Delaware Car Company

Does anyone know if Delaware car Company just outside of Wilmington station still refurbishes some of Amtrak's equipment. I went by there the other day and saw 2 Amfleet scrap cars on the shop lead.

hiya amtbuff, I'm sure Delaware car company does work for amtrak. Septa sure does keep them busy and I have seen mbta cars there. I haven't seen any amfleet cars there but rather shells for unfinished spv cars sitting along side. Could this be what you saw? Take notice to the cut up pieces of cta car alongside the shop.

Is this just North of the station on the west side of the tracks? I was wondering why I could see a ew cars from the main street, but couldn't get close enough for a better look.

A predecessor concern, Mechtron Industries, did Amtrak refurbishment work of cars acquired from the railroads (Heritage Fleet) at that facility.

The so called Amfleets you saw are two or three SPV shells bought during bankruptcy sale of Budd Company.
There is no plans for those shells.

After a review of Wikipedia material as well as my personal recollections, I can only state The Budd company did not petition for Bankruptcy protection. They did cease railcar production during 1987 and, according to Wiki, sold their railcar designs to Bombardier.

Their auto parts manufacturing activities were sold to a German diversified concern Thyssen AG and they do business in the US under the name of Budd Thyssen with HQ's in the Detroit area.

Correct the former BUDD rail division became Transit America which went bankrupt and its assets sold, including 3 shells to Deleware Car Company, one shell to MNCR.

Bump!

What do they do there exactly. And why would the MBTA send their cars there?

Here is a history of the business activity at the site currently occupied by Delaware Car Company:

• The Delaware Car Company property has an extensive industrial history involving metal
  working dating to the early 1800’s. Lobdell Car Wheel operated on the property from
  1836 to 1884, and was the largest producer of iron wheels in the United States at the time
  of its operation. A fire destroyed the plant in 1853, but it was immediately rebuilt and
  enlarged. Between 1884 and 1937 the property was owned by corporations which
  manufactured nuts and bolts. By 1937, Benjamin F. Shaw Steam Piping Contractors had
  considerably expanded the complexes of buildings, and utilized the property until the
  early 1970’s for manufacturing pipes and pipe fittings. Mechtron purchased the property
  in 1974 for use as a repair facility for railroad dining cars. Mechtron also used Parcel B
  as a warehouse yard and stored hazardous substances on this portion of the property.
  Mechtron filed for insolvency on March 28, 1981. Delaware Car Corporation purchased
  the property in 1983, and sold it to Delaware Car Company in 1987.

DCC business today is that of a contact rail equipment rebuilder, they have done work for both Amtrak and various commuter agencies.

Our Mr. Deasy once had occasion to visit the facility; here are some of his observations;

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,487686

Gil,

Thanks for the info. I usually don't ride south of Claymont, and actually went into Wilmington yesterday, where I noticed a MBTA commuter rail car about 300 miles south of where it should be. I know they've had a few incidents, and if they specialize in wreck damage repair, then why not send them down. Delaware needs all the jobs they can get!

Gilbert B Norman wrote: Our Mr. Deasy once had occasion to visit the facility; here are some of his observations;

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,487686

Here are some photos of private car MOUNT VERNON (PPCX 800708) being worked on at Delaware Car Company, November 2000 - March 2001. We had them do all work required for successful completion of the Amtrak PC-2 "forty year" inspection and PC-1 annual inspection. Amtrak's PV inspectors know that Delaware Car Company does their work "by the book" and does not cut any corners, which gave all concerned a certain peace of mind knowing that whatever was required would be done properly. If you like close-up photos of doubler patched Budd side-sills and GSI OSH TFM disc brake trucks, have a look.

http://www.dominionrailvoyages.com/page2.html

They also repaired a whole train of Connecticut MU cars that didn't lower the pantographs Southbound on the old New York Central.
S.E.P.T.A. sent them 2 South Broad St. Subway cars to be cut down to flat cars, with predictable results. The body supports part of the load, so the naked floors sagged!

DutchRailnut wrote:Correct the former BUDD rail division became Transit America which went bankrupt and its assets sold, including 3 shells to Deleware Car Company, one shell to MNCR.

In order to build the Metroliners, Amfleet cars and finally the Viewliners, Budd would have fabricated a number of jigs and other special metal forming items spefically for the manufacturing run. Did Bombidier (sp) or anyone else acquire these items and does anyone know if they still exist? We talk often about building new cars, and if they were Amfleet shell type cars these items would be needed, or they would be very expensive to recreate. (I know every equipment run has modifications, but the basic jigs don't necessarly change)

Bombardier owns the plans/designs, the jigs are fairly easy to built and old jigs would probably be absolete, due to structrular changes in todays design.