| Cincinnati Car Company | |
|---|---|
Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad Red Devil #121 "The Columbus Rocket". |
|
| Formation | 1902 |
| Extinction | 1938 |
| Type | Private |
| Legal status | Corporation |
| Purpose/focus | Manufacturing |
| Location | Cincinnati, Ohio |
Cincinnati Car Company or Cincinnati Car Corporation was a subsidiary of Ohio Traction Company. It designed and constructed interurban cars, streetcars and (in smaller scale) buses. It was founded in 1902 in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1928, it bought the Versare Car Company.
The company was among the first to make lightweight cars. Its chief engineer Thomas Elliot designed the curved-side car, a lightweight model that used curved steel plates (not conventional flat steel plates) in body construction. Instead of the floor, the side plates and side sills bore the bulk of the weight load. Longitudinal floor supports were no longer needed, which made the cars lighter than conventional cars. The first cars of this type were sold in 1922.[1] For instance, the Red Devil weighted only 22 tons.[2] Curved-side cars were also called "Balanced Lightweight Cars".[3]
In 1929, the company introduced the high-speed interurban Red Devil railcar. Twenty were sold to Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad. The Red Devil, whose commercial speed was up to 90 mph (140 km/h), was a forerunner of the high-speed trains. Both the carbodies and trucks were well adapted for high-speed running on rough tracks.[4]
Cincinnati Car Company ceased operations in 1938, but several of its original streetcars are preserved, for instance at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum and the Seashore Trolley Museum.
J.L.Koffmann 1980: Der Rollenstromabnehmer in Amerika. Der Stadtverkehr 4/1980, s. 182-184.