Photo Charter Set for J&L No. 58 in Youngstown

The Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum is conducting a photo charter on July 23 feature a narrow gauge saddle tank steam locomotive.

The event will be held at the museum at 2261 Hubbard Road in Youngstown between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $120 per person plus a $3 service fee.

Participants will be able to capture multiple photo runbys and staged scenes with J&L No. 58 and other steel mill equipment in the museum’s collection.

The locomotive will pull a short train around the museum grounds until sunset. After dark, No. 58 will be posed under lights in several locations.

A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the museum.

To order tickets visit https://www.chrislantzphotography.com/event-details/j-l-58-mini-photo-charter?fbclid=IwAR0tXRzUMhf96Wy2r33du9CavfSSbA38smxgiPElPk8fiWD0Cl4Au8gPXAc

J&L Narrow Gauge Season to Resume in June

The J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad in Youngstown will begin its second operating season in June.

The 24-inch railroad operates with a 0-4-0T steam locomotive built by H.K. Porter for a Pittsburgh Steel Mill.

Operating dates for 2020 will be  June 6 and 7, July 4 and 5, August 1 and 2 Sept. 5 and 6, and Oct. 3 and 4.

Trains will operate between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 per person with children age 5 and under carried for free.

The railroad is located at 2261 Hubbard Road in Youngstown and is part of the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum.

Special operating dates are expected to include a private event in September for the Erie Lackawanna Railroad Historical Society annual symposium and in October for the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association’s annual whistle blow.

The railroad said on a YouTube posting that it may operate additional days for work sessions and private events.

J&LNG Seeking Volunteers to Help With Signal Work

The J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad in Youngstown is seeking volunteers who are interested in railway signaling to assist in the installation of a working signal system.

The work includes plans to install switch circuit controllers on the house track and eastern extension switches to operate signals directing movements over these tracks.

Thus far the railroad has completed installation of a searchlight dwarf signal for the house track.

It is now acquiring components for the main track signals and plans to install crossing gates at one of its road crossings.

The railroad said if there is sufficient interest it will schedule a J&LNG signaling weekend in the spring.

The J&LNG  is a part of the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum and is a 24-inch gauge demonstration railroad that shows the type of narrow gauge railroad operations used by the steel industry.

It features a 93,000 pound 0-4-0T built by HK Porter for the Pittsburgh Works.

Recently the museum has received from CSX three more pieces of rolling stock to add to its collection.

The boxcars will be used for storage while a ballast hopper will become a coal dock for the J&L 58.

Previously, CSX has now donated to the museum a caboose, a tank car for water storage, a hopper for coal storage and boxcars for general storage.

Steam in the Mahoning Valley

Jeff Troutman and Ed Ribinskas last weekend visited Northeast Ohio’s newest tourist railroad, the steam-powered J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Based at the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum, the J&L features 0-4-0T saddle tank locomotive No. 58 built by H.K. Porter for the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company.

No. 58 will be pulling passengers on the 24-inch gauge railroad on select dates through October.

The train operates continuously between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. so long as there are passengers to ride.

Boarding is done in a shed shown below. The trip shuttles between the ends of the track.

Passengers get to shuttle between ends three times per trip.

Also shown in this photo essay is shunter No. 3, which moved iron ore cars at the docks of the Pennsylvania Railroad on Lake Erie in Cleveland.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steam Trips Now Running in Youngstown

Northeast Ohio has a new operating steam locomotive and it’s ready to pull public excursions.

The Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum has finished restoring to operating condition its No. 58 narrow gauge 0-4-0T saddle tank engine built by the H.K. Porter Company for Jones & Laughlin Steel Company.

Originally designed as a 23-inch engine, the steamer now operates on a 24-inch gauge on the museum’s J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad.

No. 58 will be operating on select summer weekends, using more than 700 feet of track.

Passengers ride in an open air flatcar with bench seating and a roof.

Admission is $8 and includes unlimited rides. Children age 5 and under are admitted free.

Upcoming dates during which No. 58 will be operating are June 9, July 6 and 7, Aug. 3 and 4, Sept. 7 and 8, and Oct. 5.

Trains will be operating between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on all dates.

The museum is located at 2261 Hubbard Road in Youngstown.

For more information, visit the J&L pages at https://www.facebook.com/events/2352655365013134/

Photographs by Todd Dillon