American Car and Foundry Company

While whiling away a dreary afternoon at the local library, I chanced upon a trove of information regarding the now-defunct American Car and Foundry Company’s manufacturing operations in Huntington, West Virginia.

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While whiling away a dreary afternoon at the local library, I chanced upon a trove of information regarding the now-defunct American Car and Foundry Company’s manufacturing operations in Huntington, West Virginia. The plant’s origins can be traced back to November 1, 1872, when it was chartered under the name Ensign Manufacturing Company, making it nearly as venerable as the city itself.

The sprawling facility encompassed a division that produced railway freight cars, mine cars, forgings, and pressings. It also housed a railway car wheel foundry with an impressive annual capacity of 60,000 car wheels and a grey iron foundry that churned out prodigious quantities of mine car wheels and grey iron castings.

During the crucible of World War II, ACF played a vital role in furnishing equipment to allied forces across the globe, including North Africa, Egypt, Iran, Russia, Australia, and the British Isles. The company constructed 5,000 specially designed cars for the armed forces, in addition to manufacturing doors, ramps for LSTs, and myriad other miscellaneous items crucial to the war effort. In the span between the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese surrender, ACF built an astonishing 12,609 freight cars and 16,000 mine cars and delivered an incredible 367,463 tons of railroad and mine car wheels.

In 1962, ACF ushered in a revolutionary new design at its Huntington plant, swiftly becoming an industry standard. The Center-Flow covered hopper car facilitated the transport of large volumes of lightweight, high-bulk commodities such as plastic pellets. By 1992, ACF had constructed over 100,000 of these innovative cars, reaching a staggering peak production rate of 28 daily units. However, by 2001, the demand for Center-Flow cars had waned, leading to worker furloughs. The few remaining employees were tasked with manufacturing wheel pairs for tank cars produced at ACF’s Pennsylvania plant, but even this work had ceased by 2010.

Today, the once-mighty ACF plant finds itself at a crossroads. A proposed $250 million redevelopment plan envisions a baseball stadium, hotel, conference center, and commercial development adjoining Marshall University. Only time will tell if this ambitious project can breathe new life into the hallowed grounds where American manufacturing prowess once reigned supreme.

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