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Re: [Non-DoD Source] [RealSTMFC] Help With Wabash Tank Car ID

Steve and Barb Hile
 

Max Epstein found a freight car leasing company in 1898 and in 1902, changed the name to German American. During WWI, the name changed, again, to General American, at least partly due to anti-German sentiment at that time. See http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2681.html for some more details. There was a 50 year history book published in 1948 that shows up from time to time on eBay or other used book sites.

Steve Hile

-----Original Message-----
From: vapeurchapelon <j.markwart@gmx.net>
Sent: Mar 18, 2019 4:49 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: Re: [Non-DoD Source] [RealSTMFC] Help With Wabash Tank Car ID

Hello Tony,

being a German, I would be interested what exactly was german in that company. "Just" a German immigrant as a (co-)founder?

Many thanks

Johannes
Modeling the early post-war years up to about 1953

Gesendet: Montag, 18. März 2019 um 16:28 Uhr
Von: "Tony Thompson" <tony@signaturepress.com>
An: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Betreff: Re: [Non-DoD Source] [RealSTMFC] Help With Wabash Tank Car ID

Elden Gatwood wrote:

I did some more looking, and am pretty convinced: the letters and numbers cast into the bolster looks like GATC predecessor German-American Car Company (hence, GATC, not "General American", as is commonly thought, even though that is the modern version); name changed during WW2 because of "German" as a then dirty word.
Actually that would be World War 1, not 2. Elden probably mistyped, but I wouldn't want wrong info to slide out there.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; e-mail, tony@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history
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