WESTERN PACIFIC ~!~~p',~Sls ''g'm,JJwuL ~ (JldlltiL WlDnlIL" By MILEPOSTS A magazine, as a rule, doesn't like My total circulation has grown to to talk about itself, but I feel a little nearly 7,000 copies, and new friends proud in celebrating my third anni­ write each month asking that I 'call on versary this month, and I thought my them. friends might like to know a little I like to keep my weight down to more about me; how I start a new life my trim 32 pages, but occasionally my each month with 32 pages of ideas and editor feeds me more and I fairly burst material and end up in your mail box. with additional pages. Some of my Of course, lowe it all to you, and friends say they like me better that to my editor and his staff without way. whom I could not exist, and because Russell Shearer, an attorney friend Vol. IV, No. I AUGUST, 1952 *Milepost No. 37 I have rather expensive tastes, I am of mine in San Francisco, wondered also indebted to Western Pacific. why I didn't include a brief comment Department of Public Relations My life is quite exciting- always concerning the MILEPOSTS picture WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD something new-and I guess I know which appears on Page 2 each month, SACRAMENTO NORTHERN RAILWAY TIDEWATER SOUTHERN RAILWAY more employees than anyone else on and I hope he and my other readers 521> Mission Street, San Francisco 5 the railroad. You might not believe will like my new look, beginning with Lee "Flash" Sherwood, Editor Arthur Lloyd, Jr., Associate Editor it, but I am also quite a traveler. You this issue. To those of you who might l\lentber A 'nterica;t Railway }'fagaz'ine Editors) Assooiation will find me in each of the forty-eight have overlooked this little picture on llfelltber N01'lherlt California Indush'·ial Editors) Assocint'ion states, Alaska, Honolulu, and Canal Page 2 each month, I think you will Zone, and Washington, D. C. In ad­ be interested to note that each mile­ CONTENTS dition, each month I hit Argentina, post corresponds numerically with Page Australia, Belgium, Burma, Canada, that particular issue, and I am now Cuba, England, France, Germany, In­ "I'm Three Years Old This Month" 3 rolling along on my way toward dia, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and Stockton. My boss, "Flash," has taken MILEPOSTS' Questionnaire 11 The Netherlands. At one time I proba­ most of these pictures, and the stories WP Will Remember . 13 bly had the largest circulation of any he could tell about climbing fences Don't Be HALF Safe! 14 magazine in Warri, Nigeria, by multi­ and rocks, chasing trains along coun­ ple requests of the native Warri Col­ Signaling Advanced . 15 try roads, keeping clear of farmer's lege students, one of whom wrote my dogs and shotguns (daughters, too? New Freight Schedules 15 boss: G.H.K.), and other amusing and ex­ In Memoriam 16 "I have got much interest for writ­ citing adventures would probably fill Promotions and Transfers 17 ing you this letter, just to inform a small book. Dear Editor: 18 you that I like to get in love and I am a member of the American customer with you, sir. Please, sir, Caboosing 20 Railway Magazine Editors, ' and the kindly come to me, for I want to be­ Northern California Industrial Editors' Sports 34 come one of your greatest customer Associations. Railroad Lines 36 in Nigeria. May God be with you. By the time I reach your mail box Amen. Palmer Umukoro." I will have gone through many steps * jlJilepost No. 3 7: The m.ain line pa.sses .. Z~'lilepost 37 shortly niter leaving Sunol and Niles I got a little skittish at this and now and passed through many hands. Ma­ Canyon. The ja1nou8 Hearst Ranch looks down upon this port-ion, of Western p(tcifio 1'i,qht-of­ I travel to Warri only for the College way bordering Alu.1Jteda Creek. terial for my contents is obtained Library. ~7 ( Continued on Page 10) :2 ~ULEPOSTS MILEPOSTS 3 MILEPOSTS MECHANICS The fine-dot etching department corrects plates to suit the paper and ink. It is their job to get a result When a photograph or other art work is received that has all the appearance of continuous tone, main­ tain color, contrast and balance of the original, re­ at t he engraver's. it is placed on an adjustable copy board a nd fe-photographed through a half-tone gardless of the paper and ink used. Here, in addition to judgment, experience and skill, a certain amount scr een (tw o ruled. optically flat glass plates of artistic ability is required. The worker must see cemented together so as to give crossing black lines the subtle values of the original and recreate them in a nd t ra nsparent apertures) placed between the lens this new medium, with materials not of his own and film in t he hug e copy camera. When the picture choosing. He must use materials chosen by the is reproduced on the film in reduced or enlarged size printer, and his job would be quite simple if, upon to fit the space it will occupy in the magazine, the getting his plate, he could dictate the paper and the shaded areas are formed by minute dots. The copy ink to be used. These craftsmen have shown great camera is equipped with accurate light-measuring ingenuity in solving many problems that face them devices that automatically calculate the diaphragm opening according to the amount of reduction or en­ daily. largement and the amount of available light. All photographic work is done under temperature con­ trol with a tolerance of less than one degree. While * * * a skillful craftsman can do wonders for a poorer pic­ ture, the better the original photograph the better it will appear in the magazine. The fifth step is in the machine room, where all undesired metal is routed away, the engraving bev­ eled and mounted on wood. This is another one of * * * the honor departments where pride in craftsmanship is the driving force. Poor workmanship here could The next step is stripping. Because of this extra go undetected until the job had finally reached the step of making a plate, not required in conventional printing press. It is an important and time-consum­ photography, it is necessary to reverse the position ing operation, and a very excellent engraving can be of the negative. This department also assembles the a very bad printing plate if this operation is not half-tone negatives and line negatives into single ski11fully handled. units on all jobs where more than one illustration is used, or where both line copy and tone copy is used to make up a single engraving. They also group other jobs together on flats to make future mechani­ * * * cal operations such as printing and deep etching more economical. It takes as long to print and deep­ etch one 3" x 3" flat as it does to print an 11" x 14" The last step in making the engraving is the flat made up of several jobs. proofing department. Personal integrity is impor­ tant here. A proofer can, by doctoring inks, using impractical make-ready and slowing up his press, * * • get a very presentable proof from an inferior engrav­ ing. He is really the printer's friend. A good proofer will always insist on a plate that he can proof under The third step occurs in the deep-etching depart­ the printing conditions of the printer and with the ment, where printing depth is given the image that inks and the paper selected by the printer. has been printed on metal by the same process as in regular photography. When the plate is submerged in acid, the portions not protected by an enamel cov­ ering are eaten away, or etched, so that these por­ * * * tions will not come in contact with the paper and consequently will not print. The etching varies ac­ cording to the screen used, the type of press, and the All engravings used in Mileposts are made by the paper on which the engraving will be printed. It is a Ace Photo Engravers and the Walker Engraving delicate operation, requiring a great deal of skill and Corporation, both long established in San Francisco. patience. Pride in craftsmanship is a " must" in this department, since poor workmanship in this depart­ ment is not evident on the proof. Only when the job is finally being printed does poor workmanship become obvious. 4 MILEPOSTS MILEPOSTS 5 Lines on a printed page come out evenly because of the skill of the linotype operator (above left), who sits before a keyboard similar to that of a typewriter's. with Mileposts' copy before him. Through a series of operations, a single line of type is cast on metal, hence the name "linotype"-line·-of-type. The individual lines are assembled in galley form, numbered for identification, and a proof is taken and sent to the proof­ room for the first reading from the original copy. Proofreaders (above, left) work in pairs, are well When all copy has been set in type. and necessary corrections have been made, two sets of proofs are educated, and have a wide knowledge of terms used Sent to the editor, one for making up his "dummy" and the other for further corrections if necessary by the in all types of industry. They read copy intelli­ editor, and returned to the printer.