The Niles Car and Manufacturing Company was an American manufacturer of railroad equipment, including many

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

and

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

cars. It was founded in 1901 in

Niles, Ohio Niles is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,443 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the confluence of the Mahoning River and Mosquito Creek Lake, Mosquito Creek, Niles is a suburb in the Ma ...

and published catalogs showcasing their various cars. Niles specialized in building wooden-bodied cars in the heyday of interurban building. Its cars had a reputation of being well-built and stylish; Niles advertising called them "The Electric Pullmans." 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 A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm (which is a gear in the form of a screw) meshes with a worm wheel (which is similar in appearance to a spur gear). Its main purpose is to translate the motion of two perpendicular axes or to t ...

and custom bodies to suit. The company 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 The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for creating and managing Military communications, communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was ...

Customers

Niles' clients included the: *

Aurora Elgin and Chicago Railroad The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad (CA&E), known colloquially as the "Roarin' Elgin" or the "Great Third Rail", was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service on its line between Chicago and Aurora, Illinois, Aurora, B ...

(later the

Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad (CA&E), known colloquially as the "Roarin' Elgin" or the "Great Third Rail", was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service on its line between Chicago and Aurora, Illinois, Aurora, B ...

); including the oldest operating interurban in the US
20
*

Bamberger Electric Railroad Bamberger is a Bavarian and Southern German toponymic surname, and it indicates someone from Bamberg in Bavaria. Notable people with the surname include: * Ana Maria Bamberger (born 1966), Romanian physician and playwright * Ármin Vámbéry (bo ...

* Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railway * Northern Electric Railway (later part of the

Sacramento Northern Railway The Sacramento Northern Railway (reporting mark SN) was a electric interurban railway that connected Chico, California, Chico in northern California with Oakland, California, Oakland via the state capital, Sacramento, California, Sacramento. In ...

) *

The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company , also referred to as the Milwaukee Interurban Lines or TMER&L, is a defunct railroad that operated in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the largest electric railway and electric utility syst ...

* Northern Ohio Traction & Light *

Pacific Northwest Traction Company The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo Railroad The Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo Railroad was an electric interurban railway that was constructed between Rochester, New York, and Lockport, New York, connecting to the International Railway New York - Ontario, International Railway Co. at Loc ...

Rock Island Southern Railway The Rock Island Southern Railway, or RIS, was one of the most unusual interurban systems in the United States. It consisted of two distinct divisions, each with its own unique operating parameters. It provided passenger service to the western I ...

San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway The San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway, later briefly reorganized as the San Francisco and Napa Valley Railroad, was an electric interurban railroad in the U.S. state of California. In conjunction with the Monticello Steamship Company, the ...

* St. Paul Southern Electric Railway *

The Chicago Lake Shore and South Bend Railway The Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad , also known as the South Shore Line, is a Class III freight railroad operating between Chicago, Illinois, and South Bend, Indiana. The railroad serves as a link between Class I railroads and local ...

Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway The Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway was an interurban electrified railway system serving northwestern Ohio's Marblehead Peninsula. It was incorporated in 1902, began operating in 1905 and only ceased operations in 1958, much later than ...

Toronto Civic Railways Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway ...

(DE DT M - late TTC Class H, H1 and H3 cars). *

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway (WB&A) was an American railroad that operated from 1899 until 1935 in central Maryland and Washington, D.C. It was built by a group of Cleveland, Ohio, electric railway entrepreneurs to se ...

Yakima Valley Transportation Company The Yakima Valley Transportation Company (YVT Co.) was an interurban electric railroad headquartered in Yakima, Washington. It was operator of the city's streetcar system from 1907–1947, and it also provided the local bus service from the 1920s ...

* Youngstown and Ohio River Railroad

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Niles Car and Manufacturing Company Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of the United States Niles, Ohio Manufacturing companies established in 1901 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1917 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States Tram manufacturers