Atlas Car and Manufacturing Company
Encyclopedia
The Atlas Car and Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of small railroad locomotive
s. The company was based in Cleveland, OH, building equipment from 1896 through the 1960s.
Atlas specialized in the building of small locomotives and purpose built rail borne equipment for industrial use. The equipment it manufactured seldom ran on the rails of Class I railroad
s, but were often used to shuttle freight cars around inside manufacturing plants. Atlas's products ranged from small 2-ton end cab switchers up to 65-ton center cab switchers. They also built a wide variety of equipment for the steel industry including blast furnace
transfer cars, scale cars and self propelled flatcars.
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s. The company was based in Cleveland, OH, building equipment from 1896 through the 1960s.
Atlas specialized in the building of small locomotives and purpose built rail borne equipment for industrial use. The equipment it manufactured seldom ran on the rails of Class I railroad
Class I railroad
A Class I railroad in the United States and Mexico, or a Class I rail carrier in Canada, is a large freight railroad company, as classified based on operating revenue.Smaller railroads are classified as Class II and Class III...
s, but were often used to shuttle freight cars around inside manufacturing plants. Atlas's products ranged from small 2-ton end cab switchers up to 65-ton center cab switchers. They also built a wide variety of equipment for the steel industry including blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
transfer cars, scale cars and self propelled flatcars.