| Industry | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 1887 |
| Defunct | 1973 |
| Headquarters | St. Louis, Missouri, USA |
| Area served | United States |
| Products | Railroad passenger cars, locomotives, streetcars, and trolleybuses; automobiles |
| Parent | General Steel Industries (1960–) |
The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887–1973, based in St. Louis, Missouri.
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The St. Louis Car Company was formed in April 1887, to manufacture and sell streetcars and other kinds of rolling stock of street and steam railways. In succeeding years the company built automobiles, including the American Mors, the Skelton, and the Standard Six. The St. Louis Aircraft Corporation division of the company partnered with the Hutting Sash and Door company in 1917 to produce aircraft. During the two world wars, the company manufactured gliders, trainers, Alligators, flying boats, and dirigible gondolas. Among their most successful products were the Birney Safety Car and the PCC streetcar, a design that was very popular at the time.[1]
The firm went on to build some of the vehicles used in the transit systems of New York City and Chicago, as well as the FM OP800 railcars manufactured exclusively for the Southern Railway in 1939.
In 1960, St. Louis Car Company was acquired by General Steel Industries.[2] In 1964, St. Louis Car completed an order of 430 World's Fair picture-window cars (R36 WF) for the New York City Subway and was continuing work on 162 air-conditioned aluminum cars (PA1/PA2) for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to use on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson line to New Jersey.[3] Also in the mid-1960s, the company completed building the passenger capsules, designed by Planet Corporation, to ferry visitors to the top of the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.[4]
St. Louis Car continued business until 1968 and finally ceased operations by 1973.[5] The final St. Louis Car products were R44 subway cars for the New York City Subway and Staten Island Rapid Transit, and the USDOT State of the Art Car (SOAC) rapid transit demonstrator set whose design was based on the R44.
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