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Randy Hees, President of
the Society for the Preservation of Carter
Railroad Resources, gave a tour of the facilities of the
SPCRR at
Ardenwood. We saw examples of cast iron replica parts
manufactured for
the South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPCRR), as well as some
of their wooden
patterns. Randy also explained in considerable detail
about the
preservation work which the Society is engaged in, such as
the detective
work required to understand the painting scheme(s) used on
railway cars.
(See Randy's article in the last newsletter.)
The meeting started with some
comments from Carl Borgh, owner of the
Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek. He said that he was both
honored and
flattered that the Chapter used the name of his foundry.
There have been
no pours at the foundry since July 1996 and there are no
plans at this time
for any future pours. Carl felt that it was unlikely that
the California
Department of Parks and Recreation would be willing to
acquire the
foundry. In order to bring back his employees who
understand the
process and techniques of casting, Carl needs to have 9 to
12 months of
work booked. To try to bring them back for one or two
pours, or a month
or so's work would not be fair to them. The future of the
foundry is
uncertain.
Andy hopes that through a promotional effort, enough work
can be
secured to keep the foundry alive. In particular, the
growth of interest in
the preservation of historic buildings and houses may prove
to be a fruitful
market for the foundry. He believes that the previous
preservation effort
was successful in certain ways: it brought volunteers
together, the series of
three-day workshops was successful, as was the
interpretation programs.
"Saving Knight Foundry means bringing work to the foundry."
Tony asked Carl about the level of business required to
support the
foundry. Carl said that he needs enough business to keep three people
employed. Wages are a bit more than $30,000 per employee
plus taxes,
social security, etc. The Foundry's annual "nut", the
minimum income
necessary to stay in business, is only $150,000. According
to Carl, there are
other foundries in northern California with which the
Knight Foundry
competes. The Knight Foundry is, not surprisingly, more
labor intensive
than the competition, and cannot do production line work
because it does
not have the equipment and space for such processes. The
ideal jobs
require castings on the order of 500 to 1000 pounds. The
foundry can make
a reasonable profit (25%) off such projects.
Randy Hees said that the Carter Bros. Preservation Society
uses the Sunset
Foundry for small projects which the Knight Foundry is not
interested in,
but has used Knight Foundry for larger projects, such as
casting switch
stands. Carl said that cast iron objects from China can be
made for 16-22¢
per pound whereas objects from the Knight Foundry cost
$0.90 to $3 per
pound. Randy said that in order for the Knight Foundry to
succeed, it
would need 30 customers like the Carter Bros. Society.
The Knight Foundry's customers, when Carl purchased the
foundry 27
years ago, were lumber mills, food packers and the mining
industry
(gypsum, coal, clay). In the last 15 years, many customers
in these
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