Ralston Steel Car Company forge shop

"The photograph shows the interior of the Ralston Steel Car Company forge shop in Columbus, Ohio. Railroad tracks run down the center of the building with large machines and forges on either side. 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

6,063 × 4,896 pixels

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