Stainless Stir

To the long yellow oak table that is Edward G. Budd's desk last week came a $9,000,000 order from Fruehauf Trailer Co. of Detroit. This order for 10,000 stainless steel unassembled semitrailer bodies meant that at 69 courtly Edward Budd was crossing a new frontier in the Detroit automotive field, where for years he has sold bodies and wheels to Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and various others. That the No. 1 trailer manufacturer was going in for stainless steel in such a big way was good New Year's news for 27-year-old Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Co., which made the first all-steel auto body in 1912, first steel auto wheel in 1917,* and has had its share of ups & downs as a producer of transportation equipment.

Backbone of the Budd business is automotive, but that is relatively routine. The thing that stirs old Edward G. Budd and his veteran workmen in stainless steel is the sight of a gleaming new Diesel-powered (by G. M. C.'s Electro-Motive Corp.) streamline train rolling out of the yard to go into service on U. S. railroads. Last week, in the big, sprawling North Philadelphia plant, Budd workmen were finish ing up 50 streamline cars--for the Portuguese railway, Burlington, Santa Fe -- and in the performance of streamliners already in service Budd could see the prospect of a lot more railroad orders in the years ahead.

That the streamliner has already given the roads a new hope is a feather for two caps. One feather is worn by Budd, the other by Pullman. When Pullman put out its first aluminum alloy Diesel streamliner in 1934, Budd followed in just two months with a sleek stainless steel job. These two manufacturers went right to work to show the railroads that business could be won by fast, comfortable trains with new-type accommodations for coach travelers.

Operating on U. S. tracks at year's end were some 85 streamliners, made by Pullman, Budd, American Car & Foundry and in railroad shops. A few were still being pulled by skirted, dressed-up steam locomotives, but the best records were being set by the Western roads that had gone whole hog and plumped for Diesel-electric power. Speeds had been stepped up enormously : Burlington's Fort Worth-Houston and Chicago-St. Paul trains were running on a 66.6-m. p. h. schedule; Union Pacific-Chicago & North Western's two City of Denver trains were averaging 65.4 between Chicago and Denver. Meanwhile, the low maintenance requirement of Diesel-light equipment was making shopmen's eyes pop. As of Oct. 1 the two City of Denver trains had run 1,147,029 miles without ever having been laid up for shop repairs. Southern Pacific's Daylights and most other streamliners had comparable records.

Well aware that streamliner speed would appeal to the railroads' customers, light-train builders like Budd and Pullman cannily concentrated their major sales appeal on coach-passenger comforts. To get average travelers out of automobiles and buses, they made roomier cars (50 seats instead of 80), softened upholstery, improved lighting, prettied washrooms and advocated stewardesses, an idea which the airlines had already exploited. The record of Santa Fe's El Capitans proved that this was good salesmanship: first full month of their operation (March 1938) they turned in a revenue of $38,000; four months later it had jumped to $101,000 a month.

Most distinctive hallmark of the streamline-builders is the sleek, shiny gleam of Budd trains. Only Budds are made of stainless steel and only Budds are likely to be, as long as the Philadelphia plant keeps a tight hold on its "Shotweld" process for welding stainless sheets together. Invented by Budd's Chief Engineer Colonel Earl James Wilson Ragsdale, onetime professional Army officer, the "Shotweld" machine is a foolproof, delicately balanced electrical device that can be operated by unskilled labor. In less than the winking of an eye (1/20 of a second) it sends a stabbing electric current through overlapping sheets, tacks them securely without burning or over-melting, which would cut their structural strength. It also keeps track of its performance. Each weld is recorded on a tape and when the "Shot-weld" machine makes a bad one it rings a bell. Result of using stainless, with an elastic strength four times carbon steel's, is that Budd cars average 40% less weight than old-fashioned equipment.

Pullman, No. 1 streamline-builder, today has about 1,000 lightweight cars on the rails (Budd 300). As its basic material Pullman alternates between aluminum alloy, which has about the same strength as stainless, and Cor-Ten, U. S. Steel's patented alloy. Cor-Ten's elastic strength is only about twice carbon steel's, and Cor-Ten cars are heavier than stainless or aluminum, but Pullman's steel cost is much lower than Budd's. Cor-Ten cars are spot-welded, but since aluminum cannot be structurally welded, Pullman does a sleek riveting job.

For 1940, the manufacturers of gleaming streamliners can see even brighter days ahead. Railroad operating revenues are on the upgrade and the railroads are again buying equipment to replace rolling stock run ragged during the depression. With 1939's financial statement yet to be issued, Edward Budd well knew last week that after a net loss of $400,937 in 1938 (1937's net profit was $3,010,000) his company was back in the black again. Much of the credit went to the streamline train division.

*First set went to France to be installed on the car which Eddie Rickenbacker chauffeured for General Pershing.

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