Union Tank Car Company
Encyclopedia
Reporting mark
A reporting mark is a two-, three-, or four-letter alphabetic code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on the North American railroad network. The marks are stenciled on each piece of equipment, along with a one-to-six-digit number, which together uniquely...
) is a railway equipment leasing company (and car maintenance / manufacturing) headquartered in metro Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. As the name says, they specialise in tank car
Tank car
A tank car is a type of railroad rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities.-Timeline:...
s, and covered hopper
Covered hopper
A Covered Hopper is a railroad freight car. They are designed for carrying dry bulk loads, varying from grain to products such as sand and clay. The cover protects the loads from the weather - dried cement would be very hard to unload if mixed with water in transit, while grain would be liable to...
cars.
Founded in 1866 by J. J. Vandergrift, in response to the economic activities of Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
, as of September 2005, according to their site, they have about 80,000 cars in their fleet.
Vandergrift was involved in the conflicts in the oil regions of Western Pennsylvania in the 1860s–1870s. Eventually, Union Tank Car Company and his other holdings, which included pipeline and riverboat transport companies, merged with the company that later became Standard Oil. Rockefeller, once Captain Vandergrift's nemesis, made him Vice President of Standard Oil.
Captain Jacob J. Vandergrift also had a town built and named in his honor by George G. McMurtry in Western Pennsylvania in 1895.
TransUnion
TransUnion
TransUnion is the third largest credit bureau in the United States, which offers credit-related information to potential creditors. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers.- History :...
was formed as a holding company in 1968, and began acquiring credit bureaus. The Marmon Group
Marmon Group
Marmon Group is a United States holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.Marmon Group owns companies that produce electrical components, industrial components and transportation equipment, and provide services including construction and retail solutions.- History :In 1953 Jay Pritzker and...
acquired TransUnion in 1981.
Union Tank Car Company is still owned by Marmon. In 2008 60% of Marmon Holdings itself has been acquired by Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. The company averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3% to its shareholders for the last 44 years,...
, with the remaining 40% to be acquired in the next five to seven years.
External links
- UTLX corporate site
- http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2884.html Chicago History thumbnail
- http://www.vvmhs.com/ Victorian Vandergrift Museum and Historical Society site
- http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com Alle-Kiski Today (Western Pennsylvania regional magazine)