One Day at the Cleveland Steel Mills

At the time this photo was made, there was a public road that ran in front of this scene. Republic Steel 345, River Terminal 92, and Republic Steel 200 are in Cleveland on Oct. 10, 1983.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

One Day Down in Mingo Junction

Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel SW1200 No. 1255 is in Mingo Junction, Ohio on March 26, 1977. Other than some gold stripes there are no heralds or markings on this work-a-day unit.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steel Mill That Made Rails Burns

A factory in Lackawanna, New York, that made rail burned this week.

The former Bethlehem Steel mill buildings in suburban Buffalo caught fired after a light bulb touched off flammable materials in the decades-old complex.

The plant made rail that is still used on many railroad lines today. The complex also was used to make steel for locomotives, tanks, warships and automobiles.

The mill that rolled the rails was closed in the 1980s.

Pa. Museum Gets Grant to Move Locomotives

The Lake Shore Railway Historical Society has received a $3,000 grant to be used to move locomotives to the group’s museum in North East, Pa.

The Thomas E. Dailey Foundation of Chicago made the award to enable the museum to receive the first diesel-electric locomotive owned by New York State short line Genesee & Wyoming. The locomotive is currently in Youngstown.

Built in 1944, the 80-ton locomotive will become the seventh General Electric-built unit in the museum’s collection.

The museum will also use the grant money to move McDonald Steel Alco S2 No. 777 to North East. No. 777 was built in November 1946 and used at the Ohio Works of U.S. Steel in Youngstown, replacing a 0-6-0 steam switcher.

The Ohio Works used blast furnaces and steelmaking furnaces to make steel that it rolled into such semi-finished shapes as blooms and slabs.

Those were moved over the 3.5-mile Youngstown & Northern Railroad to finishing mills of the McDonald Works.

After being moved to North East, the 777 will keep its McDonald Steel paint scheme and be dedicated to David Houck, founder and first president.

Adding Some Color to the Steel Mills

The Virginian heritage unit of Norfolk Southern has made a few appearances in Northeast Ohio in the past week. This past Sunday it led an auto rack train bound for Detroit through the Cleveland area during the mid morning hours.

Earlier, it had led the I8V, an extra section of the 28V, out of Rockport Yard in Cleveland to Conway Yard near Pittsburgh.

But before all of that happened, the NS saw spot duty on the BX01 in Cleveland. A gritty old school steel mill looms in the distance as BX01 does it’s air test in the cool shade of a few trees.

Campbell Road yard in the distance was originally a Wheeling and Lake Erie yard. Did any original Virginian units make it to this Campbell Road back in the day?

Photograph by Roger Durfee