CAR CONSTRUCTION. 



Formerly all rolling stock except locomotive engines were built of wood 

 but in recent years cars made entirely of metal or of wood with steel under- 

 frame equipment have begun to be substituted both for freight and passenger 

 cars; and in the increasing extent in which they are meeting the demand 

 each year, it is safe to predict that the amount of wood used in this industry 

 will show a rapid decline. In this connection it is interesting to note that the 

 last session of Congress in the interest of public safety had four bills pend- 

 ing requiring replacement of wooden passenger cars with steel equipment on 

 all railroads. This movement is largely in accord with the present policy of 

 the railroads as recent statistics show that approximately 90 per cent, of the 

 passenger cars ordered for future delivery were specified to be of steel con- 

 struction. 



Notwithstanding the increasing substitution of metal for wood in car build- 

 ing, lumber in large amounts is still in demand. In Pennsylvania 228,000,000 

 feet or more reported for building or repair of cars for 1911 made that in- 

 dustry as to consumption third in the State. The building of cars of all kinds 

 is represented by Table 49. Electric cars for city and interurban transporta- 

 tion is a division of the industry which requires special mention as more wood 

 is used for passenger vehicle equipment in this line than in any other. Vast 

 amounts of lumber are required each year for building mine cars. The num- 

 ber of mining establishments appearing in the directory appended to this 

 report indicates to what extent work of this kind is done by wood-using de- 

 partments maintained in connection with mining operations. Only one other 

 state exceeds Pennsylvania in the quantity of wood used for car construction. 

 The order of the principal states and the amount consumed is as follows: 



Illinois, 407,000,000 feet 



Pennsylvania , 228 , 000 , 000 feet 



New York 77,000,000 feet 



Indiana, 59,000,000 feet 



Ohio, 56,000,000 feet 



Missouri, 51,000,000 feet 



Virginia, 51,000,000 feet 



Twenty-nine woods were used by the car builders in Pennsylvania and long- 

 leaf pine heads the list, contributing a little over one-third of the total. The 

 superior tensile strength of this wood, its durable properties, and being 

 easy to fit brings it first in demand by the car builder. If all the species of 

 southern yellow pine were combined the amount would represent over one- 

 half the car material reported and taking into consideration the needs of this 

 industry in other states this wood is pre-eminently the principal wood for 

 car construction. Lumber brought from the western states is not used so ex- 

 tensively in Pennsylvania as in other eastern states. Douglas fir and west- 

 ern white pine appear in the table but they were demanded in very limited 

 quantities. The progress made of late in the use of steel underframes for cars 

 of all kinds and especially gondolas and box cars has perhaps affected the 

 use of oak more than any other wood as when these basal parts are made of 

 wood, oak, preferably white and chestnut oak, are the kinds most extensively 

 called for. The great strength of oak and its shock resisting capacity still 

 brings it into wide use for car framing and such purposes, like draft, timbers, 

 tie beams, engine beams, platforms, truck parts, etc., and on account of its 

 conspicuous figure, for interior finish of passenger and trolley cars. In this 

 latter capacity it served with ash, birch, yellow poplar, cherry, mahogany, 

 walnut, and red gum. Ash, poplar, and Douglas fir are the woods used in 



