The Oregon daily journal., September 27, 1908, Page 36, Image 36

th
Preparing Meals for
on Fast Railroad
r ri TTr? r,i T!mh,A -i n
. t , 'i
its JXVlft Way, and the :flotld man
' ' ".was saying to his thin ' dyspeptic
4" ,, , , ..
.
"Now mother. I know I'm loin? to be
,4f vuy wvutci, .a Knwu k m tu vc
! TlUngryj and yOU Won't Care for anything.
i Ut do let's try tO get in on the first call for
: 'dinner, so we can take one rood. meal in peace
. ' .. -.-.r T . - o ...
, aione.
A dapper waiter loomed up beside them
like some genie of an Arabian Night speak
ing with the Maryland accent submerged
i , . ' . o
under Hi teen vearS of studiau eradication
unuer ji teen years vj siuaiuus eraaicanun.
"Can I-take your ordeh for dinneh,
,iU9
t HM , ....
', "Tt, . -Jt' -.-J l. -
' i i JLaHe my Order I gasped tne porta
' ' ,
man,
' arm t
tr ay. VeSSUnresenVe VUn VlOCeS at
-is- J
the table, suh. We do that right along now."
The passenger gazed at his wife with a
triumphant gleam in his eye:
'Guess you come along now, mother.
ir. i f J'
w frM v virt ftiw h nn. ntj it t$,uriu.mv uut
tf ttiat little bandbox they call the kitchen." '
So they, new to the marvel after it had
become a commonplace to thousands of more
frequent travelers, rejoiced in the newest
mtracle of that modern conjurers box, the
t;..t '
aimng-car micnen.
BOTH of them were a little incredulous over the
waiter's assurance that, at the hour and the min
ute they selected, upon the table for which the
check was given them, whatever they ordered
; would be served. With no possibility that some one els
I would slid In ahead of them and take possession foe
'th regular "table d'hote service.
Th husband, who was more hungry than gastro
' nomlc, said he would ask for nothing better than a first
class porterhouse, served fresh from the iron, with pota
toes French fried, celery and coffee, with toast that
hadn't been dried out, waiting.
His wife thought she could enjoy some clam broth.
it It was mad freshly from the clams; after that, frog
saddles, plain, and enly moderately well done, with
a little bit of broiled bacon to garnish them.
And she did want oh, so much some really crisp,
fresh lettuce. Oh, yes. and a cup of tea. not boiled,
tut with th hot water drawn boiling over th leaves
and poured off again, after one minute and ten sec
onds. These requirements, modest enough in the sight of
any disciple of Aplclus, were, nevertheless, precisely those
which test the resources both of chef and cuisine. A
properly broiled porterhouse, frog meat, with its du
color tone, yet with all the juices that make Its succu
lence, eeren so simple an achievement as toast that Is
at r,uc crisp and tender every one of them carries the
hallmarks of perfect orranlzatinn rnmni.t. aoninmS
snd high level of original supply.
EXACTLY AS ORDERED
1 The eeml-lhvalld and her healthy husband at the
t!m they had chosen, found their seats wai'tins tor
them, with no hurry, no anxiety. The service begin at
the motnant when, lust on the edge of expectancy thev
were
i reaay io csl Ana. rrorn clam broth to tea. It came
tly as they ordered It u
"I woader how they do ItT" exclaimed th wir. aa
y finished the meaL "
r.'i...i rsuirs are so grat for so microscopic
in jursUag n meal In her cubby hole, cannot TOri'
sa. Miuin ius vtv am, asrw ion nar msfil . . i . a
n loa oi lam: ommif mat rurnlshes a hundred fronf-
compartment that ia actually smaller than bra
muw t sm'i table in th. jin. with tn i-Hie
TteV rrftob
t.bla-narked ail, th raa confronts nothing more mis-
k.'."- M Ab '?rwrl of the ear. thaa
whltelv riieterjn eaacm blare of
s deboard that max Lb curve of th aisle to th d la
tax dtajr
Tat m ! at t-V way ef that rut-re a4 raaoact
tv exlataare of nothing bat the vsaaj eaankina- room
ef a r car. Hut ft ia 4a that artfully disaisaalatad
t '.' r-n that the amn'nr kitchea Is btddea.
nit'.e a rc-oas as fclfh-aa th A.nlng-rooiB prr
oa r irM faa wsrta by sooi ix yards long. LartS
9. t&;e.a th scUdi of it, nsa paxa J-ist tws
Bh was repeating the exclamation of every patron of
the modem dining car. Some-favored ones-havW en
joyd pelS Into the kitchen and have com awav atiil
WtWMI
THE OREGON ' SUNDAY
Travelers
Trains
wide. That path is the kitchen floor. No;,there lsn'
anjr mor kitchen floor lying around In spots, on which
can stand or even find foot room. Just that middle
path two feet across. '.-.'.
There, on these thirty-six square feet of floor, four
cooks do their work, supplying the requisitions made by
th flve walter' thl car t0 ,aU"fy tba pjetlte
, M y people at once. x. a uteral fact, there
barely room enough for those four cooks to turn
As passing one another-.well. they never think
' tbJ? ,A "ing-car coo. Put;in hu place in
the kitchan slmrlv atava nnt TTIa mnti-rliil. hla utenslla
everything he can be called upon to handle within his
especial sphere of action most be within his arm's
reach. And that la where all of them are.
He reaches, prepares and passes up for service which
ever Item of n order belongs to' his own strictly limited
"n ,wgrk' ho w0wta the iMdest-worked cook
Of tnv. haa hla nlana at tha ranffa? tha Maeond nnnk
doe range duty also. A third is at the steam table. The
fourth, who passes out the dishes as they are prepared.
thoefficu".! wo?" 8pr Um ooeUI"e,1 wlth
Thr of the eight feet which the room measures in
width the three feet toward the Inside of the car are
taken up thus: At the door is an ice chest four feet wld.
reaching up to a. height of six feet. Right beside it.
twenty-four inches wide, is the broiler, using a bed of
charcoal, its upper Are serving for all broiling, its lower
nat Keeping" so high the temperature of the steel bed on
wnlcn " reBl ltat tne Den, as the roof or a lower com
Iiartment reHfhtrVL' tn tha flnot- Iraana Vint tha 9t.nm,r,r
partment reaching to the floor, keeps hot the 32-pound
roasts that are placed In the compartment after they
are cooked.
The range end ovens adjoin the broiler, three feet
deep and five feet Ion There are, at the bottom, two
ovens, each eighteen Inches wide and two feet high; so
they take in a Si-pound roast as readily as a politician
will engulf a bluepolnt. The flres here ar anthraolte.
fed from the top. affording the steady reliable tem-
rmura Hnenimi ror tne artistic cooking of a large
a whuib tugv vurxace is avsiiaoje tor trying,
&&ufih? numbe',e" UMB t0 wh,ch th-
bookind for
.tt iLAXO Unft laar-Un--clAM T
j - ,
I , , KrtTJbodj tCTM Dd Stares. A
Vl fir an ambulance the police patrol!
t PooMXftW.oein.UonalOnlr
tWOM WagTjn bSEirif: iU teiritg Way down tb
lis Ut fre some miserable) troll-T ear from a fraah
predicament or to pall together wir eosaecCoa
EVsTR hear of a Belaachaly peraoa am4 Jetf
WU. he's boea rolBcaraatod la th trakl
haater.
Hi rrefaaadow ku aiakta J aia .M
aU. ar aii UwMa A4 ICS Sowb.
JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY HORNING, SEPTEMBER 27, I90i ?
TVli5itiSiSa 1 1 1 f 1 - I .1 III
Beyond lies the etearn table, three feet wide by some
.si- feet long. Th reason for the shortening of the steam
table, which is that feature of a dining kitchen's furni
ture that is ryur.nyraous with dishes kept warm instead
of being nerved cold,,, is obvious in cars designed for se
lection of the meal 'hour by patrons. "
Ti.e steam table Is at the end of the kitchen nearest
the dining room. Across the attenuated aisle or floor is
Ihe long sini:, a double one, equipped with four faucets,
supplying two streams each of hot and cold water.
Next, in q long stretch up to the door, with its
back to the outside wall of the car and its front to the
a. Me, is a cepper-topped kitchen table, gleaming ruddily
always, no matter how constantly In use for all the
vatied uses to which the kitchen table Is necessarily put
HARD ON THE ICE
But it Is not a table alone. In its front wall, on the 1
aisle, are cupboard doors from ledge to floor, which,
opened, reveal deep storage spaces. In the copper-covered
table top massive lids lift up, showing hundreds of
fiounds of cracked ice, in which are buried, ready for
nstant transfer to broiler, oven or range, the bodies
Qfr fowls that appear on the menu.
. The cook need not even turn around, on an order for
broiled chicken. He need merely swerve his upper body,
take out the bird and transfer t to the gridiron.
Those deep ice chests, exposed on one side In the
summer to the sun rays that beat upon the car side, and,
on the other, to the heat emanating from the ovens and
the broiler, have for their only defense the construction
of the chests, which is in line with the most recent prln
clples of refrigerator building where ice Is the sole
dependence. -
Tronhlg snrl
at some important
There, as the polios patrol has become ths
diagiDg chariot of tbe law aod as ths tUming'
engine has bulkej into the clangoTotM master of
fire, the trouble wagon hasvassomed its place, in
oar civilization aa the raucous symbol of a new
champion, the trouble hunter.
trbl st that oi bar ptla-e troabl p!as hi
il
. , "oon nanter aaa an ( Job s troa-
i f u,l th saart. and tkaa a law.' But. Inataa4
'" g VP and ralalog holis over tbesa, he garaar
thorn i.he ehornaa, wbaa they are rip. aad oaraa a
snor or tea axcouaat aalar tuna iml w l. i
mai &Mmmm rf tmmi
7y& 's&TZt? rj
The great Icebox opposite, between ddorway and
broiler. 1. la the same predicament, for Us four shelves
tnust do a similar office for vegetables and meats in
greater bulk, with free air circulating. It Is small won
der, then, that half a ton of ice is the ordinary supply
of the dining-car kitchen, and that some days in summer, .
even on comparatively short runs, nring it close to the
margin considered ample for safe preservation.
But these are not all the equipment. The very celling
Is laden with boilers and water tanks, that supply the
liquid which the prime need of every cook, although
ordinary condit'tn of cookery make It as much' a matter
or course as tie air ne breatnes.
And, by. tit way, the very air he does breathe in this
amasing economy or space is far from being the least
difficult thing to sujply. Apart from the special ventila-
tlon of his box of a kitchen, the top step of the car
platform, on which the slender door opens. Is floored
with copper, like the top of his table.
There are about flve square feet in all to this tiny
perch beyond the miniature Hades of heat to Which the
cook is doomed for hours at a time; but it la one of his
Finding 1 1
A
-a erred, ca s-hard er ad. eorer-iivted cnltema of
fanleeleae) and sjrbenity. without which ur modern
civilisation couldn't ran fir minutes without staying
at of order.
Just aa th trouble wagon looms bafor th eye as .
a sort of chala-llghtnlna- trouble chariot along elec
trical lines. a th electrical trouble hunter andoubt
dly la th archatyp of ail th troubl huaters la the
world.
TSer ara mora of klm. ftrohaiblv. tkaa of tar
there la his trtb and for two reason. One is that.
la this generation, electricity goes strgrlng tbrousH "
and arouad sad about as bo ether force, azcept
stoaa, ha vr learned to chase fuelf la Christen-
lore. Th otiar I that B ether fore ha ver de
vetoood a many tricks aad evasion of th world's
law aee orsera. zeopt love ana tbe cut inn jap
na aation. Haooe tbe trouble ban tar's af&alty for
eloctrtcuy. aad Mwtnaltys fee the tremble hunter.
. moat teasured prerogatives, at any moment when his
bands are not In actual work, to escape to the platform
' and simply breath.
On a dining car the conductor Is white; the waiters
and cooks are oolored. The conductor la responsible for
- the smallest Item of silverware and for the last stalk of
celery. At the commissary department the most precise
inventories, the most Jealous eoords, are kept of his
permanent equipment In napery and table service, aud
of his food supply, perishable and condlmentaL
The dining-car crews on th Pennsylvania Railroad
alone number 430 people, whose efforts feed 70,000 diners
a m on tit And no one dining Car, although It la stocked
up to satisfy a full hundred appetites, makes so long a
run aa that from Chicago and New York. The car In
which you dined, after quitting Chicago, is replaced at
Plttsbur by another, which Is as well supplied as was
the first 3
Those supplies will Include any variety of gams In
season, and food of every temperature, from the arctjo
of ice cream to, say, the troplo of tabasco. The commis
sary, or storekeeper, of such a supply point as Pitts
burg will Issue hundreds of pounds of beef, fowl,
fish and bread; grosses of matches, thousands of
cigars all within a single day, as though he were
outfitting some big pleasure yacht for a long voyage.
Every dining-car force, as Its stores are received,
lays them away asexpedltiously as the very matches
were originally packed In their boxes and With very
nearly as much economy of space.
As every Item comes into use on the rushing train
It is as perfect as when it was. received, thanks to
that enormous supply of Ice, ever renewed.
And then the diners, after they have been served,
rise up with that comfortable feeling ' which so in
gloriously yet so agreeably ties humanity into the
rest of the animal kingdom, and remark, with the
same calm marveling which tourists accord the Sim-
Dion tunnel or me pyramiuo ui est pi;
" .,r thaw AiA i
"I wonder how they did it"
Makes Fortunes on War
ill Peace
a NEW YORK business man has made ' money
war material. - He has spent the greater part of A
his life purchasing arms and equipment at govern
ment auction sales and selling them again at a profit
It is said that his facilities are now so great that
In one week he filled an order from Europe to convert
a. passenger ocean steamship into a fully equipped
war vessel for a South American government.
During the war between Russia and Japan he of
fered the Japanese government from his stores in Eu
rope and America 10,000 McClellan saddles, 100,000
army rifles, 100.000 knapsacks, 100,000 haversacks.
100,000 khaki uniforms, 160,000 gun slings and 20,000,
000 cartridges. He will not knowingly fit out a revo
lution, he insists, and says he once canceled an order
of (20,000 placed by a man upon revolution ffent
But ther are more troubles than those of the elec
tricians. '
There was a restaurant keeper in New Tork who
proved it He had a basement the level of which was
lower than that of the street sewer. So he needed a
, pump to heft bis sewage to the sewer.
Being; thrifty, he was positive he knew a plumber
who would lnatal the pump for less than the manu
facturers charged for the service. The pump, deliv
ered on his sidewalk, was duly paid for.
Three days later the manufacturer's telephone ex
ploded, bangl It was the restaurant man, fortissimo.
Th firm's favorite trouble hunter, who has been for
ten years proof to all brands of language, was rushed
to the scene of hostilities.
The restaurant man was wading; in a subterranean
lake, working. The pump was standing pat The
restaurant man consumed large quantities of lan
guage, while the trouble hunter consumed time. At
last he straightened up.
"Say," he remarked, curiously, "why didn't you
remove this blind gasket that comes on tbe delivery
pip until th pump is set upr '
"What do I know about yer bejiggered gaskets,
blind, deaf or dumb? My plumber put in that pump."
''Well'' removing; the gasket "start your pump,
and go kill your plumber. S'long." And, the blind
gasket being removed, th pump worked all right, and -the
cellar was soon cleared of water.
Then there's the gasoline engine. First cam man.
then came the gasolln engine; after that cam trou
ble. It Isn't the engine's fault A decent respectable,
gentlemanly gasoline engine will work as steadily as
a clock more steadily than a good many clocks. But
you've got to give it some attentldn, The average
owner of a gasoline engine, it is said, thinks it ought
to take care of itself.
In New England, som time ago, a leading citlsen,
f'Olng the way of leading cltlsens, landed a contract
o supply his native village with light and power. He
Invested in a 2S-horsepower gasoline engine. He fol
lowed Its Installation with Intermittent telegrams of
anguish. The Arm's trouble hunter arrived during the
crisis of th eighth brainstorm." ,
' SOUGHT AND FOUND
' R sought and found. The galvanised Iron tank. In
closed in a wooden box by tb village carpenter, con
tained no gasolln. "Never heard ef a gasolln en
gin running without any gasoline," he commented,
thoughtfully. Then he found the hoi In th hot tern
of the tank, which the carpenter had punched with a
naiL Tbe carpenter had pulled out the nalL ronscl
eetlonsly; but conscientiously, h had left th
hole. Bo th gasoline tn the storage tank leaked ut
aad it was left for th troubl hunter to And why th
engine woaldn't run.
Then there is a story ef how a municipal lighting
flant cam near defeating Its advocates at aa elee
Ion. oThe plant was Intended te be la working order
some time bafor tbe election, but the local engineers
who andertook to put th machinery together did aot
ntak a auccea of the Job. Th en sin wouldn't work.
Tb troubl hunter was ent tor. H soon found
th eoarce ef trouble, ane nsa tb plant working a
th night be for )cUoa. Consaenc: tb mu
pal official wh bad premlood city lighting al
keystone of their administration war ra-electadL
the munlei-
s tn
The trouble banter Is an Important factor la every
manufacturing enterprla. and la many other ntr
rr'aa. H Is called cnoa dsy and night to adjust
clmrclt!. His work Is ne siaecax. e hi rward
la ttm aa aboeao ef ihsaia