All-
Leo makes an important point….the desire for the Burlington to maintain a vertically integrated operation.
From time to time this may even have resulted in items being supplied at a higher cost (depending on how you did the accounting) but in the overall scheme of things made it a good business decision to have existing shop forces kept busy as a safeguard to maintain the skilled workers for times when they were crucially needed.
In the Newberry Burlington Archives are instances of the commercial suppliers complaining to the Q that their in-house cost figures unfairly compared with their proposals…..both for locomotives and cars.
Having worked for a company that once was great because of vertical integration (the Bell System) that was replaced by companies that outsource everything and have no accountability to customer and regulatory agencies alike (i.e. Comcast) I am a fan of the outmoded model.
The Burlington’s approach no doubt kept their supplier’s pencils very sharp when making bids as they know they had not only an informed customer but a competitor for their products!
As a side note, I doubt that step boxes were carried on suburban trains, at least on the East End. I’ve never seen a photo of one being used. I wonder if the steps on the suburban cars were the same height off the rail as intercity cars….I don’t recall anybody having difficulty getting on or off the old cars or gallery coaches in the 20 years I held monthly tickets on the Q and WSMTD.
Charlie Vlk