Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Rail transport |
Founded | 1912 |
Headquarters | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Locomotives High-speed trains Intercity and commuter trains Trams People movers Signalling systems |
National Steel Car Limited is the largest manufacturer of railway rolling stock in Canada, based in Hamilton, Ontario. [1] The company was founded in 1912, and has been a top 3 rolling stock manufacturer in Canada for its lifetime. National Steel Car is a subsidiary of National Industries Inc. and is currently led by Greg Aziz, chairman and CEO of National Steel Car.
Founded in 1912 by several investors led by Sir John Morison Gibson and with interests related to the Magor Car Corporation, Basil Magor was enlisted to lead the National Steel Car project. Once the new plant was functioning in Hamilton, Ontario, Magor became General Manager of National Steel Car Company Limited. [2] [3] The first few years of National Steel Car's production surpassed the expectations of its investors. The company began manufacturing just as Canadian rolling stock orders reached an all-time high in 1913. Due to the company's impeccable timing, National Steel Car began business with a large number of box car orders from Canadian Pacific Railway, and various railcar orders from Canadian Northern Railway. In 1919, Donald Symington of Baltimore and Robert Magor of Magor Car made an offer on the company, and from there on it was reorganized as National Steel Car Corporation Limited. [4]
Business at National Steel Car boomed from the beginning of its life until just before the depression period of the 1930s. During the depression, National Steel Car was falling behind in terms of diversity in comparison to its competitors, and suffered a severe lack of orders. At one point the company resorted to producing motor trucks, bus bodies, and outboard motor boats, just so they had orders to fill. World War II renewed National Steel Car's business, and the company has been in a relatively healthy state for most of its life since. It shares nearly all Canadian rolling stock orders with Eastern Car Company. National Steel Car also exports to the United States regularly, more so in the later years of its life. [4]
In 1962, Dofasco bought National Steel Car, but by 1990 it had effectively given up control of the declining company, and in 1994 they sold it to Hamilton corporation National Industries Inc., owned by Greg Aziz. [5] [6] By the year 2000, Aziz had increased National Steel Car's workforce from 500 to 3,000 employees and its production capacity from 3,500 to 12,500 rail cars annually. Today, National Steel Car makes and supplies various rolling stock to Canadian and American customers, mainly railway operators and commercial rail operators. [7]
Originally named Imperial Steel Car, the name was changed before the end of 1912. [8]
Today National Steel Car is one of a few remaining rolling stock companies left in Canada.
The following are past and present products made by National Steel Car. [8]
National Steel Car has focused on freight car production since the 1960s and was the second largest car builder in 1950s.
National Steel Car has manufactured various railcar and non-rail products.
Up until 1950 National Steel Car made wood and steel railcars. In 1945 it acquired Valdes Lumber Company of British Columbia to supply wood for their railcar products.
In 1939 an aircraft division was setup to produce aircraft and aircraft components. The Malton plant produced Westland Lysander aircraft under licence and was a subcontractor for the manufacture of Hawker Hurricane fighters (for Canadian Car and Foundry), Avro Anson trainers (Canadian Federal Aircraft Ltd.) and Handley Page Hampden bombers (as part of Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium). In September 1941 it received a contract to build the Avro Lancaster four-engined bomber. The aircraft plant was taken over by the government and set up as Victory Aircraft in November 1942.
Prior to 1995 National Steel Car's focus was within Canada, but since the 1990s it has focused elsewhere in North America, namely the United States.
National Steel Car is one of a few rail vehicle manufacturers left in Canada:
Avro Canada was a Canadian aircraft manufacturing company. It was founded in 1945 as an aircraft plant and within 13 years became the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000. Avro Canada was best known for the CF-105 Arrow, but through growth and acquisition, it rapidly became a major, integrated company that had diverse holdings.
A railroad car, railcar, railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck, also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a vehicle used for the carrying of cargo or passengers on a rail transport network. Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more locomotives, form a train. Alternatively, some passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single railcars or make up multiple units.
Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of only two such major British companies in the 1960s. In 1977, Hawker Siddeley became a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace (BAe). Hawker Siddeley also operated in other industrial markets, such as locomotive building and diesel engine manufacture. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Malton is a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located to the northwest of Toronto.
ACF Industries, originally the American Car and Foundry Company, is an American manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once (1925–54) a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of (first) ACF and (later) ACF-Brill. Today, the company is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri. It is owned by investor Carl Icahn.
Victory Aircraft Limited was a Canadian manufacturing company that, during the Second World War, built mainly British-designed aircraft under licence. It acted as a shadow factory, safe from the reach of German bombers.
The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, interurbans, trolleybuses and locomotives. It operated from 1887 to 1974 and was based in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Canadian Car & Foundry Company, Limited was a manufacturer of buses, railway rolling stock, forestry equipment, and later aircraft for the Canadian market. CC&F history goes back to 1897, but the main company was established in 1909 from an amalgamation of several companies and later became part of Hawker Siddeley Canada through the purchase by A.V. Roe Canada in 1957. Today the remaining factories are part of Alstom after its acquisition of Bombardier Transportation completed in 2021.
The Ottawa Car Company was a builder of streetcars for the Canadian market and was founded in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1891 as an outgrowth of the carriage building operations of William W. Wylie. Its plant was located at Kent and Slater Streets, a short distance from Parliament Hill. The company was a subsidiary of Ottawa Electric Railway, in turn controlled by Ahearn & Soper.
Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s.
GE Capital Rail Services, also known as GE Railcar, or GE Railcar Services Corporation was a business unit of GE Capital, a division of General Electric. It was a distinct business unit from General Electric's railway locomotive manufacturer.
Essex Terminal Railway is a Canadian shortline terminal railroad, running from the City of Windsor, Ontario through LaSalle, to Amherstburg, Ontario, for a distance of approximately 21 miles (34 km). ETR has direct connections to Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian National Railway and CSX. ETR is owned by Essex Morterm Holdings. Founded in 1902, it is one of the oldest existing railways in Canada.
Derby Litchurch Lane Works, formerly Derby Carriage and Wagon Works, is a railway rolling stock factory in Derby, England. It is presently owned by the multinational transportation manufacturer Alstom.
This article describes the Economic History of Hamilton, Ontario.
The Greenbrier Companies is an American publicly traded transportation manufacturing corporation based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States. Greenbrier specializes in transportation services, notably freight railcar manufacturing, railcar refurbishment and railcar leasing/management services. The company is one of the leading designers, manufacturers and marketers of rail freight equipment in North America and Europe. It also has operations in South America, Poland, Romania and Turkey. Greenbrier is a leading provider of railcars, wheelsets, parts, management, leasing and other services to the railroad and related transportation industries in North America. As of August 31, 2021, Greenbrier employs 15,400 people across its global operations. Formed in 1981 and publicly traded since 1994, the company generates revenues of US$3.49 billion.
TrentonWorks is an industrial manufacturing facility located in the town of Trenton, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR) is a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Douai, France. In 2010 the company was acquired by Titagarh Wagons and renamed AFR Titagarh.
Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation was a Canadian crown corporation owned by the Government of Saskatchewan.
Vertex Railcar was a jointly owned Chinese-American manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. It was founded in 2014 and operated a facility in Wilmington, North Carolina that builds freight railcars. The manufacturer closed operations at end of 2018.