The Standard Steel Car Company (SSC) was a manufacturer of

railroad 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) ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that existed between 1902 and 1934. Established in 1902 in

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

by John M. Hansen and "Diamond Jim" Brady, the company quickly became one of the largest builders of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

in the

. Pullman, Inc. purchased control of SSC in 1929 and merged it with Pullman Car & Manufacturing in 1934 to form Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company.

History

The overnight success of the Pressed Steel Car Company at the end of the 19th century spurred a flurry of competitors in the suddenly booming market for steel railroad cars. American Car & Foundry predecessor Michigan-Peninsular Car had produced steel frame cars beginning in 1897, American Steel Foundries produced steel cars in 1900, and the Cambria Steel Company opened a car plant at Johnstown,

in 1901. Pressed Steel Car's Chief Designer John M. Hansen and famed salesman "Diamond Jim" Brady left the company in 1901 to found SSC. With financial backing from

Andrew Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon ...

, SSC was incorporated on January 2, 1902, broke ground for its new half-mile long plant in

in April, and produced its first car ( Chesapeake & Ohio 23001) in August. Hansen's carbuilding philosophy was the opposite of Pressed Steel Car founder

Charles T. Schoen Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

's. Schoen believed that each part of a car should be cut and shaped (pressed) from

sheet steel Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil or leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 in) are considered plate, ...

to minimize weight and the need for assemblies of small parts while maximizing strength. The custom stamping dies and assemblies needed for this work were expensive and uneconomical in small quantities. Hansen preferred to use standard steel shapes that were already widely available from the

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

s at economical cost. SSC's earliest production reflected this: a

hopper with side posts made from standard channel and angle shapes became the company's signature product, building over 7,500 through 1907. Expansion was immediate. Capacity was increased first to 60 cars a day, then 125 cars a day in 1903. Production peaked at 29,411 cars in 1907, 2,836 of those built in January of that year. In October of 1907, a ladle full of 9,000 lbs. of molten steel, exploded, killing 4 workers instantly, fatally wounding 20 others, and severely injuring 10 more. SSC would bounce back from this disaster. SSC's subsidiary, Standard Car Truck Company, opened at New Castle,

in 1906, and a second SSC plant opened at Hammond,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

in 1907. Hansen established a car shop in LaRochelle,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for SSC in 1917, and SSC also controlled a plant in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

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. SSC also entered the field of

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

production in 1913 with the Standard Eight, which in 1919 had 83

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

(62 kW). Automobile production ended in 1921. "Diamond Jim" Brady died in 1917, and Hansen retired from the presidency in 1923, succeeded by Colonel James Frank Drake. Hansen stayed on as board chairman until his death in December 1929. That same month, Pullman Inc. agreed to purchase SSC for 610,000 shares of Pullman stock (worth approximately $51 million) and $6 million in cash. SSC continued to operate independently for several years as the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

brought business to an almost standstill. Merger with Pullman Car & Manufacturing in 1934 created Pullman-Standard, a second giant car builder to rival American Car & Foundry. Pullman continued to operate at Butler until it exited the

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

business in 1982, and sold the plant to Trinity Industries in 1984. Trinity Industries left the plant in 1993, and in 2005 the plant had been completely demolished. In 2011, a jumbo grain car built by Pullman-Standard in June 1974, was restored and brought to Pullman Square, to serve as a monument to the workers of Standard Steel Car Company and Pullman-Standard.

Acquisitions

Keith Car Manufacturing Company Sagamore Massachusetts

SSC gained control of a number of other car builders during its existence. * Middletown Car Works (Middletown, Pennsylvania) by 1909 * South Baltimore Car & Foundry (Baltimore, Maryland) by 1910 * Keith Car & Manufacturing Company (Sagamore, Massachusetts) by 1912 * Osgood Bradley Car Company (Worcester, Massachusetts) by 1913 * Illinois Car & Manufacturing (Chicago Heights and Hammond, Indiana) by 1928 * Richmond Car Works (Richmond, Virginia) by 1928 * Siems-Stembel Company (St. Paul, Minnesota) by 1928 * Canton Car Company (Canton, Ohio) by 1934

References

* * * * * {{Authority control Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of the United States Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Pennsylvania Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1902 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1934 1902 establishments in Pennsylvania 1934 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Butler, Pennsylvania

History

Acquisitions

See also

References