First off and most importantly, Happy Easter!
Today we'll be taking a look at H.K. Porter, both the man, and his eponymous company.
Here's am example of a Porter locomotive.
This is an 0-4-0F "fireless cooker", which means it has no firebox, and does not produce its own steam. These locomotives were used as switchers in large industrial complexes, which typically had large industrial boilers, which is where the steam to power this type of loco would come from. The loco would be "charged" via steam pipe from the industrial boiler, and the steam would fill the loco's "boiler", which is really just a pressure tank. Thus, there was no fire, ash, or soot produced, which would be of great benefit in many applications.
This loco specifically was built in February of 1937 by Porter for Carolina Power & Light Company as their number 3. They would donate it in October of 1980 to the state of NC, and it would eventually be put on display at the NC Transportation Museum, as seen here.
Anyway, on with the main article...
We'll start with the man himself, who has an interesting history. This section will cover his history, then we'll move on to the company.
Henry Kirke Porter was born on November 24, 1840 in Concord, NH.
In 1860, he would graduate from Brown University of Providence, RI, and also in 1860, he would be one of the founders of the YMCA..
He would attend Newton Theological Seminary in Newton Center, Massachusetts, as well.
A couple years later, in 1862, he would enlist in the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, but wouldn't hang around there for long, being mustered out in July of 1863.
He would pick up his theologic studies again, and attend Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, NY.
During this period, Henry's father would give him a gift of $20,000 - a tremendous sum then, and not inconsiderable now! This would have an enormous effect on the course of Henry's life, but I'll cover that in the company history below.
Henry would be quite active on the humanitarian and philanthropic scene, and serve as the president of the YMCA from 1868 to 1887, and would serve as the president of the Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind in 1904.
He would even go into politics, and serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 58th U.S. Congress from 1903 to 1905 as an independent Republican.
He would also become a member of the very prestigious Jekyll Island Club of Jekyll Island, Georgia.
The rest of Henry's history is intertwined with the company, so I'll cover that later.
The company/companies.
As mentioned above, Henry would recieve a gift of $20,000 from his father. To capitalize on this, he would partner with John Y. Smith, and together they would open Smith & Porter Machine Works in Pittsburgh, PA in 1866.
This company would repair and build various types of industrial equipment.
They would continue this line of business until March 4, 1867, when the New Castle Railroad and Mining Company would order a small switching locomotive, the "Joshua Rhodes".
This first locomotive would prove successful, and open the door for other such orders. Smith & Porter together would build 43 similar small switching/industrial locomotives, including the preserved "Minnetonka" for the Northern Pacific.
Unfortunately, in 1871, a fire would break out at their facility, which resulted in the destruction of said facility, 12 under construction locomotives, and 23 adjacent structures.
This disaster resulted in an estimated $200,000 in damages - at this point, Smith said "I'm out", and dissolved the partnership.
Smith would instead open a competing company, Smith & Dawson Locomotives, which became National Locomotive Works. Seems a bit ... treacherous, at least in my opinion.
Anyway, Henry Porter would find another partner in Arthur W. Bell, and together they would open Porter, Bell & Co.
This company would produce its first locomotive for Jackson Furnace Company of Michigan.
Porter, Bell & Co. would continue building the small industrial and switching locomotives, but would eventually expand to offering small passenger and freight locos, mostly for narrow gauge railroads.
This iteration of the company would build 223 locos - until Bell's death in 1878.
Henry would again rename the company, this time to H.K. Porter & Co. This iteration of the firm would become very well known for rugged, specialized locos, and having standardized and interchangeable parts, as well as actually keeping some of the more popular loco designs in stock.
Porter would continue specializing in the industrial loco sector, and offer the first compressed air locomotive in 1890 for a Pennsylvania coal mine. The compressed air locos were somewhat similar to the fireless cookers explained above, except instead of being charged with steam they used compressed air - and the CA locos predate the fireless ones. These would prove to be a popular item for Porter, and they would provide over 400 to various industrial companies. This would actually result in Porter holding 90% of the market for compressed air locos by 1900. These were by far mostly used in industial applications, but interestingly, they were also used by the New Orleans Street Railways.
1899 would see yet another renaming of the company, this time as H.K. Porter Co.
They would proceed to build a new plant in Pittsburgh during this period, as well.
In 1906 Porter would see their most productive year, with almost 400 locos being built that year alone.
1911 would usher in a very new technology for Porter - gasoline - and they would produce their first gas loco that year.
In 1915 they produced the aforementioned fireless locos for the first time, and these would take over most of the jobs the earlier compressed air locos were handling. Porter would come to dominate the fireless market.
Porter was mostly known for providing industrial locos, but as mentioned, they would also provide main line locos for narrow gauge railroads - for instance, in 1919 they would build 20 45-class 4-6-0 locos for Manila Railroad Company of the Philippines. These would be among Porter's largest locos, and would prove very successful.
In 1921 Porter was enjoying a solidly successful period, due to the post World War 1 construction boom - both in the reconstruction in Europe and the ever increasing road construction in the US.
However, also in 1921, Henry would die.
The company would plod on for several more years, but in 1939, after several years of decline, Porter would declare bankruptcy, and would be bought by Thomas Mellan Evans (who has an interesting history himself), who would add the company to his portfolio.
As with many industries, demand would increase during World War 2. However, afterwards, demand would again dwindle, especially demand for steam locos, which was Porter's specialty.
At this point Porter became mostly a holding company for the many subsidiary companies Evans acquired.
Porter would build its last loco in 1950, which was for export to Brazil. In total, Porter would produce almost 8,000 locos.
Remaining parts and designs would be sold to Davenport Locomotive Works of Iowa.
Interestingly, the name H.K. Porter still continued, offering non-railroad related products, including rocket motors for Nike missles. And, harkening back to the origins of the company, they continue to produce various types of industrial equipment today.
That's all for today, thanks for looking!
Thanks for a very interesting read