The Pressed Steel Car Company was a builder of railroad cars and equipment based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, Pennsylvania, that was founded in 1899, and had facilities in Pittsburgh and Chicago. It operated until 1956.

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.

Contribution to the U.S. war effort

Being of a different racial strain from Hitler or Hirohito 8b07376v

Pressed Steel Car Company ranked 41st among United States corporations in the value of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

military production contracts. It was involved in the design and production of 24

M43 Howitzer Motor Carriage The 203 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M43 was an American self-propelled artillery vehicle built on a widened and lengthened Medium Tank M4A3 chassis, but with a Continental engine and HVSS that was introduced at the end of the Second World War ...

s and 311 M40 Gun Motor Carriages.,

T29 Heavy Tank The Heavy Tank T29 was an American heavy tank project started in March 1944 to counter the appearance of the German Tiger II heavy tank. The T29 was not ready in time for the war in Europe, but it did provide post-war engineers with opportunitie ...

s, T30 Ammunition Carriers, 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.)

Production rates

Annual production of the consolidated companies' factories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 census, the city was the third-largest in Illinois, with a population of 150,362. Hist ...

was forecast to be 24,000 steel freight cars, 300,000 bolsters and 180,000 truck frames. It resumed railroad-car production after World War II, eventually diversifying into non-railway products and changing its name to U.S. Industries in 1954. In 1956, U.S. Steel purchased all remaining assets of the company.

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 Hegewisch (pronounced "heg-wish" by the locals) is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's far south side. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Riverdale and South Deering to the west, the East Side to the ...

neighborhood remains today and is occupied by various steel-oriented businesses. It is served by

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

and Indiana Harbor Belt.

Officers

Strike

In 1909, the

Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909 The Pressed Steel Car strike of 1909, also known as the 1909 McKees Rocks strike, was an American labor strike which lasted from July 13 through September 8. The walkout drew national attention when it climaxed on Sunday August 22 in a bloody b ...

occurred.http://www.library.pitt.edu/labor_legacy/PressedSteelStrike.htm Pressed Steel Strike

Notes

References

* {{Authority control Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Pittsburgh American companies established in 1899 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1899 1899 establishments in Pennsylvania Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States American companies disestablished in 1956 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1956