The Canadian Car & Foundry Company, Limited, and from 1957 onwards the Canadian Car Company Limited, was a manufacturer of

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es,

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

, 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 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. History Founded in 1962 as the Canadian divis ...

through the purchase by A.V. Roe Canada in 1957. Today the remaining factories are part of

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

after its acquisition of

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...

completed in 2021. Press release from Alstom on the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation

History

Canadian Car & Foundry (CC&F) was established in 1909 in Montreal as the result of an amalgamation of three companies: * Rhodes Curry Company of Amherst, NS - founded 1891 * Canada Car Company of Turcot, QC - founded 1905 * Dominion Car and Foundry of

Montreal, QC Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

In 1911 the CC&F

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

recognized that the company could improve its efficiency if they were able to produce their own steel castings, a component that was becoming common to all their products. They purchased Montreal Steel Works Limited at

Longue-Pointe Longue-Pointe () was a Montreal List of neighbourhoods in Montreal, neighbourhood now located in the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The neighborhood was permanently divided by the construction of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge-Tu ...

, the largest producer of steel castings in Canada, and the Ontario Iron & Steel Company, Ltd. at Welland, ON, which included both a steel foundry and a rolling mill. Buses and Forestry Equipment were produced at

Fort William, Ontario Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. Incorporated as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1907, it was amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre ...

and railcars in Montreal and Amherst. Streetcars were manufactured between 1897 and 1913, however the company focused exclusively on rebuilding existing streetcars after 1913. A few years later, CC&F acquired the assets of Pratt & Letchworth, a Brantford, ON, rail car manufacturer. In the latter part of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the expanding company opened a new plant in Fort William (now Thunder Bay) to manufacture rail cars and ships which included the French minesweepers ''Inkerman'' and ''Cerisoles'' which were both lost in Lake Superior; the Amherst plant started by Rhodes & Curry in Amherst was closed in 1931. In an attempt to enter the aviation market, CC&F produced a small series of Grumman G.23 Goblin aircraft under licence and developed an unsuccessful, indigenous-designed fighter biplane, the

Gregor FDB-1 The Gregor FDB-1 was a Canadian biplane fighter aircraft, fighter, designed in 1938 by Michael Gregor (aircraft engineer), Michael Gregor and manufactured by Canadian Car and Foundry. Despite having some advanced design features such as Rivet#F ...

Canada Car Company

Canada Car Company was a railcar manufacturer based in Turcot, Quebec (a suburb of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

), which later merged with several other companies to form Canadian Car and Foundry in 1909. Canada Car Company was incorporated January 1905 with W.P. Coleman as president and Sir Hugh Allan as vice-president. The company's plant began operations in 1905 and manufactured freight and passenger cars. Clients included: *

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

and

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National ...

- 12,000 freight cars and 250 passenger cars (wood) * Quebec, Montreal & Southern - 1,500 steel underframe box cars with Dominion Car and Foundry * Montreal Street Railway - 10 streetcars * Hart-Otis Car Company - Hart convertible ballast cars *

- 30 steel underframe flat cars * Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway - three parlour-cafe cars *

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

- four wooden dining cars Their products were: * wood freight and passenger cars * box cars * streetcars * flat cars * parlor cafe cars * dining cars

First World War

During World War I, CC&F had signed large contracts with Russia and Britain for delivery of ammunition. An enormous factory was constructed in the Kingsland to assemble, package, and prepare artillery shells for shipment to foreign ports. No shells were manufactured there. On 11 January 1917, a fire started in one of the buildings. In four hours, the fire spread to the approximately 500,000 pieces of explosive

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

s stored there, causing several explosions, destroying the entire plant. The explosion launched artillery shells and building debris across the area, destroying several homes and businesses in the nearby town of

Lyndhurst, New Jersey Lyndhurst is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 22,519, an increase of 1,965 (+9.6%) from the 2010 Uni ...

, and was visible from New York City. The total loss, including the ordnance, was estimated at $16,750,000 (equivalent to $ million in ). Canadian Car and Foundry had a contract to build 12 ''Navarin''-class minesweepers for the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. The vessels were completed in the fall of 1918—before the war ended, but too late to see operational service. Two of the vessels, the ''Inkerman'' and ''Cerisoles'', were lost in a November gale, on

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

, on their maiden voyage. Other vessels were sold into civilian service. The government of the

Russian Soviet Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

ordered 500 bogie tank cars. They were shipped from Montreal to

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk (, ; ) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities designated by the Soviet Union as a Hero City. The population was History In antiquity, the shores of the ...

Canadian Merchant Navy Canada, like several other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations, created the Canadian Merchant Navy () in a large-scale effort during World War II. A total of 12,000 men and women served in Canada's Merchant Navy. By war's end, 1,500 Can ...

steamships at the end of 1921.

Second World War

By 1939, with war on the horizon, Canadian Car & Foundry and its Chief Engineer,

Elsie MacGill Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill (March 27, 1905November 4, 1980), known as the "Queen of the Hawker Hurricane, Hurricanes", was a Canadian engineer. She was chief aeronautical engineer at Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontari ...

, were contracted by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

to produce the

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

(Marks X, XI and XII). Refinements introduced by MacGill on the Hurricane included skis and de-icing gear. When the production of the Hurricane was complete in 1943, CC&F's workforce of 4,500 (half of them women) had built over 1,400 aircraft, about 10% of all Hurricanes built. Documentary film on the wartime role of women workers at Fort William. Following the success of the Hurricane contract, CC&F sought out and received a production order for the

Curtiss SB2C Helldiver The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few su ...

. Eventually, 834 Helldivers were produced by CC&F in various versions from SBW-1, SBW-1B, SBW-3,SBW-4E and SBW-5. Some of the Curtiss divebombers were sent directly to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

under

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

arrangements. CC&F also built the

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft, which was used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Ro ...

under licence, many of the aircraft being supplied to European air forces to train post war military pilots. In 1944, the Canadian Car & Foundry built a revolutionary new aircraft in its Montreal shops - the Burnelli CBY-3, also called the ''Loadmaster''. There were two examples built of an aerofoil-fuselage design originally developed by Vincent J. Burnelli. The CBY-3 was never to enter full-scale production and was cancelled less than one year later. The work of Canadian women building fighter and bomber aircraft at the plant during the Second World War is documented in the 1999

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

documentary film '' Rosies of the North''.

Postwar developments

After the Second World War, the CC&F returned to its roots as a rail car manufacturer. They also made a successful leap into the streetcar business, supplying Montreal, Toronto, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, and the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo with various types of streetcars. The company concluded a licensing agreement with ACF-Brill (the successor to J. G. Brill) in 1944 to manufacture and sell throughout Canada buses and trolley coaches of ACF-Brill design as Canadian Car-Brill, in later years often written "CCF-Brill", for short. CC&F built 1,114 trolley buses and a few thousand buses under the name. Trolleybus production ended in 1954;

Edmonton Transit System The Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) (previously known as Edmonton Transit System) is the public transit service owned and operated by the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. It operates Edmonton's bus and light rail systems. In , the system had ...

's No. 202, a 1954 CCF-Brill T48A, was the last Brill trolleybus built for any city. Production of the Brill diesel bus continued through the 1950s. In 1960, CC&F launched an entirely new TD bus design under the Canadian Car name to compete with the General Motors New Look model, but it was not successful and production was discontinued in 1962. In 1957, wishing to diversify, the British

Hawker Siddeley Group 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 onl ...

acquired CC&F through its Canadian subsidiary, A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. In 1962, A.V. Roe Canada was dissolved when the

Avro Arrow The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a Delta wing, delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach number, Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal ...

program was suddenly terminated, and its assets became part of

. During the 1970s they introduced the BiLevel Coach heavy railway passenger car, which would go on to great success. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the plant built 190 Canadian Light Rail Vehicles, for the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...

, to replace its aging

PCC streetcars The Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful domestically, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the world where ...

. CCF re-emerged as Can-Car Rail in 1983 as a joint division between Hawker Siddeley Canada and UTDC. The Can-Car Rail operations were based in Thunder Bay. Sold to SNC-Lavalin in 1986, a financial shakeup led to the firm being returned to the

Government of Ontario The Government of Ontario () is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. The term ''Government of Ontario'' refers specifically to the executive—political Minister ...

, and then quickly re-sold to

. Through a series of further acquisitions, mergers and rationalisations, CC&F faded from the annals of significant Canadian manufacturers, although the company still exists today as the Alstom railcar facility in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Products

Railway carriages

* railway carriages for the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

* railway carriages for the

* railway carriages for the Grand Trunk Pacific * railway carriages for the

Canadian Northern Railways The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

* railway carriages for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

* railway carriages for the

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

(some later operated by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

Rocky Mountaineer The Rocky Mountaineer is a Canadian rail-tour company based in Vancouver that operates luxury scenic trains on four rail routes in British Columbia, Alberta, Colorado, and Utah. History Via Rail Canada The Rocky Mountaineer concept was creat ...

) * bi-level carriages for

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

- with

and SNC Lavalin

Buses, trolleys and streetcars

* CCF-

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

44S motor bus (under license in Fort William) * CCF-Brill T44/T44A

trolley bus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

(under license in Fort William), 1946–54 * CCF-Brill T48/T48A/T48SP trolley bus (under license in Fort William), 1949-54 * CCF-Brill TD43 motor bus (under license in Fort William) * CCF-Brill TD51 motor bus (under license in Fort William) *

CN electric multiple unit The CN electric multiple units were a fleet of electric multiple unit (EMU) railcars built in 1952 by Canadian Car and Foundry (CCF) for the Canadian National Railway for use on the Deux-Montagnes line in Montreal. The cars remained in use until ...

s for use in Montreal * Presidents' Conference Committee Car A6 SE DT * Presidents' Conference Committee Car A7 SE DT * Presidents' Conference Committee Car A8 SE DT * Small Peter Witt cars with Ottawa Car Company * Large Peter Witt car and trailers with J. G. Brill and Company

Aircraft

* Avro Anson Mk.II (341 built under licence plus 800 wings and 300 fuselages.) * Avro Anson Mk.V (300 built) * Beechcraft T-34A Mentor (125 built under license, 25 for RCAF and 100 for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

) * Canadian Car and Foundry CBY-3 Loadmaster (one built) * Canadian Car and Foundry Harvard Mk.4/T-6J (555 built by CC&F post-war for RCAF and USAF for Military Defense Aid Pact) * Canadian Car and Foundry Maple Leaf Trainer I (Wallace project, one built) * Canadian Car and Foundry Maple Leaf Trainer II (one built and jigs and parts sold to Mexico where it became the Ares #2) * Canadian Car and Foundry (Curtiss) SBW Helldiver (835 built under license) *

(one built) * Grumman G.23 Goblin I/''Delfín'' (52 built under license, examples sold to

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics () and Naval Aeron ...

and

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

(RCAF)) * Hawker Hurricane Mk.X, XI & XII (1,451 built under license) *

Mk.IIB/AT-16 (1,798 built under license) * Noorduyn Norseman Mk.V (51 built after buying

Noorduyn Noorduyn is a Canadian manufacturer of aircraft products and accessories, specializing in high performance composites. It is headquartered in Montreal, and has offices worldwide serving the commercial, business and military aviation markets. T ...

out) * Noorduyn Norseman Mk.VII (1 built after extensive Can Car redesign)

Other vehicles and equipment

* Tanks for World War II *

Bobcat (armoured personnel carrier) The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus ''Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the con ...

- 1 prototype built and project terminated; originally developed by Leyland (Canada) which was bought out by Canadian Car and Foundry (itself acquired by Avro Canada) and terminated under Hawker Siddeley Canada * TreeFarmer Forestry Heavy Equipment (under license from Garrett Enumclaw Co.) *Canada Diesel and Canada Diesel WT highway tractors.

Customers

British Columbia Electric Railway The British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) was an historic railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Originally the parent company for, and later a division of, BC Electric Company (now BC Hydro), the BCER assumed cont ...

* Chambly Transport *

Hamilton Street Railway The Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) is the public transport agency for Hamilton, Ontario. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetcars. Although streetcars are no longer us ...

* Nova Scotia Light and Power Company, Limited *

Ottawa Transportation Commission Ottawa Transportation Commission was the public transit operator for the city of Ottawa from 1948 until the creation of OC Transpo in 1973. OTC took over streetcar operations from the Ottawa Electric Railway, but they were gradually abandoned for t ...

* Quebec Railway, Light and Power Company (later Québec Autobus, post–1959) *

(RCAF) *

Société de transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (, STM; ) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in the urban agglomeration of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Railwa ...

Toronto Transportation Commission Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954. H ...

(USAF)

Preservation

Many CC&F-built buses have been preserved as historic vehicles, some in operating condition. For example, the Transit Museum Society, in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, has at least seven CC&F buses in its collection, including two CC&F-Brill

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Brill Trolley

Transit Toronto All Canadian PCC

Canadian Car and Foundry Co. Collection
McGill University Library & Archives.
Canadian Car & Foundry Co. Ltd. Corporate Reports
– McGill University Library & Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Car And Foundry Foundries in Canada Former defence companies of Canada Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Canada Defunct bus manufacturers Motor vehicle assembly plants in Canada Tram manufacturers Trolleybus manufacturers Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Canada Manufacturing companies based in Montreal Hawker Siddeley Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1909 World War II military equipment of Canada Aviation history of Canada 1909 establishments in Quebec Canadian companies established in 1909 1996 disestablishments in Quebec 1909 mergers and acquisitions 1957 mergers and acquisitions

History

Canada Car Company

First World War

Second World War

Postwar developments

Products

Railway carriages

Buses, trolleys and streetcars

Aircraft

Other vehicles and equipment

Customers

Preservation

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links