In Europe? No, our streetcars will now be built right here

WOODSTOCK RESIDENT OVERSEES

By Merry Mackinnon

The Bee, May 6, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The streetcars manufactured by Oregon Iron Works’ wholly owned subsidiary, United Streetcar in Clackamas – whose President is Woodstock resident Chandra Brown [shown] – will look much like Portland’s existing fleet of streetcars, imported from the Czech Republic.

Merry MacKinnon / THE BEE

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When an Oregon business, located in Clackamas, began work on its first streetcar recently, it became the only manufacturer of modern streetcars in the United States. Oregon Iron Works, Inc., which was founded in 1944, has 400 employees, and fabricates barges, dams and bridges — and now streetcars.

With the increased cost of gasoline, Oregon Iron Works Vice President Chandra Brown anticipated a business opportunity in streetcar manufacturing. The prototype streetcar for Portland is the first in what she hopes will be a long assembly line of streetcars to come.

“Our plan is to become a leading U.S. maker of modern streetcars,” Brown says.

Brown, who lives in Woodstock, has worked for 13 years at Oregon Iron Works, and is now President of United Streetcar, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Workers have almost finished constructing that first American-made modern streetcar. It will join Portland’s fleet of streetcars, which were imported from the Czech Republic, sometime this summer.

“So we will have that ‘Made In America’ streetcar running around the streets of Portland,” Brown says.

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