THE CENTRAL FACILITY OF
Tour of Cleveland Track Material, Inc., 7000 Central Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio on August 10, 2007
Using an array of older and historic machinery, CTM produces the most complete line of products of any track work supplier in the industry, including joint bars, compromise joints, bridge joints, paneled turnouts, crossing diamonds, frogs, switch points, rocker clips, slip switches, lap turnouts, and hook flange guard rail. CTM’s Central facility occupies the 1901 plant of the former Wellman-Seaver (later Wellman-Seaver-Morgan) Company, a pioneer manufacturer of steel plant equipment founded by Cleveland steelmaster Samuel T. Wellman in 1896. Wellman-Seaver-Morgan manufactured some of the largest materials-handling facilities ever built, including all of the great Hulett iron-ore unloaders that once dotted the ore ports on the lower Great Lakes. The highlight of the tour is a ca. 1900 rolling mill purchased by CTM from the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, believed to be the oldest—if not the only—hand-operated rolling mill in the U.S.
