September 18, 1952
Washington Shop Forces Build a Boxcar an Hour Daily
by Chris Palmer of the Daviess County Historian Team
By the late 1940s and early 1950s, the nation’s railroads aging freight car fleet, which had been utilized to their fullest extent during WWII, was wearing out. Independent railcar builders such as American Car and Foundry and Pullman-Standard, along with all other railcar manufacturers were assembling new railcars at full capacity. Expected delivery date from the time new car orders were placed to completion date, was often many months. Freight cars were being retired or placed into bad order* status due to their age and/or condition, more rapidly than new ones could be built to replace them. Compounding the issue, the country was enjoying a robust post WWII economy keeping demand for transportation of raw materials and manufactured goods high. *unusable due to defects, excessive wear, etc.
June of 1950 added a new burden to the already strained railcar fleet. North Korea invaded South Korea in what became known as the Korean Conflict, prompting the United Nations to intervene. As had occurred during both WWI and WWII the nation’s railroads were again called upon to move the large amount of goods, men and raw materials necessary to support war on distant shores. During the remainder of 1950 and throughout 1951, the situation worsened and eventually became a matter of national security. Alternate solutions were needed, and quickly.
Coinciding with the positive economic conditions of post World War II, American railroads aggressively adopted large scale modernization programs. Among them, retiring their remaining steam locomotives and replacing them with diesels was a top priority. B&O was no exception. By the early 1950s new B&O diesels had replaced steam locomotives on much of the system. The new diesel-electric locomotives required much less servicing and maintenance as compared to steam locomotives and spent very little time in roundhouses and locomotive shops. This had resulted in a loss of work and furloughs of shop forces across the entire railroad industry. The Washington Herald reports in 1952 “As the diesel program gained momentum, employment at the local locomotive repair shops steadily declined until nearly one hundred men were furloughed from the locomotive shops. Officials of the B&O, in trying to absorb their own unemployed personnel, began in July of this year to build their own industrial cars in two of the car shops of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.”
During the summer and fall of 1952, Shops, the official name of B&O’s maintenance and repair facility located in Washington, Indiana and Du Bois, a somewhat similar B&O equipment repair facility, located in Du Bois Pennsylvania, were selected to participate in an experimental railcar building project. Other major B&O car facilities were not included in this venture. Each location was given an order to construct 500 new 40 foot steel boxcars, to be completed and placed into service as early as possible.
At the time, Washington’s railroad shops had a rich history of car building, beginning with B&O predecessor Ohio and Mississippi and it continued on erecting and repairing railcars under B&O ownership, with a particular focus on cabooses. City newspapers report that although generations of local craftsmen had been involved with railcar repair and construction for at least the last 60 years or so, this is the first time in many years that the local facility has had an order for several hundred new freight cars at once. In recent years, past practice by B&O was to contract out large new car construction orders to dedicated commercial railcar builders. Newspapers go on to report B&O was also interested in “determining if the railroad can build cars in their own shops, under their own supervision, with their own employees, at less cost per unit (car) than if they were contracted elsewhere.”
Mr. Ray Garrigus General Car Foreman at Shops, officially received an order for 500 steel 40 foot boxcars from B&O headquarters in Baltimore on July 9th, 1952. Preparations and necessary arrangements were made for adequate materials and labor, (including the recalling of a significant number of local furloughed employees from the locomotive shop) and soon, work commenced on filling the order for the badly needed new boxcars.
As noted by the media at the time, an endeavor of this type requires the total cooperation of all parties involved, from the general foreman to the skilled mechanics, machinist, carmen and laborers on the production line account many aspects of the “new” operation needed to be worked out by trial and error.
Construction of the cars utilized an “assembly line” method, whereby a group of workstations were situated in a consecutive order on the same track. A system of assembly was devised and put into operation where each workstation was assigned specific work, to be completed within a specified length of time, on each car under construction. The cars on the dedicated assembly tracks were connected by cables. Every 45 minutes whistles were sounded, and the cars are slowly advanced via a stationary ground winch, to the next work station for the next step in their assembly.
Initially, when the operation began many of the special tools and techniques in use at the time by the commercial car builders were not available locally, as Shops was currently functioning as a primary car refurbishing/repair facility. It is reported that many new tools, jigs, and patterns, were developed locally during the first few weeks of this operation to enhance efficiency. With many of these devices fabricated utilizing standard freight car components such as air brake cylinders and brake wheel assemblies for clamping and lifting.
Indications are that during the first few weeks, production averaged six cars a day*. As experience was gained, along with newly designed special tools and procedures, production continued to progress. Soon Washington’s shop forces were erecting “a boxcar an hour”*. *per eight hour work day.
As work on the project proceeded, talk of the “new” method of building freight cars at Shops spread throughout the community. Local business leaders took interest. As Washington was a railroad town, anything that impacted employment on the railroad, impacted their livelihood also.
In 1952, B&O’s Washington car shop had over 520 employees. 186 were supervised by eight foremen in the passenger car repair shop with an additional 335 workers, including 13 foreman, employed in the freight car department. All car shop activities were under the supervision of general foreman Ray Garrigus. The number of employees does not include the shop workers in the locomotive shop (roundhouse). Hundreds more were employed locally in the Operating, Transportation, Signal and Engineering departments.
Information detailing exactly what the overall impact of the car shop payroll alone was to the community, is reported by local newspapers to be as follows: 118 men currently employed in the new 500 car project with many of those being furloughed locomotive shop workers. They alone combine to form a weekly payroll amounting to nearly $9000. The total weekly payroll of the over 520 car shop employees is said to be approximately $38,000 ($450,000 weekly in 2025 dollars).
Washington’s business leaders embark on a plan to educate the general public as to the importance of the facility to the community and also express their gratitude to the railroad for the additional employment of local citizens at Shops. Local railroad officials are contacted and agree.
A committee comprised of the business and civic leaders and local railroad officials was formed and planning was begun in earnest for a public open house at Shops, allowing the public to observe the entire boxcar assembly operation from start to finish. September 18th, 1952 was chosen to be “B&O Car Shop Day” in Washington.
Final plans are made for the public tours of the car shop. Free transportation is made available to the public from Main Street to the car shop and return. This is through the courtesy of the city’s automobile dealers who provide a total of 30 automobiles and drivers. The City of Washington also assigns a bus to transport additional people also at no cost to the public. Tours are planned to be conducted from 1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. only. Individual tour groups are scheduled to begin at 1:00 and every 5 five minutes thereafter, with each tour lasting 60 minutes.
Word is received that B&O Vice President W.C. Baker is planning to attend the event. Preparations are made for prominent local citizens and business leaders to greet him upon his arrival. Mr. Baker is to travel aboard B&O’s Train #3, The Diplomat, scheduled for a 12:36 P.M. arrival at Washington. Washington’s citizens form an official welcoming committee. Representing the welcoming committee members are Washington’s Mayor Homer Beasley, Jesse Crim representing U.S. Rubber Co., Helen Dietz of The Hincher Manufacturing Co., Dr. Robert Rang, and Earle Kremp, local Coca-Cola bottler, among several other local leaders.
“B&O Car Shop Day” as it was called in the local media, was apparently a great success. It is reported that “several hundred visited” the open house. The public was able to witness first hand, the building of a boxcar an hour by the local workforce at Shops. During the tour, Ray Garrigus provided some additional details to the visitors about the new 40 foot boxcars. Major components for the cars were purchased from outside vendors. Prefabricated car sides along with Duryea underframes were obtained from Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing. Standard Railway Equipment Company supplied the steel roof and end sections. Components for the Ride Control car trucks were obtained from American Steel Foundries. Each car required approximately 20 tons of steel, 1620 board feet of pine lumber, and 16-18 gallons of top quality paint. The final cost of each car produced here is approximately $6200 each.
The public attendance for the open house is overwhelming. Additional tours were added to accommodate all the visitors. It is reported Shops built nine boxcars cars that day.
Later in the evening, an informal dinner was held at the Food Shop, a local restaurant on West Main Street. Vice President Baker along with several railroad men representing both labor and management were in attendance as were local business leaders and the welcoming committee.
Dr. Robert Rang made a short speech expressing thanks to the B&O for the additional work at the local car shop. Jerry Wildridge spoke on behalf of the shop crafts. His comments stressed the work the local craftsmen provide must be of the highest possible quality. He states “Workers here must do a superior job in efficiency and operation, simply because the Washington shops are further away from materials. The difference in material cost and freight must be made up with increase efficiency.”
At the end of the evening, Mr. Baker thanked everyone present for their enthusiastic support of the “new” car shop. He noted that the work at all of B&O’s car shops was satisfactory. He also acknowledged that the local shop crafts had been “most cooperative” throughout project. “Thus far the venture of building our own cars has been satisfactory,” Mr. Baker said, “and we hope it can continue. I am glad that Washington has held “B&O Car Shop Day” as it gives your citizens the opportunity to see what we are doing.”
Upon conclusion of the ceremonies, Vice President Baker and his wife were presented with gifts of a bouquet of roses, a basket of Daviess County apples and a package of Graham Farms cheese from the local citizens.
Overall, all accounts consider the local “Car Shop Day” a success. The order of 500 steel boxcars was completed and filled ahead of schedule. Reports are that although most of the work took place at workstations outdoors, the assembly line was only halted a total of 11 hours during the entire project due to foul weather. Car shop forces continued to build, repair and refurbish railcars both passenger and freight at “Shops” in Washington until B&O closed the car shop in late December 1965. B&O would later lease the facility to various non-railroad, independent railcar builders/refurbishers. Over the years the property has been occupied by several non-railroad companies engaged in cleaning or rebuilding rail cars. As of this writing nearly all of the original brick shop buildings have been razed and replaced with a few, newer steel structures, yet work on railcars by an outside contractor continues at the historic location.
The event displays subtle examples of an underlying attitude of mutual commitment and obligation existing between the railroad and the community. On the day after the event The Washington Herald ran an editorial recognizing the railroads contribution to the community which read in part as follows:
“… If it were not for the sincere efforts on the part of the Baltimore and Ohio officials, and the mechanical skills possessed by the local shop crafts, much of what we enjoy today would not be here.
The benefits are many on the material side, but what is more important to the community are the hundreds of citizens who have become part of every community activity. In every school, in every church, in every civic organization, in every fraternal organization and in every official body you will find them discharging their obligations as community leaders.”
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Thanks for the information of the history of Shops
Excellent article