Ford Rouge Railroad

36 artifacts in this set

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The staff at The Henry Ford

Ford Motor Company operated its own industrial railroad at the Rouge factory. Ford-owned locomotives moved incoming railcars filled with raw materials, and outgoing railcars loaded with finished parts and vehicles. Ford employees crewed trains, cared for locomotives, and maintained 100 miles of track within the factory grounds. At its 1930s peak, Ford's Rouge railroad was one of the largest privately owned rail operations in the world.

Detailed Description

Aerial View of Ford Rouge Plant, 1930

Photographic print

Ford Motor Company opened the Rouge's first facilities in 1917. By the mid-1930s, the factory complex had grown to include things like ore docks, blast furnaces, a steel mill, an engine-casting plant, an assembly plant, a fire department, a hospital, and a powerplant. More than 100,000 people worked there, and a new car rolled off the assembly line every 49 seconds.