This 1908 photograph shows employees of the Westinghouse Machine Company at East Pittsburg station, waiting for their evening train. The photograph is part of Hagley Library's Westinghouse Machine Company album (Accession 1983.247), which reported that it required six trains to accommodate their traffic.
The Westinghouse Machine Company was formally organized in 1881 by George Westinghouse, who was also the founder of a host of "Westinghouse Companies" bearing his name (including the Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, and Westinghouse Church Kerr & Co.) as well as other enterprises.
The Westinghouse Machine Company's role in George Westinghouse's portfolio was to manufacture of gas and steam engines, turbines and mechanical stokers out of a 50-acre factory complex in East Pittsburgh (the 'h' in Pittsburgh was apparently largely optional until the early 1920s). Around the time this photograph was taken, the company employed approximately 3,500 workers at this location.
Westinghouse Machine Company products like gas engines, Westinghouse-Parsons steam turbines and Westinghouse-Corliss steam engines were purchased by the railway industry to power interurban railways and service plants in terminals like Boston Terminal Station, the Pennsylvania Union Station in Pittsburgh, and the Union Station in St. Louis.
This photograph album dating to 1908 showcases products made by the factory and images of the factory itself. These include photographs of equipment such as boilers, generators, mechanical stokers, pumping machinery and turbines. Most of this equipment is shown already installed in assorted power plants. Images showing electric locomotives and trains using air breaks designed by Westinghouse are also featured. Facilities featured include an aerial photograph of the Westinghouse works at East Pittsburgh and a view of the meter testing department at the Newark, New Jersey works. Employees appear incidentally in several of these photographs.
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