J. Hammond & Co. the California Car Works, 1883-1910, Local regional builder, building horse, cable, electric streetcars, as well as both narrow gauge and standard gauge cars for short lines. Hammond also was an locally significant early builder of elevators, and was for some years the San Francisco Ottis Elevator franchisee. The Hammond shops were at different times located on Market, Folsom, Fremont, Beale and Townsend streets.
John Hammond, was a mill wright and Practical engineer, operating working for a variety of wood mills and sash makeres in San Francisco until he formed his own business about 1874. In 1882 he produced a quantity of milled wood for the San Joquin and Sierra Nevada railroad, for their car building efforts. By 1885, he lists his business as the "California Car Works, Manufacturer of every description of Passenger and Freight cars". In 1886 they build cars for the Colusa and Lake, two of which are now at the Southern Nevada State Railroad Museum, Their early production is dominated with orders for various street railroads, particularly cable car lines. By 1888 William Holman has joined the firm as the Superintendent.
His company (and cable car inventor, Henry Root) are credited with invention of the "California Style" streetcar, a three compartment car, with a center closed section, and open end sections. His company built the first car of this design for the California Street Cable Railroad Company in 1888. The largest single order we know of came in 1889 when the Omnibus Railroad Company of San Francisco ordered 143 cable cars. By 1892 they were building electric cars for the Consolidated Peidmont Cable Co. of Oakland. In 1893 they built 6 narrow gauge passenger cars for the Pacific Coast Railroad, 4 of which are still in use on the White Pass and Yukon. From 1the early 1890’s to at least 1908, the company is busy with many mostly small orders for electrics, for a number of West Coast lines including the San Francisco and San Mateo, the Bakersfield and Kern, and the Los Angeles Railway, narrow gauge cars for the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad (over 150 cars) and the Tonapah RR (aproximatly 100 cars, later sold to the Lake Tahoe Railroad, and to the Eureka and Palisades) and standard gauge freight cars for the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Co and the Sierra Railroad.
John Hammond’s son Manton E Hammond joined the business as the bookkeeper in 1893, appearently displacing superintent Holman, who leaves to form his own carbuilding company, and took over the business in 1901 when his father died. In 1906 the works were located on King Street, just outside the fire area. On April 30, 1906, They advertised that "We have escaped the fire and are ready to operate" The company continued to build railroad cars and elevators until 1910 when Manton Hammond apparently closed the business to explore other opportunities. Hammond built cars and had a reputation for quality which included using more iron than other local builders.
