At the inception of the locomotive Golden Age experienced at the turn of the century, many cottage vehicle enterprises were started in America with many merchants welcoming the dynamism in this field as many people were turning from horse-drawn carriages to vehicles fueled by internal combustion engines. While some of these firms sprouted to become mega-companies that are still in existence today, others remained small scale, grappling to compete with other larger locomotive assemblies. … More “The C.R. Patterson and Sons Company: Black Pioneers in the Vehicle Building Industry, 1865-1939” by Christopher Nelson