Wabtec, Zippo, Channellock and Smiley Cookies seek to be PA's coolest

Wabtec locomotives, many of them built in Erie, have some laudable planet-saving environmental credentials.

But these 400,000-pound giants have something else going for them.

They're cool, cool enough to make the earth shake, and powerful enough with their 4,000-hp engines to pull long trains of loaded freight cars.

More:Wabtec picks up steam as focus moves to new lines of work

What could possibly be cooler than that?

Maybe Eat'n Park Smiley Cookies, or perhaps Yuengling Lager. The voting public will get to decide.

At a time of year when many people are focused on March Madness and the NCAA basketball tournament, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce is asking the public to pick a winner to determine the Coolest Thing Made in PA.

Altogether, 32 Pennsylvania companies are competing for the cool designation in a bracket-style elimination process.

And those Wabtec locomotives face a steep challenge. To get through the first round, which ends Friday, Wabtec will have to knock off the nation's oldest brewery, Pottsville-based Yuengling.

If Wabtec beats Yuengling, the next round promises to be just as challenging with the winner facing either Utz potato chips or PPG paints.

Locomotives aren't the region's only entry in the tournament.

Smiley Cookies are sold by the Pittsburgh-based Eat'n Park restaurant chain, but the cookies were inspired by Warner's Bakery in Titusville, which baked a version of the popular sugar cookies for years.

They were a favorite of Titusville's Jim Broadhurst, who went on to work for Eat'n Park. In 1986, Broadhurst obtained the rights for the restaurant chain to create Smiley Cookies inspired by the original from Warner's Bakery.

In the first round, the cookies face Duolingo Language Learning app.

In 1886, Crawford County blacksmith George B. DeArment launched what would become Channellock Corp., whose trademarked name has become synonymous with slip-joint pliers.

Today, the Meadville-based company, which has about 400 employees, sells its signature blue-handled pliers in 45 countries around the world.

More:Channellock to be featured on TV's 'How America Works' show with Mike Rowe on Monday

The company remains in the DeArment family.

General Dwight Eisenhower carried a Zippo lighter during World II. He even sent the owner of the Bradford-based company a note thanking him for the gift.

Plenty of other people have carried the famous windproof lighters in the years since.

The company, which was started in 1932, marked the production of 600 million lighters in 2020.

Making it to the final four won't be easy.

Other finalists include Martin's Potato Rolls, Hershey Kisses, Pampers and Mrs. T's Pierogies.

Tim Bader, a spokesman for Wabtec, is happy to have Erie County's largest industrial manufacturer in the mix.

"It's an honor to have the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry select Wabtec locomotives to compete in the first annual ‘Coolest Thing Made in PA’ tournament," Bader said in a statement. "For more than 150 years, Wabtec has revolutionized the rail industry and its locomotives are an ideal representative in this year's competition."

Contact Jim Martin at [email protected].