Pressed Steel Car Company

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For other uses, see Pressed Steel.
Pressed Steel Car Company
IndustryRailcar manufacturing
Founded1899
Defunct1956
HeadquartersPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Key people
Charles T. Schoen, President

The Pressed Steel Car Company was a builder of railroad cars and equipment based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that was founded in 1899, and had facilities in Pittsburgh and Chicago. It operated until 1956.[1]

Early history[]

The Pressed Steel Car Company of Pittsburgh came into existence 17 February 1899 and was an amalgamation of the Schoen Pressed Steel Company, Pittsburgh, and the British company, the Fox Solid Pressed Steel Company, set up in 1889 in Joliet, 30 miles southwest of Chicago.[2]

Contribution to the U.S. war effort[]

Pressed Steel Car Company ranked 41st among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.[3] It was involved in the design and production of 24 M43 Howitzer Motor Carriages and 311 M40 Gun Motor Carriages.,[4] T29 Heavy Tanks,[5] T30 Ammunition Carriers,[6] M7 Gun Motor Carriages, M3 Light Tanks (501,) M4 Medium Tanks (1000) along with its variants totalling in over 8600 in M4 series - M4A1 (3700,) M4A2 (21,) improved M4A1 (3396,) M32 Tank Recovery Vehicles (over 900.)[7]

Production rates[]

Annual production of the consolidated companies' factories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Joliet, Illinois was forecast to be 24,000 steel freight cars, 300,000 bolsters and 180,000 truck frames.[8] It resumed railroad-car production after World War II, but was merged[with whom?] and closed down in 1956.

Notable products[]

Pressed Steel Car Company's most notable product was the MP54 electric car built for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and used until the early 1980s from New York to Washington. The plant on Torrance Avenue in Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood remains today and is occupied by various steel-oriented businesses. It is served by Norfolk Southern and Indiana Harbor Belt.

Officers[]

President Anthony A. Mason
1st Vice President E.N. Dickerson
2nd Vice President Henry W. Oliver Jr.
3rd Vice President W.H. Schoen
Secretary W.O. Jacquette
Treasurer W.C. DeArmond
General Manager F.A. Schoen
Sales Agent J.B. Brady

Strike[]

In 1909, the Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909 occurred.[9]

Notes[]

  1. ^ http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/pressedsteel1.htm
  2. ^ http://www.ironhorse129.com/RollingStock/builders/pressedsteel1.htm Pressed Steel Car Co
  3. ^ Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis (1962) Harvard Business School p.619
  4. ^ "M40 Gun Motor Carriage". Military Factory. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  5. ^ Nielsen 2012, p. 4.
  6. ^ Nielsen 2012, p. 33.
  7. ^ Nielsen 2012, p. 3.
  8. ^ http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/pressedsteel1.htm
  9. ^ http://www.library.pitt.edu/labor_legacy/PressedSteelStrike.htm Pressed Steel Strike

References[]

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