From the beginning, both intercity and transit buses were built by ACF. ACF began to capture large orders for intercity buses, especially when the National Trailways Bus System was formed.

A total of 5,738 buses were built by ACF-Brill between 1945 and 1953. The most popular models were the C-36 city bus with 1,546 sold, and the IC-41 intercity model, with 1,375 units built.

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ACF, ACF-BRILL, BRILL (U.S.) 1926-1953

(1) American Car & Foundry Co., Detroit, Mich. 1926-1932 (2) American Car & Foundry Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 1933­1953

In 1925 the American Car & Foundry Co., a large and established maker of railway passenger and freight cars, acquired the J.G. Brill Co. of Philadelphia and the Fageol Motors Co. of Ohio (see F AGEOL) in a move to diversify into the business of making city transit vehicles. Brill had been the nation's largest streetcar builder since the 1890's and had acquired the C.C. Kuhlman Co. of Cleveland ("Brill of Ohio") and the American Car ("of St. Louis, Missouri"). ACF was content to allow leadership in the declining streetcar business to pass to other hands, though streetcars continued to be built at Philadelphia until 1941.

Production of the Fageol bus was transferred from Kent, Ohio to Detroit in 1926, and the Fageol brothers be­came vice-presidents of ACF. In 1927 they left the firm when its top management expressed no interest in a radical new design of twin-engined 40-passenger city tran­sit bus; (see TWIN COACH). ACF continued to produce the Fageol bus under that name until 1929, but in 1927 a somewhat heavier and more powerful range of chassis was introduced bearing the ACF name. Many of the bodies for both city transit and parlor car versions were produced in Cleveland by the Lang Body Co.

An underfloor-engine city bus known as the "Metro­politan" was marketed in gas-mechanical and gas-electric versions from 1928 to 1932, but was not particularly successful by comparison with the Twin Coach, upon which it had been modeled. Meanwhile, steady improve­ments were made in the line of conventional chassis with six-cylinder Hall-Scott engines, resulting in a succession of changes in model designations for basically similar buses. In 1930 a smaller front-engine bus was introduced with a Hercules engine. In 1931 and 1932 approximately 25 ACF trucks were made, using Hall-Scott 160 or 175 engines.

Bus production was transferred from Detroit to Phila­delphia, the front-engine models were discontinued, and a new line of underfloor-engine transit buses was intro­duced, all in the closing months of 1932 and early 1933, when business was at a low ebb. A few operating companies purchased modified versions of these buses for intercity service. In 1937 there was a styling change in the direction of greater streamlining, and the range was broa­dened to include 26, 31, 36, 41, and 45-passenger versions.

Parlor buses in 25, 29, and 37-passenger sizes were brought back into the line and sold fairly well. All these buses used Hall-Scott engines, the largest being the 707 cu in 175 (later 180). As with all other builders, production was suspended late in 1942 so that the plant could be devoted to war work.

A few buses had been equipped with hydraulic trans­mission in the late 1930's, but ACF never had a diesel engine. After the war, production was begun on models C­36 and C-44 for city transit service and IC-41 for intercity duties. All had underfloor six-cylinder Hall-Scott engines, and beginning in 1947 the city buses were made available with Spicer hydraulic transmission. These buses were marketed under the name of ACF-Brill. In 1948 smaller city buses were offered as models C-27 and C-31, with International gas engines mounted at the rear. These were called Brills to distinguish them from the Hall-Scott group.

While still an independent streetcar builder, Brill had developed a trackless trolley (so-called "rail-less car") in 1921. The trolley-coach concept did not catch on at that time, but starting in 1930 Brill became a major producer of these vehicles. Many of their body parts were the same as those of the contemporary ACF buses, except that after the war the old design was retained for a time. The gas bus and trolley-bus businesses went into a steep de­cline together after 1950, and when General Motors intro­duced air-suspension in 1953, Brill (along with White) dropped out of the competition. MBS

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ACF Industries traces its history to 1873, the year the St. Charles Car Manufacturing Company was founded. This was one of the thirteen railroad carbuilding companies that merged in 1899 to form the American Car and Foundry Company. The country's first railroad tank car, a "tub car" was built by one of these companies in 1889. 

Five years after the 1899 merger, the first all-steel passenger car ever ordered from a car builder left our former Berwick, PA shop. It was the first of a shipment of 300 similar cars built for New York City's pioneer subway, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. By 1906, AC&F had steel shops at St. Louis, Detroit, Berwick, Huntington, and Madison, IL.

American Car and Foundry Company's reputation rapidly spread abroad and in 1905 more than 100 motor and trailer subway cars were shipped to England for use in London's underground system.

In 1917, a tank car leasing operation began which, in 1923, became Shippers Car Line, and later was acquired by AC&F in 1927. During World War I, AC&F produced artillery gun mounts and ammunition, field kitchens, pack saddles, submarine chasers, cloth shrinking machines and rollers, and even wooden tent pegs, as well as railway cars, for the Allies. AC&F's Wilmington plant also produced boats for the navy, and after the war switched production to yachts.

In 1922, AC&F expanded into the automotive field by acquiring Carter Carburetor Corporation of St. Louis. This was our first step in product diversification - planned and executed long before the diversification concept became the by-word of American industry. In 1925, AC&F acquired Fageol Motors Co, a bus builder, and the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company, which produced bus engines. In 1926, AC&F acquired the J. G. Brill Co, a streetcar builder. During World War II, several AC&F plants produced army tanks, aircraft subassemblies, artillery shells, armor plate, and hospital cars, as well as ordinary railroad cars.

By 1954, the corporation's interests had become so diversified that the name was changed from American Car and Foundry to ACF Industries Inc. ACF produced its last passenger car in 1959.

ACF's history has been chronicled in a book by employee Ed Kaminski, titled "American Car & Foundry" published by Signature Press.

www.acfindustries.com

What’s the American Car & Foundry Company (ACF Industries) doing in a website on wooden railway cars, you ask? Well, two things.

First, the American Car & Foundry Company did build cars that were made largely—if not entirely—of wood. Although by 17 March 1899, when AC&F came into being at New York City, a few all-steel cars were being built, most cars were still built largely of wood, though with an ever-increasing amount of steel. Hopper cars were early made entirely of steel, with gondola and flat cars following (though with wood floors). House cars first had steel frames with wooden sheathing. It would be almost the time of the 1st World War before the majority of box cars, tank cars and passenger cars were made entirely of steel.
 

The second reason the American Car & Foundry Company belongs here is that it was where a lot of the wooden car builders went. There were 13 independent car builders consolidated into AC&F in 1899.  During the previous year, those 13 had accounted for 53% of all freight cars built outside the railroads’ own shops. The following table shows the make-up of AC&F:
 

Additional companies were added in ensuing years such that there were 18 by 1920. These were —

American Car & Foundry invested heavily in the Berwick, PA, plant (formerly Jackson & Woodin). About three million dollars were spent on the purchase of additional land, erection of additional buildings and installation of machinery. By 1902 the Berwick plant had 2,600 employees, with a payroll of $140,000 a month, and a prospect of adding 2,400 more employees when the new facilities then being erected were completed.

In 1904, the Berwick plant built the first ever all-steel passenger car. It was the first of a 300 car order for New York City’s IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) subway line.  The following year 36 motor cars and 72 trailers were built for the London underground. By then, AC&F had steel shops at St. Louis, MO, Detroit, MI, Huntington, WV, and Madison, IL, as well as at Berwick. In 1907, the Berwick plant employed 5,700.
 

By early 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad had completed plans for an 80-foot, 88-passenger car that eliminated all wood except for the seat armrests and a few other incidental parts. The first order would be for 200 of these cars, and American Car and Foundry received the bulk of this order. John White says, “This, the first large-scale commitment, truly opened the age of the steel passenger car.”

But American Car and Foundry would continue building wooden and composite cars for at least another year. In 1911, AC&F’s Jeffersonville, IN, plant (formerly Ohio Falls Car Co.) built 100 wooden coaches for the New York Central. But the last car of this order “was the last new wooden car acquired by a major domestic railroad.”

During the 1st World War, American Car & Foundry produced artillery gun mounts and ammunition, field kitchens, pack saddles, submarine chasers, cloth shrinking machines and rollers, and even wooden tent pegs, as well as railway cars, for the Allies. AC&F’s Wilmington, DE, plant (formerly Jackson & Sharp) also produced boats for the navy, and after the war switched production to yachts.

By the early 1920s, American Car & Foundry owned 16 plants in nine states. Some were huge factories, like Berwick, capable of building almost any type of car, while others were very specialized.

In 1922, American Car & Foundry expanded into the automotive field by acquiring Carter Carburetor Corporation of St. Louis.

In 1924 (31 March), American Car & Foundry acquired Pacific Car & Foundry of Seattle.

In 1925, American Car & Foundry acquired Fageol Motors Co, a bus builder, and the Hall-Scott Motor Car Companyof Berkeley, CA, which produced bus engines.

In 1926, American Car & Foundry acquired the J. G. Brill Company, a streetcar builder.

In 1927, American Car & Foundry acquired Shippers Car Line, a tank car leasing operation begun in 1917.

When the 2nd World War began in Europe on 1 September 1939, the Berwick plant began building tanks for the United States government. On 2 August 1941, the 1000th tank rolled off the assembly line. One source says Berwick produced 15,000 tanks, and was the largest producer of armor plate in the world. Other AC&F plants produced tanks, aircraft subassemblies, artillery shells, armor plate, and hospital cars, as well as ordinary railroad cars.

In 1944, the Brill interests were merged into ACF-Brill Motors, Inc.

By 1954, the corporation’s interests had become so diversified that the name was changed from American Car & Foundry to ACF Industries, Inc. ACF produced its last passenger car in 1959.

William Keeny Bixby (1857-1931) is credited with forming the American Car & Foundry Company. Born in Adrian, MI, he began his railway career in 1870 as a night watchman and baggage man for the International Great Northern Railroad at Palestine, Texas. He was soon promoted to the post of general baggage agent in San Antonio. He next moved to St. Louis, where he became printing and stationery buyer for all the Gould lines. After several years he became a lumber agent for the Missouri Car & Foundry Company of St. Louis. He was promoted to Vice-President within two years and later became its President.

As head of Missouri Car & Foundry, Bixby engineered a consolidation with the Michigan-Peninsular Car Company of Detroit, then added 12 other independent car builders to become the American Car & Foundry Company, of which he was the first President, serving from 1899 to 1901. He thereafter became Chairman of the Board, then retired in 1905.

Not one to be idle, Bixby then earned two college degrees (L.L.D. [law] degree from the University of Missouri 1907, M.A. at Amherst College in 1913); was a Charter Member at the Incorporation of the American Red Cross; served as Receiver for the Wabash Railroad from 1909 to 1914; and participated in a number of educational and philanthropic enterprises.

He was Honorary president of the Provident Association and the Archaeological Society (both of St. Louis). For a time he served as President of the City Art Museum and of Washington University, and directed St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis. In Washington, D.C., he was affiliated with the American Federation of Art, served as a trustee for the Y.W.C.A. Endowment Fund, Girls' Industrial Home. He also directed the National Gallery of Art (now the National Museum of American Art).

It is interesting that American Car & Foundry Company; A Centennial History, 1899-1999 by Edward S. Kaminsky (a) makes no mention whatsoever of William Bixby, (b) mentions Missouri Car & Foundry only three times and that just in regard to the origin of its St. Louis plant, and (c) attributes the “origin” of ACF to the founding in 1840 of Jackson & Woodin at Berwick, PA, a location of which it seems quite proud. How quickly we forget ...

Bibliographic References
Who Was Who in America. Vol. I (1897-1942). Chicago, 1943: 99-100.

For more information -

Kaminsky, Edward S. American Car & Foundry Company 1899-1999 (Berkeley, CA: Signature Press, 1999)

A sweeping view of the work and products of American Car & Foundry, celebrating the company’s Centennial in 1999. Long on photos of 20th century freight cars, distinctly short on company history. 1260 photographs (and that’s no typo!), a few drawings, index, 376 pp.

Online —

“Jackson & Sharp Car Company and American Car & Foundry Company Records, 1884 - 1948.” National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution).

“Register of the William Keeney Bixby Papers.” Washington University in St. Louis.

"Guide to the Archival Collections at the Missouri Historical Society St. Louis, Missouri." A0027 / American Car and Foundry (Saint Louis, Mo.) / Records. 1940-1970. 9 boxes (9.0 linear ft.).

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"A Look at the Legendary ACF-Brill Buses"

The "Brills" were a unique aspect of the Baltimore Transit picture of the late 1940's.  In an NCL-Dominated organization, the Brills were a change from the prototypical GM standards rapidly emerging as the sole vehicle of choice among NCL properties - a quirky testament seen by many as part of Baltimore's determination to be unique in an era when most National City Lines outfits were following the conversion program to a strictly regimented uniformity.  They were in some cases the only postwar buses that any streetcar fan could hold a mild liking for, as they were products from a J.G. Brill descendant, as well as something of an Anti-NCL bus if anything could be considered so.
 

In the closing days of, and following World War II, BTC embarked on a plan to convert 58% of its streetcar trackage to bus (and trackless trolley) routes.  This would generally involve the conversion of lighter to medium density lines, such as routes 1-11, 2, 5-33, 6, 16, 17, 20, 25, 29, 30, and 34.  This ambitious maneuver would be no minor undertaking, as it would require some full scale changes in equipment, as well as facilities.

General Motors found itself swamped with diesel bus orders following the War.  At first, BTC placed orders in July of 1946 for 400 GM Diesels, at a cost of $14,990 each.  For reasons that have never been completely explained, this order would later be rescinded, and a follow up order would be placed on August 9th for only 200 GM coaches at a slightly higher cost.  Though the indications from GM seem to indicate that they were willing to deliver the original order in a timely manner, this may not necessarily be so.  However, it may more likely be that the size of the GM order was contingent on a more rapid conversion plan, which wound up having a harder time making it through the PSC hearings than the NCL backed BTC management had originally hoped.  Thus, they may have decided to be more conservative in their order, instead of having a glut of new buses with no place to assign them.

When it was finally decided to go ahead and purchase an additional 200 coaches the next year, the order was placed with ACF-Brill in what was thought a surprising move by many.  Perhaps by this time, the GM plant was overburdened with orders, or just maybe, NCL, sensing legal inquiries into the then-alleged NCL trust, placed the order with Brill as a means of throwing off the otherwise familiar pattern.

Interestingly, the Brill coaches were not diesel, but rather gasoline powered, observing another departure from the postwar trend towards large diesel powered coaches.  The ACF's were almost every bit as capacious as the GM's then being produced, seating just one less person, and offered a fresh change from the GM standard body design ubiquitous in the postwar period.  The design carried more glass than the GM body, letting more light from outside illuminate the coach, as well as offering slightly better visibility to the Operator.

Before delivery however, the Brill order's numbers had been reduced to 162 units, perhaps due to BTC reassessing its equipment needs, possibly as a result of declining ridership following the war.  Throughout 1948, the first 160 buses, numbered 2500-2659, began to be delivered to the BTC, followed in 1949 by coaches 2660 and 2661 which rounded out the order.  Their first use was in June of 1948, when Streetcar route #5-33 was converted to bus operation, numbered 5-7.  This move would prove to benefit BTC in some interesting ways.  First, the car line had been converted as desired by BTC.  In addition, the replacement line would be quartered at Belvedere "Car House", whose bus facilities were only set up to accomodate Gasoline coaches at that time.  Thus, little facility modification was required to accomodate this conversion.
 

Though the 5-7 was the largest single line using the Brills, other lines would become Brill mainstays in the early years of the coaches.  By 1950, Brills were familiar sights on routes 3, 25, 29, and 36.  By 1951, they could also be spotted on occasion on routes 22, 44, 53, and 56.  As the 1950's progressed, the Brills would find their way throughout the system, as by 1957, each division had a quantity of Brill buses - EXCEPT FOR HARFORD ROAD, which never rostered the coaches.  As a result, they would find their way onto routes such as the 6, 20, and 23.

By the advent of the 1960's however, the Brills began to become less useful to the BTC - orphans in an ever increasingly Diesel, increasingly GM fleet.  Their Gas engines were worn, but continued to soldier on, as 153 of the coaches remained on the roster 16 years after delivery in mid-1964. However, their numbers would rapidly dwindle as the BTC continued to press on the onslaught of orders of Diesel powered "New-Look" coaches during the mid-1960's.  By the end of 1964, Retreat's Brills had moved on to either retirement or reassignment at other bases.  By the middle of 1965, the roster of brills showed a gap-toothed pattern in which only 95 coaches lingered on.  Though 1966 was relatively quiet for Brill retirements, the final blow would come for certain in 1967, as the GM built 2200s were delivered.  Kirk Division would be the next all-diesel facility starting in March of 1967, followed quickly by both Bush and Eastern Divisions once the school year ended, relaxing the vehicle requirements.  Effective July 1, 1967, the Baltimore Transit fleet was, for the first time in its history, both 100% bus, AND 100% diesel as well.

Still, there are numerous recollections of the quirky fleet of gasoline transit buses that boomed and banged their way across the city, unique to the National City Lines operation as the Baltimore system itself was.

For more information please read:

www.acfindustries.com

www.ironhorse129.com

Ed Strauss & Karen Strauss - The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Donald F. Wood - American Buses

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Susan Meikle Mandell - A Historical Survey of Transit Buses in the United States

David Jacobs - American Buses, Greyhound, Trailways and Urban Transportation

William A. Luke & Linda L. Metler - Highway Buses of the 20th Century: A Photo Gallery 

William A. Luke & Brian Grams - Buses of Motorcoach Industries 1932-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Greyhound Buses 1914-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Prevost Buses 1924-2002 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Flxible Intercity Buses 1924-1970 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Buses of ACF Photo Archive (including ACF-Brill & CCF-Brill)

William A. Luke - Trailways Buses 1936-2001 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Fageol & Twin Coach Buses 1922-1956 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Yellow Coach Buses 1923 Through 1943: Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Trolley Buses: 1913 Through 2001 Photo Archive

Harvey Eckart - Mack Buses: 1900 Through 1960 Photo Archive

Brian Grams & Andrew Gold - GM Intercity Coaches 1944-1980 Photo Archive

Robert R. Ebert  - Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company

John McKane - Flxible Transit Buses: 1953 Through 1995 Photo Archive

Bill Vossler - Cars, Trucks and Buses Made by Tractor Companies

Lyndon W Rowe - Municipal buses of the 1960s

Edward S. Kaminsky - American Car & Foundry Company 1899-1999

Dylan Frautschi - Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots and Post Houses