Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars The Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars were built by the Budd Company in the United States between 1931 and 1933 using French firm Michelin's "Micheline" rail car design. Michelin built its first rail car in 1929, and by 1932 had built a fleet of nine cars that all featured innovative and distinctive pneumatic tires. In September 1931, an agreement signed between the two companies allowed Budd to use the new rubber rail tires on its shot-welded, stainless-steel carbodies, and at the same time allowed Michelin to expand into the American market. After building two demonstrators in what
Rubber Island Rubber Island Rubber Island (Gummiinsel) is the nickname of an estate in the western part of Giessen (Germany). Due to its location close to the Lahn river, and because it was close to the rubber factory Poppe & Co. The area was then isolated from the rest of the city on the opposite side of the Lahn. Even today, the area can be clearly demarcated by its physical structure of the rest of the western city. The residential area was built 1932-39 as a settlement of small two-storey red brick houses with no basement, each with a small front yard.