Another opus!
Most RRs of any size or where there was a quantity of locomotives generally kept a number of parts on hand. This was the store depts job.
Parts that were propreitory were purchased from the manufacturers and stocked also. The Grande was no different in this regard.
The following will give you a general idea of how it worked. This is not everything, but it provides a picture.
Because locomotives were shopped on a frequent basis (between 1 & 3-4 years) In some cases, there was a relatively quick turnover of parts, for other parts a slow turn over so not many were kept on hand. Remember, a normal class 5, 4 or 3 repair generally took about 30 days or so. Where a heavy class 3 where large firebox patches or replacement or where boiler course work was needed could take
90 days or more.
The mechanical depts heads at the shop would review the motive power situation, business forcast (meaning if force reductions for a business downturn) & decide to shop or not to shop a certain number of engines.
(For example a fall rush might require a few C-18 or 19s to ahve class 4 or 5 repairs to cover the operation out of Montrose or Gunnision.)
Later on 1955 or so, after Salida and Ala (1950?) Storehouses had been closed, Pueble District Store had the responsibility for maintaining the required material to support the narrow gauge both motive power and car material. AlA kept alot of material there but, when new replacement material was necessary, an order would be placed thru Pueblo. And if not in stock, an order sent to Purchasing in Denver to actually approve and place the order. This was necessary because when raw castings were needed, Denver kept the patterns in storage unless there was enough call and they were at the contract foundry.
Burnham also had a Pattern shop that constructed most of the patterns used by the RR, including the cylinder saddles, etc. Only those items that were necessary to purchase from a outside manfacturer were ordered. This could be Front end throttle or superheater header castings (finish machined) or special material such as Gun Iron casting from Hunt-Spillar in Mass. for cylinder packing, bull rings, etc. as an example.
At Pueblo there were spare rear tube sheets for the remaining K- class engines these were flanged, drilled,and ready for fit up & application.
Tires, driving boxes, rods finished except for the bores. In the store house, were bins of stay bolts, flex sleeves, caps, injector nozzles and parts for Alemite rod guns etc etc. All outside material was painted in No-oxide black paint and the class of engine and the manufacturing cost (RR cost) painted on each part. This was also tracked on inventory cards. All outside material was stored on wood platform or at least off the ground on blocking. But neat is the word here.
So, even after a store house was closed (as in ALA), many parts were kept on hand that were not turned back in for credit to the stores department. Remember, when locos were shopped, cost involved labor and material. This was all tracked by the clerks and transmitted to the accounting department. For cost accumulation and some information went to the ICC. All a part of doing business. How do you think the determination was made about how expensive it was to maintain steam? As labor costs went up along with material or outside purchase the shopping and operating costs increased. BTW, the manufacture of "one-off" is a very expensive way to do business.
Car dept.
ALA kept alot of loose cast iron NG wheels from Griffin Wheel in Denver on hand in ALA as opposed to being in Pueblo. I believe they would be charged out only when used when the Genl car foreman noticed that the stock of new wheel sets was getting low. An shop order for x number of
wheel sets would be set up and the shop foreman would plan for the laborers to bring in a number of rough wheels and axles and have them machined sent to the wheel press and then moved to the car dept for use. This was all cost covered by shop budget etc.
This also include reusing used OK'd axles with new wheels or new axles and new wheels. When mountng wheels on axles time was spent to match the diameters (tape size) as this made alot of difference in operations out on the road in addtioin to the back to back dimensions etc etc.
Alot different in some respects now. Hardly any manyufacturers left, more difficult to get the correct material whether, bar, forged or cast.
time to machine or where no engineering remains and then stored or put in place for service.
At Pueblo.
I was able to see much of this at Pueblo (And later met a General Storekeeper at Denver that had worked at Salida and Alamosa and knew the NG material) and (at P'town) was able to look through drawings, catalogs, inventory cards and stored material. Most all to support the NG. A very quick education mind you, but also very neat, especially on how thousands of dollars of inventory had to be ordered, tracked and maintained to support an operation. So running steam locos is not just coal, water and lubricants. Alot of planning goes into keeping an operation going safely and effeciently. And then you have the MofW along with the other departments. Quite extensive when you get down to it.
Anyway, that gives you a rough idea of the RR parts supply end.
Chris Ahrens
