The Rest of the Day After Arcade & Attica Trip 5/19/2010

Bessemer and Lake Erie wooden caboose 1825, nee Bessemer and Lake Erie 1001 built by the railroad in 1925.

Bessemer and Lake Erie hopper car 76857 built by American Car and Foundry in 1937.

New York Central milepost and whistle posts.

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 755 built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1944. It was one of the last locomotives to receive major repairs prior to the Conneaut backshops closing in 1958 and was donated to the City of Conneaut in 1964.

The Conneaut station from across the tracks.

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Conneaut freight house built in 1851.

Nickel Plate 2-8-4 755 as viewed from the freight house.

CSX 5405 East passing through Conneaut. From here we drove Ohio Highway 7 south to US Highway 322 to Jamestown, Pennsylvania then Pennsylvania 58 south to our last stop of the day.

The former Atlantic and Great Wester (later Erie Railroad) Greenville station built in 1872 and was the second station on this site. It also served as the station for the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad (the forerunner of the Bessemer and Lake Erie) prior to that line building a station in town. The Shenango and Allegheny ended at Shenango at that time but connections were made to the A&GW depot at Greenville for continuous service, effectively making the A&GW station the Greenville departure point for the S&A. Around 18 S&A trains per day left the depot. The station was extensively renovated in 1954 with new doors, windows, brick work and paint. The floor was raised four inches and the ceiling was lowered to 12 feet. Passenger service ended in 1970.

The Park was started in 1985 by a group of volunteers interested in preserving and promoting Greenville's railroad history. The property was donated by Mr. Marc Rinella. The Bessemer Railroad donated the 1936 steam engine, an iron ore car and caboose 1985. Over the next few years, a group of very dedicated volunteers built the museum building, the operator’s office/gift shop, the speeder shed, the maintenance shed and completely landscaped the grounds. Along the way, another caboose was donated by the Union Pacific Railroad, a flat car came from Cooper Bessemer and the W&LE caboose arrived from Norfolk Southern.

Norfolk Southern caboose 557705, ex. Norfolk and Western 557705 1964, exx. Nickel Plate 705 949, nee Wheeling and Lake Erie caboose 0205 built by the railroad in 1948. It was donated in 1989 by Norfolk Southern to Richard Rowlands of Hubbard, Ohio and donated to the park by Mr. Rowlands, repainted by Trinity Industries and placed here in 1992.

Erie Railroad flat car 8200 built in 1904. It was used for years at the Cooper Bessemer plant in Grove City. This fish-belly center-sill flat hauled diesel engines and was donated by Cooper Bessemer, restored by Trinity Industries and placed here in 1999, then converted to patio car 5300.

Union Pacific Caboose 25437 "End of Train but Safety Rolls On!" built by the railroad in 1959 and retired in 1990. We met Scott, who opened the museum building for us.

Union Railroad 0-10-2 604 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Union Railroad in 1936, the only 0-10-2s built new for an American railroad. They were consequently dubbed "Union" type locomotives. The Union Railroad was created in 1896, running six miles from East Pittsburgh to Hays, Pennsylvania. Between 1906 and 1915, the railroad expanded to include several other mills in the Mon Valley region, and was responsible for switching at each mill, delivering raw materials to the mills and finished products to interchange with the major railroads in the area.

After World War II, the Union dieselised and sold the Unions to the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range in 1949. The DM&IR removed the engines' original boosters from the front tender truck, but compensated by adding weight to the locomotive frame. Most operated well into the 1950's, although 604 is the only survivor. It was donated to the City of Greenville in 1985 and is on display at the Greenville Railroad Museum Park on Main Street. As the steel industry declined in the Unitd States, the Union's operations were greatly scaled back, although it still serves three plants of the US Steel Mon Valley Works.

The steam engine and semaphore signal, whiche stood along the Erie tracks at XN Tower in the Shenango Yard, where the Bessemer tracks crossed the Erie tracks. It was donated by Conrail.

Bessemer and Lake Erie ore car 20567 built by Greenville Steel Car Company in 1952 and used to haul iron ore from Conneaut harbor to the Pittsburgh steel mills. It was donated by the Bessemer Railroad, repainted by Greenville Steel Car and placed here in 1986.

Bessemer and Lake Erie caboose 1985, nee Elgin, Joliet and Eastern 527 built by International Car in 1956. It was leased to the Bessemer and Lake Erie from 1966 to 1982.

Greenville Railroad Park sign.

This signal light came off the Union Railroad, which serviced all the steel mills of US Steel in the Monongahela Valley and was donated by the Fuddy Duddy's Club, a group of Union Railroad retirees who were big supporters of the Greenville Railroad Park in its early days.

Museum building.

Section house.

Road crossing signal.

Bessemer and Lake Erie dispatching board.

Views inside museum building. Scott then decided to give us a tour of Greenville and led the way to the former Bessemer and Lake Erie shops.

Bessemer and Lake Erie roundhouse in Greenville built in 1893. Andrew Carnegie established the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company in 1897 to carry iron ore from Conneaut, Ohio, on Lake Erie to Carnegie Steel Company plants in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Forming a link between his plants and the Great Lakes ore boats arriving in Conneaut from Minnesota's Missabe Iron Range, it was part of his plan to form a complete, vertically integrated steel company. The core of the PB&LE was formed by two small lines Carnegie absorbed: the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad, and the Butler & Pittsburgh Railroad. The company was renamed the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad in 1900.

Carnegie Steel had an exclusive 999 year lease to the B&LE. This lease was acquired by United States Steel when that company acquired Carnegie Steel in 1901. The Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of Transtar, Inc., in 1988, and subsequently a part of Great Lakes Transportation, LLC, in 2001. Since 2004, the Bessemer & Lake Erie has been operated as a unit of the Canadian National Railway. Iron ore remains the route's major freight commodity, although coal has always been a convenient backhaul to Conneaut.

The Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad began construction of the Greenville, Pennsylvania shops in 1893, but the largest portion of the complex was added in several stages by successor Bessemer & Lake Erie. The last major structure to be added was the Diesel Shop in 1951. Much of the steam-era facilities gradually fell into disuse after the road completely dieselized, but portions continued to house various support functions. The complex was redundant to Canadian National, and it has been largely abandoned in place since shortly after the merger. The turntable still sees service turning diesel locomotives when needed.

The shop complex is located beside the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad's original main line, which largely followed the Little Shenango and Shenango rivers between the villages of Osgood, north of Greenville, and Kremis to the south. Since this route involved steep grades out of Greenville in both directions, the Bessemer & Lake Erie built a new line between Osgood and Kremis in 1902 that bypassed Greenville and these grades and shortened the run by three miles. The original line remained in place to serve the shop and local customers.

The shop complex consists of seven major buildings. The 32-bay, brick Erecting Shop was used for heavy repair of steam locomotives, though a two-bay extension built specifically to perform running maintenance was added to its east end in 1951. The northern half of the Erecting Shop, which has a lower roofline, housed the machine shop. A transfer table along the building's south side moved locomotives to and from the Erecting Shop bays. The higher roofline in this portion accommodated an overhead bridge crane. Both portions of this building feature pitched roofs with clerestories. Southeast of the Erecting Shop is the 17-stall Roundhouse, which was built to house running maintenance of steam locomotives, though it later served diesels as well. It is brick, with concrete interior columns, though a large portion of the walls and stall doors are multipane windows to admit natural light. It also has a windowed clerestory.

An electrically driven turntable serviced all 17 stalls and still serves to turn diesel locomotives. The brick Powerhouse located south of the Erecting Shop housed boilers that supplied steam to the entire complex. Farther south are the Wheel Shop, which maintained wheels, axles and bearings for the system, and a large, partially open Freight Car Shop. This served as the railroad's heavy car repair shop.

Bessemer and Lake Erie fuelling racks.

Bessemer Lake and Erie car shop.

Bessemer and Lake Erie station. We then drove to the west side of the shop.

Bessemer and Lake Erie transfer table.

Bessemer and Lake Erie building.

Bessemer and Lake Erie coach shop. After thanking Scott, we drove Pennsylvania 358 east to Sandy Lake, where we joined US Highway 62 to Oil City, then Pennsylvania 8 to Titusville.

Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad S-2 85, ex. New York and Lake Erie 85, nee South Buffalo 85 built by American Locomotive Company in 1950.

Oil Creek and Titusville M420 3568, ex. New York and Lake Erie 3568, exx. Trillium Railway 3568, nee Canadian National 3568 built by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1976. From here we checked into The Caboose Motel for the next two nights.