A big money saving was effected by changing the design of the freight cars asked for by our overseas forces. Their original call was for 17,000 four-wheel cars of the French type, these varying from 10 to 20 tons capacity per car. Our investigations here convinced us that the American type of car with 30-ton capacity could be used on the French railroads. Consequently we recommended that 6,000 of the 30-ton American-type cars be sent abroad instead of smaller-capacity French cars. Our recommendation was approved by officers abroad, and as a result there was a saving of $12,640,000 in the cost of this initial order of cars. From that time all cars shipped from the United States were of the American 8-wheel type, a fact which resulted in a saving of approximately $189,600,000 over what it would have cost to build and ship the lighter French cars.
Had the light French type of cars, as originally suggested, been adopted, 270,309 cars would have been required instead of 90,103 cars, and probably twice as much tonnage would have been necessary to transport these cars overseas.
Most of the steel rails were purchased from the Cambria Steel Co., the Lackawanna Steel Co., the Bethlehem Steel Co., the United States Steel Products Co., and the Sweets Steel Co. Raised pier, gantry, and locomotive cranes were turned out by the several crane builders in proportion to their ability to produce. The Standard Steel Car Co. made millions of dollars' worth of metallic parts for freight cars, and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. produced rails and bars. As previously mentioned, the Baldwin Locomotive Works got the bulk of the orders for locomotives, although the American Locomotive Co., the Vulcan Co., the H. E. Porter Co., and the Davenport Locomotive Works also made locomotives for our Expeditionary Forces.
HOSPITAL TRAINS.
Ambulance trains were called for by Gen. Pershing in his cablegram of July 15, 1917. It was stated in this message that plans for these ambulance trains would be furnished by the Surgeon General of the Army.
To build these ambulance trains, with their complicated designs and specialized equipment, in this country would have entailed lengthy delay and very heavy expense, as after they had been constructed it would have been necessary to knock them down for shipment. With this fact in mind our officers here took up the question with Sir Francis Dent, of the British railway commission, who was in this country at the time. He stated that ambulance trains built by the London & North Western Railway, which had proved wholly satisfactory in three years of service, could be turned out by that same concern there quickly if the English design were adopted for our Army.
After considerable discussion and consideration the English design was followed, and orders for our ambulance trains were placed abroad. Up to December 7, 1918, there had been completed for our Army 19 of these trains, with a total of 304 cars, and there were in the course of completion at that time or under order 29 additional ambulance trains.
Information from England shows that it was indeed the part of wisdom to order these ambulance trains abroad, as figures from England stated that the first 14 of these trains were produced at a cost to us of £3,845 per car, including repair parts. This means that at the present rate of exchange the cost of each coach was $18,302.20, while to have built these cars in this country, knocked them down, and shipped them overseas would have cost $40,000 each.