Cobourg Car Works

The Cobourg Car Works, also known as the Crossen Car Works, was an early railway car and streetcar builder based in Cobourg, Ontario. The company was split off from the Ontario Foundry in 1873 by James Crossen Jr., the foundry's owner. When James died in 1890, control of the company passed to his children, who renamed it as the Crossen Car Manufacturing Company. Supplying almost all of the major Canadian railways, as well as many local regional lines, the Crossen works because the largest car company in Canada. The move to all-steel constructed and CPR's decision to open their own works led to a rapid downturn in business, and the company closed in 1913.

The company evolved from the Helm Foundry, a foundry, that supplied cast metal fittings and components to grist and flour mills throughout Northumberland County.

James Crossen Jr. emigrated from Ireland to Batavia, New York in 1842 with his family. At the age of 17, Crossen left his family behind and moved to Cobourg, Ontario where he began work in the Helm Foundry. He moved up the ranks of this company and eventually became a full partner. Eventually the company was renamed Ontario Foundry and, by 1865 James Crossen was listed in a Northumberland/Durham Counties Directory as the sole proprietor of the company.

The Ontario Foundry was approached by the Cobourg, Peterborough & Marmora Railway and Mining Company to build twelve wooden railway dump cars for the transportation of ore. Crossen, realizing the capabilities of his foundry to manufacture the metal wheels and under carriage components of the cars, and knowing of a nearby supply of timber, agreed to fill the order. Eventually, one order for cars and rolling stock replaced the previous.

By 1873 various railway companies were coming to the Ontario Foundry to have cars built, and Cossen took the opportunity to form the Cobourg Car Works. The Ontario Foundry faded as his attention turned to the new market. Some of company's earliest customers included the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Intercolonial Railway.

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