 33 Pere Marquette R. R., Robertson Conveyors on , 63 Peru, Ind., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 56 Port Huron, Mich., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 66 Power Machinery for Saving Wages 31 R Railway Expenses 11 Revenues, Railway 11 Robertson Coaling Station at Geneva, N. Y., Costs and Savings 99 Robertson Coaling Station, Granite City, 111., Costs and Savings 96 Robertson Coaling Station, Ithaca, N. Y., Costs and Savings 97 Robertson Coaling Station Photographs 95, 96, 97, 98 Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings : At Argentine Shops - 51 At Charlottesville, Va 60 At Chillicothe, 111 ----- 49 At Corwith, 111 48 At Detroit, Mich 65 At 18th St., Chicago 47 At Fort Shopton, la 50 At Geneva, N. Y 99 At Gladstone, Va 61 At Granite City, 111 ,. 96 At Grand Rapids, Mich , w 68 At Handley, W. Va 62 At Hinton, W. Va 59 At Huntington, W. Va 55, 56 At Illmo, Mo 89 At Ithaca, N. Y 96 At Kankakee, 111 90 At Lexington, Ky -. 58 At Ludington, Mich 67 103 TERMINAL COST DATA At Macon, Ga 86 At Memphis, Tenn .. 87 At Peach Creek, W. Va 53 At Peru, Ind _ 56 At Port Huron, Mich 66 At Saginaw, Mich 66 At Somerset, Pa --- 91 Robertson Conveyor Cinder Pit, Cost of...., 41 Robertson Conveyor Cinder Pit, Plans of 41 Robertson Conveyors, Increased Savings Due to Increased Wages 13 Robertson Conveyor Layouts :..'. '.....'. '. 76 Robertson Conveyor Photographs : 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 25, 26, 31, 32, 34, 36, 41, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57 58, 59, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94 S St. Louis & San Francisco Ry. Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 87 St. Louis Southwestern Ry., Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings 89 Safety Requirements 35 Saginaw, Mich., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 67 Saving Labor 25-27 Savings at Cinder Pits Per Locomotive 14, 25, 27 Savings, Average at Cinder Pits 7C Saving Track Room 83, 84 Savings With Robertson Conveyors (See Robertson Conveyors) Shopton, Ft. Madison, Iowa, Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 50 Somerset, Pa., Robertson Cinder Conveyor Costs and Savings 91 Southern Railway, Robertson Conveyor Costs and Savings '. 86 Stations, Robertson Coaling . 95 Summary, Cost and Savings, Robertson Conveyors on the C. & O 62 Summary of Costs and Savings at Cinder Pits, Pere Marquette 69 Summary of Savings with Robertson Conveyors on the Santa Fe 52 T Terminal Photographs 17-18 Typical Cinder Pit Layouts 78 Typical Layouts, Robertson Cinder Pits , 78 V Value of a Locomotive - - 21 W W r age Increases 33 W T age Increases and Labor Saving Machinery 36 Wage Saving, Necessity for 31 Wages; Comparative Between 1917, 1918 and 1919 13 Wages, Increase In 31, 33 Wages: Percent Increase 33 Water Pit Photographs 45-46 Water Pit Plan and Section 38 Water Cinder Pits .'. 35 Water Pits 35, 39, 44, 45 Water Pits, Cost , 39 Water Pits Not Safe 35 Water Pits, Photographs 39 104 YL