American Car and Foundry Company is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock and railcar parts, founded in 1899 as the result of a merger among thirteen railroad carbuilding companies, including St. Charles Car Manufacturing Company. In the company's early years, American Car and Foundry Company constructed its railcars from wood.

In 1901, American Car and Foundry Company began leasing the facilities of railroad rolling stock and shipbuilding manufacturer the Jackson and Sharp Company. The plant was located on the Brandwine River in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1911, American Car and Foundry Company purchased the plant. While the main products were railroad rolling stock, they continued to produced watercraft out of both wood and steel. Additionally, the company engaged in architectural millwork for buildings. The patterned woodwork components would be fabricated by milling at the plant and then installed. The millwork could either be decorative or functional, and often was designed by achitects or interior designers. The millwork could also be on the exterior or the interior of the buildings.

By 1904, the first all-steel passenger car ever ordered from a car builder left American Car and Foundry Company's former Berwick, Pennsylvania, shop. It was the first of a shipment of 300 similar cars built for New York City's pioneer subway, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. By 1906, American Car and Foundry Company opened steel shops at St. Louis, Detroit, Berwick, Huntington, and Madison, Illinois. American Car and Foundry Company's reputation rapidly spread abroad and in 1905 more than 100 motor and trailer subway cars were shipped to England for use in London's underground system.

In the 1930s, the Jackson and Sharp plant ceased manufacturing railcars, and wooden shipbuilding ended in 1938. American Car and Foundry Company's Jackson and Sharp plant continued to build steel ships until 1950; the plant was in 1952.

In 1955, the company changed its name to ACF Industries, Incorporated. In 1962, the Berwick plant closed. The company name changed again in 2003 to ACF Industries, LLC. It still is a leading American manufacturer of railcars and railcar parts. Its manufacturing plant is in Milton, Pennsylvania.

Historical note reference from ACF website (http://www.acfindustries.com/history.asp)