- American Car and Foundry Company
American Car and Foundry (often abbreviated as ACF) is a manufacturer of
railroad rolling stock andlocomotives . It was once a bus manufacturer under the ACF-Brill name. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based inSt. Charles, Missouri . [cite web| url=http://hoovers.com/free/search/simple/xmillion/index.xhtml?query_string=ACF+industries&which=company&page=1&search_x=23&search_y=9| title=Hoovers Company Search: ACF Industries| accessdate=2008-01-09| ]History
American Car and Foundry was formed and incorporated in New Jersey in 1899 as the result of the merger of 13 smaller railroad car manufacturers. The company was made up of:
*Buffalo Car Manufacturing Company (founded 1872 inBuffalo, New York )
*Ensign Manufacturing Company (founded 1872 inHuntington, West Virginia ) [cite book| title=The American Railroad Freight Car| author=White, John H., Jr.| page=p 142| publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press| location=Boston and London| year=1993| isbn=0-8018-5236-6| ]
*Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company (founded 1861 inBerwick, Pennsylvania )
*Michigan-Peninsular Car Company (founded 1892 inDetroit, Michigan )
*Minerva Car Works (founded 1882 inMinerva, Ohio )
*Missouri Car and Foundry Company (founded 1865 inSt. Louis, Missouri )
*Murray, Dougal and Company (founded 1864 inMilton, Pennsylvania )
*Niagara Car Wheel Company (ofBuffalo, New York )
*Ohio Falls Car Manufacturing Company (founded 1876 inJeffersonville, Indiana )
*St. Charles Car Company (founded 1873 inSt. Charles, Missouri )
*Terre Haute Car and Manufacturing Company (ofTerre Haute, Indiana )
*Union Car Company (ofDepew, New York )
*Wells and French Company (founded 1869 inChicago, Illinois )Later in 1899, ACF acquired
Bloomsburg Car Manufacturing Company (ofBloomsburg, Pennsylvania ). Two years later, ACF acquiredJackson and Sharp Company (founded 1863 inWilmington, Delaware ), and theCommon Sense Bolster Company (ofChicago, Illinois ). The unified company made a great investment in the former Jackson & Woodin plant in Pennsylvania, spending about $3 million. It was at this plant that ACF built the first all-steel passenger car in the world in 1904. The car was built for theInterborough Rapid Transit system ofNew York City , the first of 300 such cars ordered by the railroad.1904 and 1905 saw ACF build several motor cars and trailers for the
London Underground . In these two years, ACF also acquiredSouthern Car and Foundry (founded 1899 inMemphis, Tennessee ),Indianapolis Car and Foundry andIndianapolis Car Company .Timeline
* 1899: American Car & Foundry is formed from the merger of 13 smaller companies.
* 1899: ACF acquiresBloomsburg Car Manufacturing Company
* 1901: ACF acquiresJackson and Sharp Company andCommon Sense Bolster Company
* 1904: ACF builds the first all-steel passenger car in the world for theInterborough Rapid Transit
* 1904: ACF acquiresSouthern Car and Foundry
* 1905: ACF acquiresIndianapolis Car and Foundry andIndianapolis Car Company
* 1922: ACF diversifies into the automotive industry with the acquisition ofCarter Carburetor Corporation
*March 31 1924 : ACF acquiresPacific Car and Foundry
* 1925: ACF acquires Fageol Motors Company andHall-Scott Motor Car Company
* 1926: ACF acquiresJ. G. Brill and Company
* 1927: ACF acquiresShippers Car Line
* 1939: ACF's Berwick plant switches to construction of military tanks.
*August 2 1941 : ACF's 1,000th military tank is completed for theUnited States military effort ofWorld War II
* 1954: The company officially changes its name to ACF Industries, Inc.
* 1959: ACF completes the last passenger car that it is to build (New York City Transit R28 [cite web| url=http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/r262829.html| title=R26/R28/R29| work=NYCSubway.org| date=2005| accessdate=2007-12-03| ] IRT car).
* 1977:Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) came up with the idea of the first double-stack intermodal car in 1977. [ [http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/uprr-chr.shtml Chronological History] - Union Pacific Railroad Company] SP then designed the first car with ACF Industries that same year. [Kaminski, Edward S. (1999). - "American Car & Foundry Company: A Centennial History, 1899-1999". - Wilton, California: Signature Press. - ISBN 0963379100] [ [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-9055386.html "A new fleet shapes up. (High-Tech Railroading)"] . - "Railway Age ". - (c/o HighBeam Research). - September 1, 1990]Products
Historically, ACF built passenger and freight cars. One of the largest customers was Union Pacific, whose armor-yellow carbon steel lightweight passenger rolling stock was mostly built by ACF. Famous dome-observation Native Son was an ACF product. Today, the American passenger car market is erratic in production, and is mostly handled by specialty manufacturers. Competitors Budd, Pullman-Standard, and St. Louis Car have all either exited the market or gone out of business. Currently, ACF builds mostly covered hopper cars for hauling items like corn or other grains. Other products are mainly miscellaneous steel products.
References
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050612081758/http://www.ironhorse129.com/rollingstock/builders/amercar&foundry.htm American Car & Foundry] . Retrieved
November 30 2004
* ACF Industries (2001). [http://www.acfindustries.com/acf_information/history.asp ACF Information - History] . RetrievedDecember 1 2004 ee also
*
Canadian Car and Foundry External links
* [http://www.acfindustries.com/ ACF Industries]
* [http://www.umsl.edu/barriger/bmore/acf/acf.htm Corporate Archives Collection—University of Missouri]
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