Anheuser-Busch Malt-Nutrine rail cars stand in front of the Manufacturers Railway Company, ca. late 1890s

Anheuser-Busch Malt-Nutrine rail cars stand in front of the Manufacturers Railway Company, c. late 1890s. In 1887, Adolphus Busch established the Manufacturers Railway Company to respond to the need to switch brewery boxcars from spur tracks to the main rail lines used for export shipments. (In the parlance of the times, “export” shipments were those sent to markets outside of the customary sales range of the brewery on a local or regional basis, but not necessarily to foreign nations or territories.) In addition to advancing Busch’s plans to integrate railway shipments into his business model, the establishment of the Manufacturers Railway Company was part of a vertical-integration approach that proved very beneficial to his company.