Maintenance of the ballast layer directly below the ties is an essential part of a healthy track structure, as ballast degrades over time and becomes increasingly fouled reducing its ability to drain, provide adequate load bearing support, and withstand vertical, lateral, and longitudinal forces. Southern Pacific used specially trained crews who operated undercutter equipment to restore ballast that had become fouled.
The excavated material could either be fully discarded or screened and returned to the track, with only the finer parts of the ballast not being recycled.
Robert L. Coe, sales manager of Union Electric Company, congratulated the price winners in the table-setting contest. From the left are Mrs. W. F. McLean, Mrs. James F. Williams, Mrs. Eugene F. Williams, who presented the awards; Mrs. Eugene A. Erker and Mrs. J. Edward Sommers.
A photograph of the Southern Pacific wooden cupola caboose SP 690 in Burlingame, California. The photograph shows the newly painted caboose with orange ends.