Conrail Ft. Wayne Line and Lordstown Secondary Layout

[conrail98]

Not much work as I actually had to remove a few sections of benchwork that had mildew/mold on them. Various recommended cleaning solutions didn't have the affect I wanted so I decided to just take the sawzall to the areas and remove them. Elsewhere, I've been trying to research the operations of the former LTV/WCI steel plant complex during the later Conrail era. The overall flow I've found seems to be ore came in by Conrail from Ashtabula on ZLW. It looks like coal went to the coke plant from CSX. I know currently the coke plant sends it's output to Cleveland and not to the mill locally. I believe both were operated by the same company in my timeframe (1996-ish) as WCI Steel but I'm going to have to confirm that. It also looks like inbounds and outbounds for other parts of the mill complex came in off both CSX and Conrail (NS now) based off of threads I've found on the internet. I really need to find out more definitive answers because the flow of the inbounds/outbounds for all the materials will dictate how the upper level is arranged,

Phil

[conrail98]

So I did a little more digging on the internet and as Chris (Chris333) alluded to earlier in the thread, the coke plant and integrated mill were 100% operationally independent even in my timeframe. LTV made coke for it's blast furnaces, again, most likely Cleveland and it's coal was delivered and coke taken by CSX. Conrail supplied coke from US Steel's Clairton Works as well as iron ore from Ashtabula. Well, this changes just about everything on the upper level as now instead of a nice cozy operation, it's really two independent ones switched out by the same railroad, apparently, based on some other research. Now, I believe Conrail used regular hoppers from Ashtabula and not ore jennies, right?

Phil

[Chris333]

I think ore and probably coal came in on Conrail/NS and parked it on the line outside the mill. Then CSX would pull all the cars up their line till they cleared the switch and back into the mill. The whole time the train would be blocking the crossing 


Red is the NS
Yellow is the CSX
Blue is the fence around the mill. You can see the switch is right before the road. So after waiting for the train to pull up and see the end of it. The train would stop and back up. Grrrrrr.


And the iron ore from Ash, yes here is one of the turnouts along the way:

http://binged.it/1hin3eG

[LKOrailroad]

I grew up in the Akron Canton Youngstown area and am familiar with the area you are modeling. Had many friends that worked at the Lordstown Assembly Plant. My mom lives in Orrville. We visit there often. If you ever need pictures of the rail in the Orrville area I would be happy to go on a photography side trip while visiting my mom.

[conrail98]

Chris, that's pretty much what the ZTS I have shows. The yard and then "gates" into the CSX. According to another site, it seems there were 3 tricks that came out of the mill proper, RISCO 1, 2 and 3 to gather/delivery various things like the ore, coke, finished coils.

LKO, the one thing in Orrville I haven't found online are good pictures of the station there. That's probably going to be key to portraying that as Orrville.

Thanks guys,

Phil

[LKOrailroad]

LKO, the one thing in Orrville I haven't found online are good pictures of the station there. That's probably going to be key to portraying that as Orrville.

I'll see what I can do next time I am there.

[jmlaboda]

It's red (also at the mill)
https://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/ProtoPhotos#5377680634687737506
http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/prrh2/conrail/cr21303.jpg

Red for a reason... its a part of Norfolk Southern's Conrail Shared Assets equipment that NS received in the break-up of Conrail.  No red Conrail cabs before the break-up.

[Chris333]

Not that it matters for your modeling, but I just heard the blast furnace will be torn down in August. It is the last blast furnace left in the Mahoning Valley. At one time there were 30 in the Youngstown area that made more steel than all of France or Japan.

[conrail98]

Not that it matters for your modeling, but I just heard the blast furnace will be torn down in August. It is the last blast furnace left in the Mahoning Valley. At one time there were 30 in the Youngstown area that made more steel than all of France or Japan.

I had heard all of that. Actually thought it had been torn down already,

Phil

[LKOrailroad]

LKO, the one thing in Orrville I haven't found online are good pictures of the station there. That's probably going to be key to portraying that as Orrville.

Phil, was in Orrville this past weekend. Took the camera along. Here are the depot pictures I promised: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97619348@N02/sets/72157644640364005/

[conrail98]

Phil, was in Orrville this past weekend. Took the camera along. Here are the depot pictures I promised: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97619348@N02/sets/72157644640364005/

Thanks!

Phil

[conrail98]

So I've spent a little more time doing research in and around the steel mill and the industry in general in Warren itself as well as Conrail's lines. So, I knew the iron ore came from Ashtabula in ZLW and off the Niles Secondary. What I failed to realize is that it came in through North Warren, which would be from the same direction as CSX enters the area. I've also come to the conclusion that coke for the blast furnace was delivered as part of a block of cars in regular manifest and/or locals, and not a dedicated train. There's a lot of photographic evidence that Conrail did that in many instances. Also, I saw something where Conrail actually sold most of its lines in Warren to either the Youngstown Belt and/or the Warren And Trumbull Railroad which would mean the yard would basically be just where Conrail and CSX bring in the trains and the WTRB would perform all the switching. Looks like I'm going to need a bunch of undecorated SW1500s to paint in their scheme. Basically, finding this out means I need to rearrange my upper level staging once again.

Finally, since there isn't much operation other then the steel mill in the direction i'm coming in, I'm thinking of representing one or two of the industries that would've been on Conrail/WTRB/YB trackage in North Warren along the back wall of the yard. The ones that look interesting to me that were rail served in 1997 (using modern names) according to the ZTS book I have are:

• Concord Steel - Warren plant appears to make large counterweights
• Clark Dietrick Building Supplies - makes steel framing items
• Noevelus - makes aluminum coated sheets that are used for lids on aluminum cans
• Vulkor - looks like they apply a coating to wire that's used in automotive industry and appliances
• Delphi Packard Electrical - electrical wire and systems mostly for automotive but also appliances and other specialty areas
• Bloom Industries - injected plastic molds for various customers

I know we have a few guys on the forum (Chris333 and LKORailroad) that are from that area so any suggestions on rail served aspects of those industries would be great. Thanks,

Phil

[Chris333]

From what I've seen there was always a NS/Conrail switch crew at the mill or at least a pair of locomotives parked there. And I'm pretty sure is was always CSX that moved the coke and ore off the NS and backed into the mill. The CSX would come from Newton Falls and sometimes stay at DeForest Jct. Lots of steel coils went out on the CSX.

I've never seen the Warren and Trumbull switch the mill, but they have switched other areas in warren. Later the Ohio Central did it.

Coming out of Dietrick:


I just searched and the W&T was formed in 1994 by the Ohio Central:

The Warren & Trumbull Railroad was created by the Ohio Central System in 1994 as an operating company to operate the five mile remnant of the B&O Lake Main from DeForest Jct. to Copperweld.

A friend of mine used to work for them:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/todengine

As for the other industries. Some are on a switchback that was part of the Erie main. You might want to stick with the ones that were right along the line to Ashtabula. And I remember trains used to come and go to Ashtabula around 2-3am middle of the night.

[Chris333]

Also Jerry Debene used to work for the Ohio Central in this area. He did those "engineer classes" back on the Atlas forum. One of them was going up this line in Warren. He goes by OCengineer on Trainboard.

[conrail98]

Thanks for the info Chris. Here was one person's set of photos from Warren: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fan-t/sets/72157623958374799/. He's got some others in there as well. I had also found on one of the prototype forum this bit of info in regards to operations in the area from a CSX perspective:

CSX Operations in Warren (seems to be in the early 2000s/late 1990s:

Warren traffic is served by locals called at DeForest Junction utilizing the Newton Falls SD at Newton Falls OH to connect with the New Castle SD mainline. Warren area crews are called at either Deforest Junction or at the WCI Steel Mill in Warren. The WCI crews are called at the mill itself and not the yard office at DeForest Jct., which is about 2 miles east of the WCI mill.
WCI crews report to a small office on the first floor of a railroad scale house operated by the mill. Several of these crews are referred to in the old timer's language as RISCO #1 and RISCO #2 jobs (RISCO is the acronym for Republic Iron and Steel Company). There is a job that spots the ore loads, one that spots the coal at the coke oven in daylight, and one night trick. The RISCO jobs also pull coke empties for the NS by day or night and the Coil Gons from the rolling mill during daylight operations. There is also a few of the mill's own remote control units working about as well.

All of the work is done within the confines of the mill's property and photography is strictly prohibited. Coal is delivered by CSX from the Deforest Junction job which brings the coal up from Newton Falls. Iron Ore is delivered by the NS from Ashtabula Harbor via the Youngstown Line and the Niles Secondary.

• B713 Deforest Junction-Warren Local
• D756 RISCO 1st Trick Deforest Jct-Warren Local
• D757 RISCO 3rd Trick Deforest Jct-Warren Local
• D758 RISCO 2nd Trick Deforest Jct-Warren Local
• D759 Deforest Jct-Newton Falls Turn
• D760 Lordstown-Warren Local
• D761 Lordstown-Youngstown Local
  
• D762 Lordstown-Ohio Junction Local