Southern Pacific Railroad History Center

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Mechanical Department

A.     Departmental Objectives and Responsibilities

The mechanical department is one of the core sub-departments of the operating department, with. the following objectives:

  1.     To design new rolling stock and modify existing equipment consistent with traffic requirements through the application of the latest engineering and research technology.
  1.     To keep rolling stock in the best possible working condition to effectively meet transportation needs through the establishment of proper maintenance policies and provide efficient inspection and repair services.

Included in the scope of these departmental responsibilities are locomotives, freight and passenger cars, cranes, ditch cleaners, maintenance of way cars, and other on-rail equipment, along with the tools and facilities required for their maintenance.

To properly implement these departmental objectives, the mechanical department organization is divided into three principal activities: locomotive, car, and budgetary control which are the responsibilities of the chief mechanical officer.

B.     Mechanical Department Organization:

The chief mechanical officer has jurisdiction over mechanical plant operations for the Southern Pacific System, including the Cotton Belt.  This person reports to the vice president – operations on all system operating and policy matters of a mechanical nature.  On subjects concerning exclusive mechanical operations at the division level, the chief mechanical officer works directly with the general managers.  The general managers and chief mechanical officer have joint responsibility to develop career paths for future managers to be assigned to maintenance of equipment operations.

The chief mechanical officer participates as a member of the general committee of the mechanical division, Association of American Railroads (AAR), and coordinates run-through operations with the chief mechanical officers of other railroad companies.

C.     Facilities

  1. Locomotive heavy maintenance plants are located at Sacramento, California and Houston, Texas.
  2. Locomotive running maintenance plants are located at Eugene, Oregon, Roseville, California, Ogden, Utah, San Francisco, Bay Area, Los Angeles, California, West Colton, California, El Paso, Texas, San Antonio, Texas, Houston, Texas, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
  3. Car heavy maintenance plants are located at Sacramento, Los Angeles, Houston, and Pine Bluff.
  4. Car running maintenance for Division one spots, repair tracks, and train yard repairs.Line Organization Responsibility

D.     Line Organization Responsibility

1. The assistant chief mechanical officer – locomotives reports directly to the chief mechanical officer and has the system responsibility of providing locomotives in proper operating condition to meet business demands; establishing a sound maintenance policy and monitoring quality control essential to keeping locomotives in condition to power trains with minimum failure and down time; maintaining close liaison between the operating and mechanical departments to coordinate business demands with shop workloads. The assistant chief mechanical officer – locomotives is also responsible for engineering design criteria not standard to production model locomotives, modification of design, and coordination of locomotive design with manufacturers.

a. The regional manager of running maintenance is the next most responsible person to assistant chief mechanical officer – locomotives having jurisdiction over all running repairs made to locomotives. The northern regional manager with headquarters at Roseville is responsible for maintenance plants at Eugene, Roseville, Ogden, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The southern regional manager based at Los Angeles is responsible for maintenance plants at El Paso, West Colton, California, and Los Angeles. The assistant regional manager headquartered at Houston is responsible for maintenance plants at Pine Bluff, Houston, and San Antonio. Each plant has a manager and assistant manager responsible for in-plant operation controlling maintenance procedures, production, and overall economic efficient use of manpower, tools, and material for locomotive repairs.

b. The manager of locomotive heavy maintenance with headquarters at San Francisco is similarly responsible for the locomotive maintenance plant operations at Sacramento and Houston.b. The manager of locomotive engineering and staff are responsible for design criteria of locomotives, design modification, and standard maintenance procedures. This person provides necessary technical support to carry out such specifications in the field and serve on joint AAR technical committees. This person also supervises operation of field testing laboratories , except the Sacramento laboratory, where inspecting, testing, and analysis of materials are accomplished.

c. The manager of locomotive engineering and staff are responsible for design criteria of locomotives, design modification, and standard maintenance procedures. This person provides necessary technical support to carry out such specifications in the field and serve on joint AAR     technical committees.  This person also supervises operation of field testing laboratories , except  the Sacramento laboratory, where inspecting, testing, and analysis of materials are accomplished.

d. The manager of locomotive production and control and staff are responsible for directing the scheduling and programing of repairs and overhaul of equipment used throughout the Southern Pacific System. He utilizes data processing to equalize shop loading for running maintenance plants, heavy maintenance plants, and division facilities, providing a maximum ratio of equipment for transportation demands. He is responsible for necessary FRA locomotive records kept in data processing, as well as component usage, failures, and trend of problems. Long range shopping schedules are developed within budgetary limits by the manager of locomotive production and control.

e. The manager of locomotive and car industrial engineering and staff are responsible for analyzing and setting standards and work flow procedures, method studies, tooling and work devices. This manager works jointly with engineering department when designing maintenance facilities or modifying existing facilities.  This position also provides expertise to  the general managers and division superintendents performing the same work on division maintenance of equipment facilities.

f. The manager of locomotive quality control is responsible for. monitoring standard maintenance procedures, department of transportation regulatory maintenance rules, AAR, and other regulatory maintenance procedures. This person maintains close communications with the general manager and division superintendents regarding quality of inspection and repair work in division locomotive ·facilities. This manager communicates with the regional managers running maintenance, the manager of heavy maintenance, and the plant managers concerning the quality of work in process and locomotives released from plants.

  1. The assistant chief mechanical officer – cars reports directly to the chief mechanical officer and has System responsibility of providing cars in a proper operating condition to meet business demands. This person is responsible for maintenance policy, quality control, and design of cars. This position maintains close liaison with other departments concerning the design of new cars, mechanical-operating problems, program work, and plant production.  This person’s staff must be sensitive to traffic demands and support the general managers in the maintenance of equipment used in operations.  This position has responsibility for special car design, working in coordination with. car manufacturers and shippers.

a. The manager of car heavy maintenance, with headquarters in San Francisco, is the next most responsible person to the assistant chief mechanical officer – cars having jurisdiction over all car heavy Maintenance plant operations at Sacramento, Los Angeles, Houston, and Pine Bluff. Each plant has a manager and supporting staff responsible for in-plant operation controlling maintenance procedures, production, and overall cost effective use of manpower, tools, and material for car repairs and car program work.

b.The manager of car engineering and staff are responsible or design criteria of new cars, design modification, field tests, and standard maintenance procedures. This position provides necessary technical support to support these functions in the field and serve on joint AAR technical committees. This position maintains liaison with. car builders and provides in-plant inspectors during construction. This position works directly with staff of other departments solving operating ­ mechanical problems. This person’s staff includes engineers and drafts-people at San Francisco and engineers at Detroit who maintain liaison with. automobile manufacturing plants.

c. The manager car production and control with their staff has responsibility to direct the scheduling and progress of repair and program work in heavy maintenance plants. Like their counterpart in locomotive operation, they must utilize computerized programs for long range studies for car repair programs and car modification programs based on business demand for cars by class. This position is strictly controlled by the maintenance of engineering budget.  The manager must be knowledgeable of pool assigned car conditions, work closely with the manager of heavy maintenance and quality control functions to maintain cars in suitable condition for commodity loading and safe operations.

d. The manager of car quality control is in close contact with the general managers and division superintendents regarding the quality of inspections and repair work in train yards, repair tracks, and support tracks. They communicate with the manager of car heavy maintenance plants on the quality of the work in process and of cars released from the plants.  This position is responsible for monitoring standard maintenance procedures, the Department of Transportation’s Regulatory Maintenance Rules and Air Test, Safety Appliance Laws, Association of American Railroads, and other regulatory maintenance procedures.

3. The controller of equipment maintenance:

a. The fiscal control function is the responsibility of the controller who operates through a San Francisco headquarters staff and assistance from budget coordinators or budget supervisors at Sacramento, Roseville, Los Angeles, Houston, and Pine Bluff.  Budget coordinators and supervisors report to plant managers, managers of heavy maintenance, and regional managers – running maintenance, depending on plant capacity and activity.  In all plants, the headquarters unit exercises functional control over online maintenance of equipment expenditures.

b. The controller plans the annual operating and capital account budgets for the Southern Pacific System, including the Cotton Belt. This position must keep the chief mechanical officer and the assistant chief mechanical officers informed of current expenditures for maintenance and program work.  The controller is responsible for providing and implementing computerized programming which report the status of expenditures, production, and management information reports.  This position works directly with the general manager’s staffs in determining the expenditures required for mechanical operations under each division superintendent’s jurisdiction.

c. An additional responsibility of the controller is long range economic planning involving large-scale studies relating to maintenance work for future business demands, revenues, and shop capabilities. Other long range studies embrace such matters as future locomotive and car acquisitions and retirements.

d. The controller has three principal staff assistants. The manager of budget control handles financial matters and supervises the capital investment and operating budgets.  The manager of mechanical systems is responsible for management information systems and associated administrative work.  The manager of AAR mechanical is in charge of two traveling AAR supervisors and accountants who monitor AAR billing and repair practices defined in the AAR Interchange Rules and Manual of Standards.

E. Staff Organization Responsibility

1. Two assistants to the chief mechanical officer handle inter-departmental liaison at the general office, regional, and division levels to properly coordinate locomotive and car problems. In addition, the assist the chief mechanical officer in areas such as labor relations, safety programs, special studies not a fit for the divided categories of locomotive or car, and the overall monitoring of department functions.

2.Supporting the overall departmental activity is an administrative staff, both online and in the general office headquarters in San Francisco. At each regional office and at the maintenance plants, an administrative staff is in place.  A chief clerk reports to the regional managers for those administrative activities performed at each individual plant.  At the general office headquarters, this function is under the jurisdiction of the manager of administrative services and is supervised by the office manage

F. Heavy Maintenance Plants

1. As previously explained, the heavy maintenance plants are under the director control of the managers of heavy maintenance. The plants head up by a plant manager handle the heavy repairs of locomotives and cars which exceed the capabilities of the smaller mechanical facilities.  Organizationally, the heavy maintenance plants report to the respective assistant chief mechanical officers separately from the running maintenance plants.  Each plant manager has full responsibility for all activities performed within their plant.  The work at the heavy maintenance plants is programmed according to business needs and shop capacity by the respective manager of production and control.  Numerous fabricating and parts-overhaul activities are associated with major repair work and are accomplished in the support shops of the plant.

  1. The locomotive running maintenance plants under the jurisdiction of the two regional managers and the individual plant manager handle the bulk of locomotive maintenance and servicing. Scheduled maintenance covering trip inspections through six-year periodic repairs is performed in these facilities.  Other work such as engine change, generators, motors, wheels, and component change is also accomplished at the major running maintenance plants.

G. Division Mechanical Functions

  1. Each division superintendent is responsible for the activities of the mechanical operations under the jurisdiction of their division, either functionally or directly. The superintendent has full responsibility of operating and all mechanical functions.  The superintendent and their staff work closely with the power coordinator and schedulers to ensure that repair work is properly coordinated between other divisions and on run-through trains.  It is the goad to maintain cooperation between division superintendents and mechanical department officials.  The assistant chief mechanical officers are responsible for overseeing this coordination.
  1. The division mechanical function is supervised by an assistant division superintendent who may be assisted by one or more trainmasters or assistant trainmasters. Reporting to the assistant superintendent on some divisions is an assistant terminal superintendent or assistant trainmaster who is responsible for the maintenance of freight and passenger cars.
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