Union Tank Car Company
Union Tank Car Company or UTLX (their best known reporting mark) is a railway equipment leasing company (and car maintenance / manufacturing) headquartered in metro Chicago, Illinois. As the name says, they specialise in tank cars, and covered hopper cars.
Founded in 1866 by J. J. Vandergrift, in response to the economic activities of Standard Oil, as of September 2005, according to their site, they have about 80,000 cars in their fleet.
Vandergrift was involved in the conflicts in the oil regions of Western Pennsylvania in the 1860s–1870s. Eventually, Union Tank Car Company and his other holdings, which included pipeline and riverboat transport companies, merged with the company that later became Standard Oil. Rockefeller, once Captain Vandergrift's nemesis, made him Vice President of Standard Oil. Captain Jacob J. Vandergrift also had a town built and named in his honor by George G. McMurtry in Western Pennsylvania in 1895.
TransUnion was formed as a holding company in 1968, and began acquiring credit bureaus. The Marmon Group acquired TransUnion in 1981.
Union Tank Car Company is still owned by Marmon. In 2008 60% of Marmon Holdings itself has been acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, with the remaining 40% to be acquired in the next five to seven years.
In May of 2008, Berkshire Hathaway closed the doors on Union Tank Car Co. Plant #1 in East Chicago, IN. This action put over 600 people out of work.
[edit] External links
- UTLX corporate site
- [1] Chicago History thumbnail
- [2] Victorian Vandergrift Museum and Historical Society site
- [3] Alle-Kiski Today (Western Pennsylvania regional magazine)
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