Gilbert Car Company

Gilbert Car Company was a railroad car builder based in Troy, New York.[1] It began manufacturing streetcars in the late 1880s. Gilbert cars were sold and exported worldwide.[2][3][4][5][6]

Founded by Orsamus Eaton (1792–1872) and Uri Gilbert (1809–1888), the company changed names several times as the partnership changed:

• 1830 Eaton and Gilbert
• 1844 Eaton, Gilbert & Co[7]
• 1862 Uri Gilbert and Son
• 1864 Gilbert, Bush & Company[8]

Diagram of NSWGR Sleeping Car 8, built in 1880 by Gilbert Bush & Co.

• 1879 Gilbert & Bush Co
• 1882 Gilbert Car Manufacturing Co[9]
• 1889 Taylor Electric Truck Company

In 1879, Gilbert leased the Buffalo Car Works facility in Buffalo, which had a capacity of five to twelve new cars per day.[10] The Gilbert company saw some success in 1881 when it secured an order for several hundred refrigerator cars for the newly established American Refrigerator Transit Company.[11] In 1886, Gilbert leased the Jones Car Works of Schenectady.[12]

Following the Panic of 1893, and the death in March 1893 of company president Edward Gilbert, son of Uri Gilbert,[8] the company entered receivership in August 1893.[13][14][9][15] Only a few months earlier, Gilbert had completed construction of a hundred cars for New York Central Railroad passenger trains.[16] Then in 1895, the company stopped building rail cars.[1] Upon closure, the plant value was estimated at $400,000 (equivalent to $12,292,800 in 2019).[17] In 1899, the plant was rumored to be the target of acquisition for conversion into an automobile manufacturing facility.[18][19]