1 Red Lion Road, Philadelphia PA
(west of Bustleton Avenue, particularly Sandmeyer Lane, and east of Pine Road)
© Irving Kosmin, Workshop of
the World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The Budd Company was founded
in 1912 at Aramingo Avenue and Tioga Street in the
Richmond section of Philadelphia, where it manufactured
metal stamping. The company moved to larger quarters at
the northeast corner of Ontario and I Streets in
Kensington. The demands of the burgeoning automobile
industry necessitated a major expansion, and Budd moved
its plant to 24th Street & Hunting Park Avenue where
it is still in operation.
The Red Lion Plant was built shortly after the start of
World War II in 1942, on 572 acres of farmland in the Far
Northeast section of the city. The complex was built by
the United States Government and was operated by the Budd
Company, which produced artillery shells for the war
effort; it also developed a prototype cargo plane named
the "Conestoga." It was flight tested on the adjacent
3,100 foot runway but never put into
production—only a few test models were ever built.
In 1948 the Red Lion plant was purchased from the
Government by Budd for $5.3 million. Rail car
manufacturing was moved to Red Lion from the Hunting Park
plant. The Budd Company became a leader in manufacturing
passenger rail cars when it began experimenting with the
use of stainless steel in 1931. From 1934 the Budd
Company produced such famous trains as the Zephyr,
Rocket, Silver Meteor, and Flying Yankee; El Capitan, the
Chief, and Super Chief; and the Empire Builder, among
many others. During the 1950s Budd built custom rail cars
and components for several railroads and other companies
including General Electric.
After moving to the Red Lion plant the company added
subway and surface passenger rail cars to its line. In
1963 the Rail Car Division had a banner year with a
backlog of orders totaling more than ninety million
dollars. In 1966 the Budd Company built the first
turbine-powered rail car which was tested on the Long
Island Railroad.
Budd's Red Lion plant also produced automotive
components, following installation in 1964 of a chassis
frame assembly line capable of producing 4,000 frames per
day. This doubled Budd's capability to supply the needs
of General Motors Chevrolet Division.
In 1978 the Budd Company, whose headquarters were in
Troy, Michigan, was purchased by Thyssen AG, West
Germany, and the Red Lion plant was designated Transit
Division of the Budd Company. In 1979 the huge plant, on
212 remaining acres, was bought by an investment firm,
Integrated Resources Company of New York City, and was
leased to the transit division. On January 1, 1985,
Transit America was formed, a separate, wholly-owned,
subsidiary of Thyssen AG.
Until 1987 when the Red Lion plant made its car the
former Budd Company, now Transit America, produced an
impressive number of passenger cars for rail
transportation systems including:
the
original Metroliner trains that form the backbone of
Amtrak's fleet.
passenger rail cars for New York (over 600 in 1971),
Chicago, and Connecticut .
the famous "Silverliners," built in the early 1960s for
the Pennsylvania Railroad commuter service, which
continue to run on the SEPTA (Southeast Pennsylvania
Transit Authority) regional rail system.
state-of-the-art stainless steel cars for the PATCO High
Speed Line running between Lindenwold, New Jersey and
Center City Philadelphia; these cars are the first to be
computer automated and monitored.
The main building at the Red Lion complex comprises two
one-story, parallel structures, 1,800 feet in length, 600
feet wide covering 1,097,269 square feet of floor space.
It was built of reinforced concrete to save steel during
World War II. The Ballinger Company of Philadelphia were
the architects; the barrel shell, or ZD roof, was
developed by Roberts and Schaefer, an engineering firm of
New York City. The configuration of the plant is
reminiscent of an airplane hanger of the 1940s. Several
auxiliary buildings of concrete and brick, including a
two-story office building, also are on the property. All
buildings are in good condition, well-maintained, and
protected by a high chain link fence and a twenty-four
hour security force.
Transit America
survives today with a small staff. Plans to again produce
rail cars at Red Lion have been thwarted by
labor/management disagreements and the negative
manufacturing climate for mass transit equipment which is
now being made in Canada and overseas. At present the Red
Lion plant apparently is undergoing a pollution
evaluation and cleanup before conversion to any future
use.
Update May
2007 (by
Harry Kyriakodis):
Manufacturing at the Red Lion plant ceased for the most
part in 1987. The Budd complex had played a vital role in
the local and regional economy since World War II,
employing some 2500 workers at its manufacturing peak.
After more than a decade of inactivity, parent company
Transit America demolished all structures on the 214-acre
site in the late 1990s. Then, working with the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the
firm voluntarily performed a $23 million environmental
cleanup to redevelop the property into a country club,
complete with 18-hole golf course and 8000-square-foot
clubhouse. Transit America subsequently sold the site,
now known as the Island Green Golf Club, for about $6
million. High-end housing is also part of the
redevelopment.