An Assessment of Significance
Chris Wilson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tLocomotive Maintenance<\/strong> Periodically, a locomotive was \n\ttaken to a large shop for a major overhaul. In the 19th century, this might \n\tbe necessary after as few as 40,000 miles, but after 1900, with the \n\tintroduction of more durable parts and features designed to reduce \n\tmaintenance, some engines ran as much as 400,000 miles before receiving \n\tmajor repairs, In the erecting bay of the locomotive shop, the engine was \n\tcompletely dismantled and the parts sent to various departments for \n\tcleaning, inspection and repair. After being cleaned in a lye vat, working \n\tparts were reconditioned and necessary replacements fabricated in the \n\tmachine shop. Lathes turned the large driving wheels so that all were \n\texactly the same size, In the blacksmith shop, breaks in the frame were \n\trepaired. The boiler and fire box were patched with steel plate or, if \n\tneeded, replacements were fabricated. Each part was given a final inspection \n\tand tested to meet precise standards before the locomotive was reassembled.. \n\tOn average, a complete overhaul took about a month to perform. Over the \n\tfifteen year life of an average locomotive, it might be rebuilt or receive \n\tother major shop repairs once every 12 to 18 months. In this century, the \n\tAlbuquerque shops serviced 40 locomotives in the average month. (14)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tMachine and Boiler Shops<\/strong>\n\t The finest industrial design of \n\tthe era completely integrated the production process, the machinery, light \n\tand ventilation, with the building structure and form. In the tall bay of \n\tthe Machine Shop, for instance, the structural support for two levels of \n\toverhead traveling cranes (one a 250 ton crane) is integrated with the \n\tbuilding structure which also carries the roof and glass curtain walls. The \n\tSanta Fe’s engineering department’s long experience in the design of steel \n\trailroad bridges prepared them for the structural engineering of the Boiler \n\tShop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Boiler Shop built the \n\tfollowing year adopts all the major features developed in the Machine Shop. \n\tHowever, its concrete facades are obscured by the Blacksmiths Shop to the \n\teast and the fire shed to the west. In addition, its features are not as \n\tcompletely integrated as those of the Machine Shop, the result, perhaps, of \n\tbeing hemmed in by the already-existing Blacksmiths Shop, Flue Shop and \n\tSheet Metal Shed, (17) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Albuquerque locomotive shops employ cross axial planning similar to the Ford River Rouge complex which included the Glass Plant. At River Rouge, all the assembly lines are aligned on one axis which is intersected on a perpendicular axis by the rail lines and streets which bring material to the factories, move parts between them and take away finished cars. In the Albuquerque Machine and Boiler Shops all the rail lines run north and south, both inside the buildings and outside along either end. Running east and west are the- transfer table between the buildings, four sets of over-head traveling cranes in the buildings and a fifth traveling crane outside, south of the Machine Shop. Although the size of locomotives precluded the adoption of assembly line production, this cross axial plan allowed the highly efficient movement of the heavy locomotive parts to the various departments for repair and subsequent return for reassembly, as well as the introduction of new materials and parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tTo understand the relationship of the roundhouse to the larger locomotive \n\tshop buildings it helps to know a little about locomotive maintenance, Steam \n\tlocomotives, which provided the primary power for American railroads until \n\tthe ascendance of diesel engines in the late 19409 and 195Os, required \n\tsubstantial daily servicing and maintenance, as well as periodic major \n\toverhauls. Every 4 to 6 hours, a steam engine was rid of clinkers–the \n\tirregular lumps left after coal firing–and its moving parts and pipes were \n\tinspected and, if necessary, repaired. Once a day, fire tubes, flues and \n\tsmoke boxes were cleaned and boilers were washed out to remove mineral \n\tbuild-up, Each morning, the locomotive would depart from its home roundhouse \n\tfor a run of 100 to 150 miles to the next division point. From Albuquerque, \n\tthe division points were Las Vegas to the north, Gallup to the west, and San \n\tMarcial to the south. There, in another roundhouse, inspections, lubrication \n\tand necessary repairs were made, and, in adjoining ash pits, clinkers and \n\tashes were dropped. After the return trip, daily maintenance was performed \n\tand the engine housed in its home roundhouse. Roundhouses were also equipped \n\twith drop pits and machinery to perform general repairs. (13) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Built in 1921, only seven years \n\tafter the roundhouse, the Machine Shop was even closer to the cutting edge \n\tof industrial design, In most regards it is comparable to the Ford Motor \n\tCompany Glass Plant of 1922 which Grant Bildebrand, a leading scholar of \n\ttwentieth century industrial design, has called “the single factory which \n\tcarried industrial architecture forward more than any other.” (15) The \n\tMachine Shop and the Glass Plant are both one story steel frame buildings, \n\tclad mostly with glass. Where necessary, additional skylights are added on \n\tthe roof. In both factories, the steel frame is meticulously worked out to \n\taccommodate all functions–offices and locker rooms as well as production \n\tareas. Each uses a limited set of standardized parts: one or two sizes of \n\tsteel columns and girders, one type of truss, stock steel windows and so \n\tforth. This standardization increased the speed and lowered the cost of \n\tdesign and drawings, and the ordering of parts and construction, It took \n\tonly eight months to erect the massive, 240 by 604 foot Machine Shop, \n\tcomparable in size and speed of construction to the typical Ford factory \n\tbuilding. (16) <\/p>\n\n\n\n