Ralston Steel Car Company factory

"Photograph showing the interior of the Punch, Shear Fitting and Erection Shop of the Ralston Steel Car Company located on Cassady Avenue, east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The Ralston Steel Company was founded by Joseph S. Ralston and Anton Becker in 1905, when the men bought the former plant of the Rarig Engineering Company on the east side of Columbus. The increasing power of steam locomotives drove demand for the all-steel cars they manufactured, and the company was extremely successful with their drop-bottom general purpose gondola car. These cars had bottom pans that would drop down, allowing coal to pour out instead of the traditional method using shovels and wheelbarrows. This allowed for automatic unloading of coal and hopper cars which led to more efficient production. With the exception of the Great Depression, Ralston experienced a successful run until the 1950s, when demand for freight trains dropped after World War II. The company shut its doors in 1953."

Date

1935–1943

Photographer / author

Ohio Federal Writers' Project

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

image

Original size

5,972 × 4,968 pixels

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