began operations in 1905 and manufactured freight and passenger cars. Clients included: Grand Trunk Railway and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway - 12,000 freight cars and 250 passenger cars (wood) Quebec, Montreal & Southern - 1,500 steel underframe box cars with Dominion Car and Foundry Montreal Street Railway - 10 streetcars Hart-Otis Car Company - Hart convertible ballast cars Grand Trunk Railway - 30 steel underframe flat cars Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway - three parlour-cafe cars Canadian Northern Railway - four wooden dining cars Their products were: wood freight and passenger cars box cars streetcars flat cars parlor cafe cars dining cars First World War During World War I, CC&F had signed large contracts with Russia and Britain for delivery of ammunition. An enormous factory was constructed in the Kingsland to assemble, package, and prepare artillery shells for shipment to foreign ports. No shells were manufactured there. On 11 January 1917, a fire started in one of the buildings. In four hours, the fire spread to the approximately 500,000 pieces of 76.2 mm (3 inch) -high explosive shells stored there, causing several explosions, destroying the entire plant. The explosion launched artillery shells and building debris across the area, destroying several homes and businesses in the nearby town of Lyndhurst, and was visible from New York City. The total loss, including the ordnance, was estimated at $16,750,000 (equivalent to $ million in ). Canadian Car and Foundry had a contract to build twelve minesweepers for the French Navy. The vessels were completed in October and November 1918—before the war ended, but too late to see operational service. Two of the vessels, the Inkerman and Cerisoles, were lost in a November gale, on Lake Superior, on their maiden voyage. Other vessels were sold into civilian service. Second World War By 1939, with war on the horizon, Canadian Car & Foundry and its Chief Engineer, Elsie MacGill, were contracted by the Royal Air Force to produce the Hawker Hurricane (Marks X, XI and XII). Refinements introduced by MacGill on the Hurricane included skis and de-icing gear. When the production of the Hurricane was complete in 1943, CC&F's workforce of 4,500 (half of them women) had built over 1,400 aircraft, about 10% of all Hurricanes built. Following the success of the Hurricane contract, CC&F sought out and received a production order for the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. Eventually, 834 Helldivers were produced by CC&F in