The smaller of the two is probably from the 1930s. Belt driven, it was powered by a single cylinder, air cooled Fairmont gasoline engine and ran on 14" stamped steel wheels. It has an open cab, with no doors. The larger, a "gang car" of roughly the same age, is completely enclosed and has seating for probably a half dozen or more maintenance workers. Apparently also belt driven and running on larger, probably 20" wheels, the nature of its motive power is unknown.
Unfortunately, neither had a legible identification plate that we were able to get at, so these shall, for the moment, remain unidentified.
Railway Motors History
Fairmont Railway Motors, first known as the Fairmont Machine Company, started as a small machine shop in the 1900s making things such as single cylinder engines used mainly to pump water, saw wood, etc. A breakthrough for the company occured in the later portion of that decade when a railroad section hand, Fred Mahlman Sr., suggested placing an engine on a railroad handcar. This application had a profound and significant effect on the railroad maintenance industry and put the company on the map. The company was guided by it's first President, Frank Wade, who was also a prominent local businessman and the proprietor of the famed Interlaken Park.
In the 1920s, the company began producing and selling some units of maintenance-of-way work equipment. This included weed burners, weed mowers, and ballast discers. In 1923, Fairmont Railway Motors, Inc. was officially adopted as the firm name. In 1928, the company purchased the railway motor car business of Mudge and Company of Chicago and moved all tools and equipment to Fairmont. The Chicago properties were sold. Throughout the 1920s and 30s Harold Wade, son of Frank Wade, managed the business as its President.
Howard Starrett took over for a short period before his death in 1939 and he was succeeded by Walter Kasper who ran the company until 1956. During the Second World War the company employed nearly 1 out of every 10 townspeople as it made different parts and railcars for the war effort. In the 1940s they began producing Hy-Rail vehicles that could travel via both rail and road. Richard "Dick" Wade, Frank's grandson, took over in 1956 and would run the company as President until 1987.
In 1963 a line of Hydraulic Hand Tools was introduced, known as Fairmont Tamper. Stockholders approved a merger with Harsco, a diversified enterprise located in Harrisburg, PA, on June 8, 1979. G. Robert Newman became President in 1987 and served until 2007; the current President of Harsco Rail is Scott Jacoby. The company is now known as Harsco Track Technologies and still maintains a presence in Fairmont.
From the Martin County Historical Society