Semaphore - November 1957

Semaphore PIEDMONT AND NORTHERN RAILWAY MAGAZINE [image: front view of two locomotives] FREIGHT ON SCHEDULE NOVEMBER 1957

Semaphore [logo]PIEDMONT & NORTHERN SERVICE WITH COURTESY

VOLUME 13 NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER, 1957

Published at Charlotte, N. C., by the Piedmont and Northern Railway Company, a 130-mile railroad extending in an arc through the rich Piedmont Carolinas and serving such thriving cities as Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood, and Spartanburg in South Carolina, and Charlotte and Gastonia in North Carolina. Address all communications to the editor, P. O. Box 480, Charlotte, N. C. Comments and suggestions are solicited.

EDITOR

THOMAS G. LYNCH Director of Industrial Development and Public Relations

CORRESPONDENTS

UNDER THE COVER

The key to fast, on-time freight train movement is locomotive power in the right place at the right time. Pictured this month is Northbound Freight No. 48 as it passes a cut of cars being switched for further movement. The locomotives are both 1600 horsepower diesels, the backbone of power on the P & N's South Carolina Division. These are the locomotives which are maintained in prime condition by the small but versatile shop force at Greenville. At the shops, maintenance is carefully geared to the demand for power so that locomotives needed to move the freight are always available. See page 4.

[image top left] NEWS AND VIEWS

One welcome task which the railroad industry performs each December is that of transporting the Nation's Christmas Tree from a distant forest to Washington, where it is placed and decorated on the White House lawn. Last year the tree was a 65-foot Engleman spruce from New Mexico. It was loaded and transported to Washington on two railroad flat cars. There it was decorated with 3,500 lights, 900 ball ornaments, 200 snowflakes, 1,800 ball and bell clusters, and was topped with a fivefoot star. Moving this tree from the forest to the White House lawn in good condition is a sizeable job in itself and one which only the railroads could perform.

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In cooperation with the P & N management and the seven railroad brotherhoods which represent P & N employees, the U.S. Treasury Department will soon initiate a campain to enlist more employees in the Payroll Savings Plan. The purpose of the campain, which is scheduled to begin in January, is to encourage systematic saving through purchase of the U.S. Savings Bonds. For many years the company has made this service available to its employees through payroll deduction.

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As a means of promoting industrial opportunities in the Piedmont Carolinas, the P & N has designed and wills oon be using a speical colorful sticker which can be attached to letterheads, envelopes, and other printed matter going to companies which may have an interest in locating plant or warehouse facilities in the Carolinas.

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A bag of air is usually considered a pretty worthless commodity. But not so anymore. Inflated bags are now being used as dunnage to brace loads in box cars against the shock of over-speed coupling. The rubber bags, pumped full of air, restrain movement and absorb shock, thereby reducing damage--long a major problem in the railroad industry. When not in use as dunnage the light-weight bags can be conveniently deflated and stored compactly. This is another good weapon to be used in the battle against damage in tranist.

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Once again P & N employees have responded generously to the various United Appeal and Community Chest campaigns throughout P & N territory. For the most part, the campaign goals were reached. . . and a share of the credit is due to P & N employee and company contributions as well as to the personal effor made by a number of employees who worked on the drives.

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Last month a stenograpic error in News and Views painted a rosey picture for the railroads which pay rent on most of the rolling stock they use and an exceedingly black picture for the owners. The per diem charges for car rental came out $.75 instead of the $2.75 it should have been. We apologize if we misled anyone.

[photograph of a locomotive] LOCOMOTIVE STANDS BY AFTER HAVING BEEN CHECKED AT THE GREENVILLE SHOPS.

IN GREENVILLE

Small Shop Does Big Things

[photograph of men painting] PAINTING for both appearance and protection is an important activity of the Greenville Shops. Here, a caboose is getting a brand new paint job.

THERE is mighty little glamor associated with a railroad mechanical shop. It is mostly grease, nuts and bolts, complicated machinery, and plain hard work.

On large railroads the shops usually employ hundreds of skilled workers and sprawl over dozens of acres. Normally a railroad the size of the Piedmont and Northern would have only one central shop employing perhaps 25 persons with a wide diversity of skills. But the P & N, having two physically unconnected divisions must have two shops-one at Pinoca just outside of Charlotte for the North Carolina Division and the other in Greenville for the South Carolina Division. Both shops are small and compact but are equipped to handle the most complicated maintenance jobs as well as routine repairs.

The P & N's Greenville shops, tucked away in the gas-house section of the city, are the largest of the two because they maintain more locomotive power

SEMAPHORE

and equipment. Several years ago with the changeover from electric to diesel power, the Greenville shops were thoroughly modernized. New tools and equipment were added for complete maintenance of the ten 1600-horsepower diesel locomotives which furnish the pulling power of the South Carolina Division.

A remarkable job

The accomplishments and record of the Greenville shops are legend on the P & N. Operating with only about 15 men, the shops have done a remarkable job of keeping the railroad's locomotive power and rolling stock in first-class condition. In fact, outsiders with a knowledge of railroad shop operations are continually amazed that so few men can accomplish so much. The secret, of course, is a closely-knit team of technicians who know their jobs so well that they can do almost anything that a big shop can do. With a handful of electricians, mechanics, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a painter, and a few other specialists, there are very few jobs that can not be handled by the Greenville shops. When one does come along it is contracted to another shop, but these are few and far between.

Small but versatile

The Greenville shops can handle everything from a major diesel overhaul to a scratched paint job with equal efficiency. And it is a rare day when one of the locomotives is not stripped down for an end-to-end overhaul. In fact, the shop personnel not only keep the equipment in good shape but also on occasions build and maintain their own equipment and facilities. For instance, there is a project afoot now to close up an open end of one of the shop buildings. The metal doors as well as the necessary concrete and steel framing are being built by shop personnel.

The overall supervision of both mechanical shops is vested in T. R. Rhodes, superintendent of the South Carolina Division, who is a self-trained mechanical

NOVEMBER

[photographs of electricians working] ELECTRICIANS, skilled in the intricacies of the diesel, trace the trouble and replace a bad relay. Below, a repaired truck assembly is carefully moved back into place under a locomotive.