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Last Updated: 23 July 2025

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The Ashley, Drew and Northern Railway (reporting mark ADN) was a Class III railroad operating 40.7 miles of track between Monticello and Crossett, Arkansas. The railroad operated from 1912 until 1996.

My interest in the AD&N comes from the naming of my two children, Ashley and Andrew; didn't have a third to name Northern!

History

In 1905, the Crossett Lumber Company of Crossett, Arkansas, started its own rail line, the Crossett Railway, a 10-mile rail line that largely transported logs and lumber. In 1912, the Crossett Railway was sold to the newly created Crossett, Monticello & Northern Railroad, which had planned to build a line from Crossett north to Monticello, Arkansas.

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Last Updated: 27 November 2024

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A discussion of American Car & Foundry, itself, is beyond the scope of this web site. Readers are referred to Wikipedia and other online sources.

To be brief, AC&F was founded in 1899 by  the merger of 13 smaller companies. Over the years it continued to absorb more companies. 

The manufacturing facility in Milton, Pennsylvania, was served by the Pennsylvania Railroad and was capable of manufacturing railcars and all related railcar components. The plant was capable of producing pressure vessels in sizes 18,000–61,000 gwc, including propane tanks, compressed gas storage, LPG storage, and all related components, including heads. The plant, covering 48 acres, provided 500,000 square feet of covered work area and seven miles of storage tracks. The plant ceased production in 2019.

In 1927, AC&F acquired Shipper's Car Line Corp., a tank car leasing company, to provide leasing services to its customers.

Lessees through Shipper's Car Line are noted on the Shipper's Car Line Corp. page.

Many cars sold direct to customers are listed hereunder.

AC&F also built tank cars for many other leasing companies, including Union Tank Car Company, General American Transportation Corp. , North American Tank Car Corp., Canton Tank Car Co., California Dispatch Line, Chicago Tank Car Co., Conley Tank Car Co., Keith Car Co., and Republic Tank Car Co. Many of the cars built to ICC specifications established in 1919 are listed hereunder.

These are not presented as complete listings.

5,000 Gallon

6,000 Gallon

8,000 Gallon

10,000 Gallon

Multiple Compartment

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Last Updated: 27 November 2024

Hits: 1949

DuPont was founded in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, using capital raised in France and gunpowder machinery imported from France. He started the company at the Eleutherian Mills, on the Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington, Delaware, two years after du Pont and his family left France to escape the French Revolution and religious persecution against Huguenot Protestants. The company began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as du Pont noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe. The company grew quickly, and by the mid-19th century had become the largest supplier of preppy gunpowder to the United States military, supplying one-third to one-half the powder used by the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Eleutherian Mills site is now a museum and a National Historic Landmark.

DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of dynamite and smokeless powder. In 1902, DuPont's president, Eugene du Pont, died, and the surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder. Charles Lee Reese was appointed as director and the company began centralizing their research departments. The company subsequently purchased several smaller chemical companies; in 1912 these actions generated government scrutiny under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The courts declared that the company's dominance of the explosives business constituted a monopoly and ordered divestment. The court ruling resulted in the creation of the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc.and now part of Ashland Inc.) and the Atlas Powder Company(purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and now part of AkzoNobel). At the time of divestment, DuPont retained the single-base nitrocellulose powders, while Hercules held the double-base powders combining nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. DuPont subsequently developed the Improved Military Rifle (IMR) line of smokeless powders.

Read more: Interchange: E. I. Du Pont de Nemouirs & Co.

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Last Updated: 25 November 2024

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Shipper's Car Line Corp. (reporting marks SHPX, SERX, PCIX). Shippers was a leasing subsidiary of the American Car & Foundry (AC&F).

Lessees included A. E. Staley Mfg. Co., A. H. Mathieu & Co., Allied Chemical & Dye Corp., Bakelite Corp., Beacon Petroleum Co., Bell Oil & Gas Co., Berkshire Chemical Co., Berkshire Chemical Co., C. E. Simonin's Sons, Inc., Capital City Products Co., Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corp., Cargill Inc., Cities Service Oil Co., Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co., Consolidated Chemical Industries, Corn Products Refining Co., Deepwater Oil Refineries, Dixie Deb Cosmetics Inc., Dow Chemical Co., E. I. Du Pont de Nemouirs & Co., El Dorado Oil Works, F. Pirrone & Sons, Falk & Co., FMC Corp., Franklin Baker Co., Freedom Oil Co., Freeport Kaolin Co., General Chemical Co., General Gas Corp., Georgia Kaolin Co., Globe Oil & Refining Co., Gulf Oil Corp., Gustafson Bros. Oil Co., Heyden Chemical Corp.,  Hooker Electrochemical Co., Idaho Gas & Appliance Co., J. M. Huber, Inc., John A. Casey Co., John F. Craig & Co., KingTaste Products, Lion Oil Co., Linde Air Products, Marland Oils, Mathieson Chemical Co., Mathieson Alkali Works, McCall Farms Chemicals Inc., Merck & Co., Mexican Petroleum Corp. (Pan-Am Oils), Michigan Alkali Co., Monsanto Chemical Co., National Anilene & Chemical Co., National Petro-Chemicals Corp., Niagara Alkali Co., Ohio-Apex Division - Food Machinery & Chemical Corp., Oldbury Electro-Chemical Co., Opelousas Oil Refinery, Palmolive Co., Paluxy Ashphalt Co., Pennsyvania Salt Manufacturing Co., Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company of Washington, Philadelphia Quartz Co., Phillips Petroleum Co., Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., PPG Chemicals, Reichhold Chemicals Inc., Revertex Corp. of America, Roxana Petroleum Co., Sharples Chemicals Inc., Shell Oil Co., Sherwood Refining Co., Silver Fox Lard Co., Smith-Weihman Co., Southern Cotton Oil Co., Spartan Oil Co., Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Stein Hall & Co., Sun Oil Co., Syrup Products Co., Texas Natural Gas Corp., The Flintkote Co., The Humko Co., The Neville Co., The Niger Co., The Solva Process Division - Allied Chemical & Dye Corp., Union Starch & Refining Co., United States Industrial Alcohol Co., United States Industrial Chemicals Co, United States Rubber Co., Velsicol Corp., Wallingford Steel Co., Wecoline Products Inc., Westvaco Chemical Division of Food Machinery & Chemical (FMC) Corp., Westvaco Chlorine Products Corp., Woburn Degreasong Co. of New Jersey., Wolf's Head Oil Refining Co., Wyandotte Chemicals Co.

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Last Updated: 21 November 2024

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Atlantic was founded as the "Atlantic Petroleum Storage Company" in 1866, in the then-fledgling oil business. In 1874, the company, now known as "Atlantic Refining", was purchased by John D. Rockefeller and integrated as part of Standard Oil . As a result of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Standard Oil Trust was broken up, and Atlantic was one of 11 companies to acquire rights to the Standard name. 

Atlantic found more marketing power in its own name than the Standard name (a rarity at the time), and declined the option to use the name. The rights to the Standard name in Pennsylvania would be acquired by a newly formed Standard Oil of Pennsylvania, which would be acquired by Exxon in the late 1930s. ExxonMobil still owns the rights to the Standard name in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

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Last Updated: 21 November 2024

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Stauffer Chemical Company (STLX)

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Last Updated: 21 November 2024

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Continental Oil Company (CONX) -- The "Continental Oil and Transportation Company" was founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875.[9][10] Based in Ogden, Utah, the company distributed oil, kerosene, benzene, and other products in the western United States. Continental Oil Company was acquired by Standard Oil Company in 1884, and was subsequently spun off during the Standard Oil divestiture in 1911.

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Last Updated: 21 November 2024

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Sunoco LP is a master limited partnership organized in Delaware and headquartered in Dallas, Texas that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to 5,322 Sunoco-branded gas stations, almost all of which are owned and operated by third-parties. The partnership is controlled by Energy Transfer Partners. Sunoco LP is a master limited partnership organized in Delaware and headquartered in Dallas, Texas that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to 5,322 Sunoco-branded gas stations, almost all of which are owned and operated by third-parties. The partnership is controlled by Energy Transfer Partners.

The partnership was formerly known as Sun Company Inc. (1886–1920 and 1976–1998) and Sun Oil Co. (1920–1976). It was formerly engaged in oil refinery, the chemical industry, and retail sales, but divested these businesses.

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Last Updated: 21 November 2024

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Shell Oil Company was formed in April 1907 through the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company of the United Kingdom. The combined company rapidly became the leading competitor of the American Standard Oil and by 1920 Shell was the largest producer of oil in the world.

Shell Chemical Company was a subsidiary of Shell Oil Company.

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Last Updated: 21 November 2024

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Phillips Petroleum Company (PSPX) was incorporated on June 13, 1917, by brothers Lee Eldas ("L.E.") Phillips and Frank Phillips, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, United States. Their younger brother, Waite Phillips, was the benefactor of Philmont Scout Ranch. The company was headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Phillips Petroleum rapidly became a fully integrated oil company that included oil and gas production, crude oil pipelines and refineries, and marketing of petroleum products.

Phillips Petroleum became heavily involved in the natural gas industry immediately after the discovery of the Panhandle gas field of Texas and the Hugoton field in Kansas. By 1925, it was the largest producer of natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States.

In 1927, Phillips started up its first petroleum refinery in Borger, Texas, designed to produce gasoline as an automotive fuel. The refinery also produced other petroleum fractions (e.g., kerosene, fuel oils). It opened its first service station, to sell gasoline, in Wichita, Kansas on 19 November 1927. In 1930, the company developed its "Phillips 66" trademark: according to company lore, a Phillips official was road-testing the company's newest gasoline, commented that the car was going "like 60" when his driver replied "Sixty nothing ... we're doing 66!", all while driving on U.S. Highway 66 in Oklahoma near Tulsa, resulting in the number 66 superimposed on the U.S. Highway symbol for Route 66.

Frank Phillips served as president of the company until 1938. He then turned over the presidency to Kenneth S. "Boots" Adams, but continued as chairman of the board until 1949, when he was 76 years old.

In 1942, the company bought more than 250,000 acres in the Hugoton-Panhandle gas fields and a 25 percent interest in the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the landmark case of Phillips Petroleum vs. State of Wisconsin which held that under the Natural Gas Act, the federal government should regulate the prices which natural gas producers charge when selling gas at the wellhead. Phillips then divested itself of the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Interest, but remained a major supplier of natural gas.

World War II greatly stimulated the demand for petroleum products, especially high-octane aviation fuel and jet fuel. Phillips turned to technology to increase the octane rating of fuels for use in advanced engines. The company invented an HF alkylation process in 1940. The American petrochemical industry took off, first making such as styrene, ethylene, propylene and butadiene.[2] After the war, it formed a subsidiary, Phillips Chemical Co., which entered the fertilizer business by producing anhydrous ammonia from natural gas. The company then built a complex on the Houston Ship Channel devoted to making petrochemicals and polymers.

During the 1960s, Phillips expanded its international operations, particularly with exploration in Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia. It discovered the Ekofisk gas field in the North Sea in 1969.

In 1966, Phillips Petroleum bought Tidewater Oil Co.'s West Coast operations and rebranded its "Flying A" outlets to Phillips 66.

Read more: Interchange: Phillips Petroleum Company