The Richmond Locomotive and Machine Company, of Richmond, Va., was the only locomotive manufacturing plant in the South. When it was established, in 1865, it was in tended for the manufacture of plantation and saw-mill machinery, and it was not until many years later that it began to build street cars— horse cars at first, and, finally, motor cars. In 1889 the company secured a contract from the government to build the machinery for the new battleship Texas, and, although this work was successfully completed, the concern has since devoted its attention almost exclusively to the making of locomotives.
The Dickson Manufacturing Company, of Scranton, Pa., was establishc 1 in 1862, and, ever since that time, the concern has been suc cessful manufacturers of locomotives and min ing machinery, operating two separate estab lishments in Scranton for these purposes. The locomotive works were acquired by the Ameri can Locomotive Company in 1901.
The Manchester Locomotive Works, of Man chester, N. H., have been prominently identified with the locomotive building industry since they were established, in 1854, by Aretas Blood, one of the pioneers in engine construction.
The works of the H. K. Porter Company at Pittsburgh, Pa., were established by the firm of Smith and Porter, in 1866. Later the concern was known as Porter, Bell and Company. Al though locomotive builders in the strict appli cation of the term, their efforts have been de voted exclusively to such lines as light loco motives for use in mines, manufacturing estab lishntents and for all kinds of contractors' and construction work.
A concern which has attained considerable prominence in locomotive building, especially during the past few years, is the Lima Locomo tive Corporation of Lima, Ohio. This com pany built its first locomotive in 1879, at which time it was known as The Lima Machine Works, and made a specialty of saw-mill ma chinery. In 1880 a geared locomotive was con structed in accordance with patents granted to Ephrarin Shay, a Michigan lumberman. This type proved especially suitable for work on heavy grades, sharp curves and uneven tracks: and large numbers of Shay geared locomotives have been built, the great majority of them for logging service. The company was sub sequently reorganized as the Lima Locomotive Corporation and new shops were built and were equipped to handle the heaviest kind of locomo tive work. - With its present facilities, the com pany is successfully building all sizes of both geared and direct connected locomotives, from light engines for 'contractors' or industrial service, up to the heaviest classes of motive power for trunk line railways.
From the figures covering annual i produc tion which have already been given, t is not difficult to estimate that the aggregate capacity of the locomotive manufacturing establishments of the country, not including the railroad shops and the shops not regularly engaged in this business, is in excess of 5,000 locomotives. Of course, the demand for such machines varies from time to time, being dependent upon two factors: (1) The general prosperity of the country, a condition upon which the volume of freight to he transported, which is the basis of railroad earnings, so largely depends, and (2) the mileage of new lines under construction, the completion of which means new equipment. These two factors are really one, as new lines are scarcely ever built in those periods of financial stagnation when the people are hoard ing their money and capitalists are too timid to venture to encroach upon their principal. As a result, business prosperity in the locomotive manufacturing industry is intermittent. As the average life of a locomotive is about 20 years, it requires an annual production of some 2,500 machines to supply the demand due to natural conditions; and as the locomotive shops of the country possess a capacity of about twice that number of engines, the difference between these 2,500 and the total production of all the Ameri can works must find an outlet through one of these three channels: They must he used in the equipment of new lines; in the improvement and extension of old lines, or they must be ex ported to other countries. The following table shows the total production from 1898 to 1915 as well as the number exported to other lands than Canada of Mexico.
Beginning with 1905, the figures for total production include the Canadian output; and beginning with 1912, they also include locomo tives built in railroad company's shops. Sta tistics published by the Interstate Commerce Commission show the number of locomotives in service on railroads in the United States to he as follows: 1908, 56,733; 1909, 57,212; 1910, 58,947; 1911, 61,327; 1912, 62,262; 1913, 63,378; 1914, 64,760. Recent statistics covering the number of men employed in the locomotive building industry are difficult to obtain. In 1905, this number was approximately 40,000; and their wages amounted to fully $25,000,000 per annum. At the present time the total value of the products of the locomotive building es tablishments in the United States, when op erating at full capacity, would annually be about $110P00,000.