Krupp steel

Just dug out my copy of "The Arms of Krupp"[1] by William Manchester (1968).

Cast steel axles & springs, for RR cars, in 1849 (pg 79)

Krupp made his first fortune on steel tires for RR equipment with his first success coming in January of 1853 (pg 92).

He signed a contract with a Thomas Prosser from the US at the Great Exhibition in London (1851) for distribution of his steel products (mostly tools at that time) in the Americas. (p77)

Couldn't find the reference to when he started making steel rails but on pg 165:
"In 1874 ... Essen" [where Krupp was king, as it were] " had shipped 175,000 tons of rail from Hamburg to east coast ports." "The volume was running into several millions of dollars annually." "... the British grossing half a million dollars a year from US railways."

On the same page there is a list of companies using Krupp rails, includes NYC, IC, D&H, LS&MS, MC, BAR, GN, B&A, T&P, SP, Erie and others.

On Page 166: " The US steel industry was still a fledgling giant. As it approached its full height in the 1880's ..." "The American market would then be closed to the continent's steel makers."

Hank

[1]The book is mostly obsessed with The Krupp works and family as munition makers and I'm just skimming it for mentions of RR stuff.