Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.).  Division of Transportation
label: Names
content: Wightman, D.A., fl.1870s-1890s
place: label: Place
content: Allegheny City (Pa.) -- 1874-1910
topic: label: Topic
content: Locomotives -- Design and construction -- 1874-1910
label: Topic
content: Railroads -- 1874-1910
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
creator: label: Creator
content: Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works
setName: label: See more items in
content: Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Records of the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works and correspondence and personal papers of General Manager Daniel A. Wightman.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was founded by Andrew Carnegie and T.N. Miller in 1865.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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.5 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1874-1910
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Transportation, now the Division of Work and Industry, July 3, 1985.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0164
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: 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
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.