Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company

The company moved to a larger factory on Reed Street, also next to the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, that still stands today.

Many of the Speed Trucks used the same Wisconsin 16 brake horsepower (12 kilowatt) air-cooled engine in Kalamazoo railroad speeder (inspection) cars.

Timken roller bearings, 16-inch (410 mm) insulated wheels, and cast iron four-wheel brakes, were standard, adding up to a weight of 895 pounds (406 kg) without a cab.

Perhaps the company's best-known wartime product was "Galloping Gertie", a railroad motor car with a large target above it, used for gunnery practice.

The 27A had an air-cooled four-cylinder Wisconsin engine with magneto ignition and a Zenith carburetor, that developed 22 horsepower (16 kW).

Other 1960 products that ran on rails included a power tamping jack, a ballast equalizer with plow and sweeper, a spike driver, and a line of trailers and push carts.

The firm continued its existence until the 1990s, when all the assets were sold to Taylor-Dunn, a large manufacturer of in-plant materials handling vehicles.

[7][8][9][10] Until 2015, the factory in Reed Street, Kalamazoo, was used for storage by a local warehousing company called LC Howard, after which it was demolished.

Fortunately a number of Kalamazoo railroad motor cars and Speed Trucks around the world have been restored for personal enjoyment.