Canadian Locomotive Company

The CLC had its beginnings with a number of predecessor businesses. It began business as the Ontario Foundry in 1848, but after commencing construction of locomotives it became known as the Kingston Locomotive Works. The first steam locomotive was turned out on Wednesday, December 20, 1854. This was the first of four locomotives for the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, which was being built at that time. A further order of five locomotives for the GTR followed in October and November 1856. However, less than three dozen locomotives were built before the business went bankrupt in 1860.

The Canadian Engine & Machinery Company was a shareholder-owned successor company founded in 1865. It too ran into financial troubles during the depression of 1878–1879 and also went bankrupt. It was re-organized in February 1878 as the Canadian Locomotive and Engine Company Ltd. (CL&EC). After yet another re-organization in April 1881, the plant was updated and expanded. The syndicate of investors who owned the Canadian Pacific Railway also owned a large portion of the CL&EC, and when funds were needed to further work on the CPR, their shares were sold to the respected locomotive builder Dübs and Company, of Glasgow, Scotland, which eventually gained control effective January 1, 1888. CL&EC became a major supplier to the CPR, delivering nearly one-third of their locomotives over many decades. These "Dübs-boilered" locomotives were regarded as durable and long-lasting.

In 1948 CLC became the Canadian representative for Baldwin Locomotive Works which also owned Whitcomb Locomotive Works. However, the result of this collaboration was less than outstanding — the Whitcomb locomotives built for the Canadian National Railway with Sterling diesel engines proved problematic, and orders for Baldwin-designed locomotives were modest. CLC then turned to Fairbanks-Morse, a manufacturer of opposed piston diesel engines primarily used in maritime applications that was itself attempting to break into the railway locomotive market. Baldwin's shares in CLC were acquired in 1950 by the newly formed Canadian Fairbanks Morse. Orders were more extensive and longer-lasting, especially for the Train Master and Consolidated line designs. However, the Fairbanks-Morse designs proved to be no match in the marketplace for the ALCO-designed locomotives offered by the Montreal Locomotive Works or to the Electro-Motive Division-designs constructed by General Motors Diesel. By 1957, orders had fallen off and Fairbanks-Morse eventually left the locomotive business in both Canada and the United States. Following the departure of Baldwin and MLW, the Canadian market was left to just two companies, General Electric and General Motors Diesel.

Before this however, CLC also sought more opportunities in the export market with the involvement of government agencies, exporting small industrial locomotives of Davenport-Besler design. In 1955 CLC bought the Davenport-Besler Corp. Inc., including its inventory of Porter locomotives. A Canadian-only DTC (Diesel Torque Converter) was built for the CPR featuring a diesel-hydraulic design rather than the conventional diesel-electric.

On July 26, 1965, CLC became Fairbanks-Morse (Canada) Ltd. and was no longer an independent Canadian company. Locomotive construction dwindled even further as the company branched out into industrial machinery such as marine engines and weigh scales. None of this could save the company.