Harman Patil (Editor)

Ottawa Car Company

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Founder
  
Thomas Ahearn

Headquarters
  
Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa Car Company

The Ottawa Car Company was a builder of streetcars for the Canadian market and was founded in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1891 as an outgrowth of the carriage building operations of William W. Wylie. Its plant was located at Kent and Slater Streets, a short distance from Parliament Hill. The company was a subsidiary of Ottawa Electric Railway Company, in turn controlled by Ahearn & Soper.

Contents

It was renamed Ottawa Car Manufacturing Company in 1917 and again as Ottawa Car and Aircraft Limited in 1937.

The Ahearn family retained control of the company until 1948 when they sold Ottawa Car & Aircraft Corporation (renamed during World War II) to the Mailman Corporation. The new owners never carried on the business and ceased operations as streetcars were being abandoned by cities across North America. The city of Ottawa abandoned its own streetcar network in 1959. The company produced a total of about 1700 vehicles.

On 19 August 1994 Canada Post issued 88ยข stamps featuring Ottawa Car Company Streetcar, 1894, Saint John Railway Co. Car #40.

Products

Streetcars

  • Small Peter Witt streetcars
  • Snow Sweepers
  • Interurban railcars
  • Single End Double Truck streetcar
  • Aircraft

  • produced Armstrong Whitworth Atlas and Armstrong Whitworth Siskin fighters for Armstrong Whitworth
  • produced Avro Tutor and Avro Prefect trainers for Avro
  • Armstrong Siddeley engines
  • Aircraft parts for World War II: Handley Page Hampden bombers, Hawker Hurricanes and Avro Ansons
  • bomb doors, flaps, ailerons, and elevators for Avro Lancaster bombers
  • Clients

  • Edmonton Radial Railway
  • Toronto Transportation Commission
  • Ottawa Transportation Commission (Ottawa Electric Railway Company)
  • Hamilton Street Railway (Hamilton Radial Electric Railway)
  • Winnipeg Transit
  • Montreal Street Railway
  • South Western Traction Company/London & Lake Erie Railway
  • Windsor, Essex and Lake Shore Rapid Railway
  • London Street Railway
  • Montreal Tramways Company
  • Preservation

  • Ex-Toronto Transportation Commission Peter Witt 2984 is preserved and operating at Halton County Radial Railway in Milton, Ontario.
  • Ex-Ottawa Transportation Commission series 600 streetcar 696 being preserved by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario.
  • Ex-Ottawa Transportation Commission 800 series streetcars preserved by museums in Canada:
  • Ex-Ottawa Transportation Commission Car 854 preserved by Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.
  • Ex-Ottawa Transportation Commission Car 859 preserved by Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant, Quebec.
  • Ex-Ottawa Transportation Commission 900 series street car 905 preserved and to be restored.
  • Ex Edmonton Transit System street car 1 restored and operated by Edmonton Radial Railway Society.
  • References

    Ottawa Car Company Wikipedia