Records of the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works and correspondence and personal papers of General Manager Daniel A. Wightman.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of business correspondence 1895-1901 of the company, including correspondence of the General Manager, D.A. Wightman; personal papers of Mr. Daniel A. Wightman including a sketch book, 1874-76; Specifications for locomotives and tenders; price lists; locomotive cost estimates; tests; hauling capacities of locomotives; and conditions of apprenticeship. There are also as 311 blueprints of the company's designs or drawings for various sizes of locomotives.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into ten series.
Series 1: Business Correspondence
Series 2: D.A. Wightman Personal Papers
Series 3: Specifications
Series 4: Price Lists
Series 5: Estimates for Locomotive Construction
Series 6: Locomotive Tests
Series 7: Hauling Capacities of Locomotives
Series 8: Apprenticeship
Series 9: Miscellaneous Notes
Series 10 : Locomotive Designs of the Company
Biographical / Historical:
Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was founded by Andrew Carnegie and T.N. Miller in 1865. Like most other railway companies, Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was involved in designing and building light locomotive engines. Its first locomotive was finished in April, 1867, two years after the Civil War.
An energetic new superintendent, Daniel A. Wightman of Allegheny, Allegheny County, joined the company soon after its founding. The date of his employment with the company is unknown, but Wightman1s sketches of locomotives appear about 1874. In 1893, Wightman applied to the Commissioner of Patents for patent rights over his invention of an improvement in compound engines.
Wightman was the company's Superintendent and General Manager between 1895 and 1900. By the following year, 1901, the company had built a total of 2,400 locomotives. That same year, Pittsburgh Locomotive merged with a new corporation, the American Locomotive Company. The American Locomotive eventually closed the Pittsburgh plant after March, 1919.
Pittsburgh Locomotive Works was one of the first to produce really huge locomotives under Daniel A. Wightman. Many of these engines were sold to other Railway Companies throughout the United States.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Locomotives -- Design and construction -- 1874-1910 Search this
