American Car and Foundry (Railroad) - 1917 dated Railway Car Stock Certificate

1917, Jersey City, NJ. Preferred Stock. Neatly hole and stamp cancelled. Extremely Fine Condition. Extremely Scarce. American Car and Foundry, commonly referred to as ACF, is a prominent American manufacturer specializing in railroad rolling stock. Between 1925 and 1954, one of its subsidiaries produced motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names ACF and later ACF-Brill. Currently, the company operates as ACF Industries LLC, headquartered in St. Charles, Missouri, and is owned by investor Carl Icahn. ACF was established and incorporated in New Jersey in 1899 through the merger of thirteen smaller railroad car manufacturers.

In the same year, ACF acquired the Bloomsburg Car Manufacturing Company located in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Two years later, it expanded its portfolio by acquiring the Jackson and Sharp Company, which was founded in 1863 in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as the Common Sense Bolster Company based in Chicago, Illinois. The consolidated entity made significant investments in the former Jackson & Woodin plant in Pennsylvania, amounting to approximately $3 million. It was at this facility that ACF produced the world's first all-steel passenger car in 1904, commissioned by the Interborough Rapid Transit system of New York City, which marked the beginning of a series of 300 such cars ordered by the system. In 1903, the company also established operations overseas in Trafford Park, Manchester, UK, where it was prominently featured on a Triumphal Arch constructed for the Royal Visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. The factory buildings were later repurposed by Ford, which commenced manufacturing in Trafford Park in 1911.