Niles Car and Manufacturing Company

1908 Niles advertisement

The Niles Car and Manufacturing Company was a United States manufacturer of railroad equipment, including many streetcar and interurban cars.^[1] It was founded in 1901 in Niles, Ohio, and ceased producing railroad cars in 1917; the plant and equipment were purchased by the Engel Aircraft Company to produce aircraft parts for the United States Army Signal Corps.^[2][3] The company also produced equipment for the trucking industry, an industry reference citing 2 models of 1 and 2 tons respectively, costing $1500 to $2400, utilizing a worm drive and custom bodies to suit.^[4]

Niles specialized in building wooden-bodied cars in the heyday of interurban building.^[1] Its cars had a reputation of being well-built and stylish; Niles advertising called them "The Electric Pullmans."^[5][6]

Customers

Niles' clients included^[1] the:

• Aurora Elgin and Chicago Railroad (later the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad); including the oldest operating interurban in the US (#20)
• Bamberger Electric Railroad
• Buffalo, Lockport and Rochester Railway
• Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railway
• Northern Electric Railway (later part of the Sacramento Northern Railway)
• The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company
• Northern Ohio Traction & Light
• Pacific Northwest Traction Company
• Rock Island Southern Railway
• San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway
• St. Paul Southern Railway
• Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway
• Toronto Civic Railways (DE DT M - late TTC Class H, H1 and H3 cars).
• Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway
• Yakima Valley Transportation Company
• Youngstown and Ohio River Railroad

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Hilton, George W.; Due, John F. (1960, 2000). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3. 
2. ^ "Baker's Brother got a Contract" (PDF). The New York Times. 1918-02-01. pp. 1,6. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E07E3DC103FE433A25752C0A9649C946996D6CF. 
3. ^ Faurote, Fay L. (Ed.) (February 1919). The Aircraft Year Book. New York City, New York: Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Inc.. pp. 149–153. http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_Aerospace_Year_Book.pdf?id=Shnyh-IXOJcC&output=pdf&sig=2f6M4pi9YnmDwf9VCUY_sGOnsL8. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
4. ^ Barber, H.L. (1917). Story of the Automobile: Its History and Development from 1760 to 1917. Chicago, Illinois: A.J. Munson & Co.. p. 238. http://books.google.com/books/pdf/Story_of_the_Automobile.pdf?id=0j2YAvD2Yc8C&output=pdf&sig=iqHCt_uCt0fEe-v4bIXRub7WnnQ. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
5. ^ "Niles Car & Manufacturing Company". Archived from the original on 2007-02-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20070211200053/http://www.ironhorse129.com/rollingstock/builders/niles.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
6. ^ American Street Railway Investments: Fifteenth Annual Volume: 1908. McGraw Publishing Company. 1908. p. XXI. http://books.google.com/books/pdf/McGraw_Electric_Railway_Manual.pdf?id=j47IQgaWJM4C&output=pdf&sig=AMfm7pGsFx34BkswNcnzj6Gtpg8. Retrieved 2007-09-30.