Eastern Railroad Discussion > Bessemer Bonanza in Butler

As the title indicated, a couple Saturdays ago was a busy day in Butler by Bessemer standards. I'd noticed a pattern lately where the B&LE had been running a turn to AK Steel at Butler from Greenville around mid day Saturday followed later by the usual afternoon ore drag. Since it was a nice day and all my honey do chores had been completed, I decided to head to Butler to check things out in the afternoon.

Upon arriving in Butler, I made a quick scan of the area around the AK mill, but didn't see any sign of a crew switching there, and the radio was silent. On a whim, I decided to tune in the yard frequency (161.310) used up at Conneaut and low and behold, heard a B&LE crew switching and then talking to the AK yardmaster to let him know he was clear of the plant and headed north (they'd obviously been hiding out of view somewhere)...so I quickly headed towards a position on one end of the large PA route 8 bridge spanning the Connoquenesing creek valley in downtown Butler, which offers the only shot with even close to decent lighting for a northbound in the afternoon. I figured it was going to be close...until he toned up the dispatcher looking for railroad north and was informed "you'll have to wait for a southbound coming by Euclid now..." OK, so the ore train is coming too! I'd have loved to have figured out a way to document a rare meet at Standard Jct, but access there is difficult, and I didn't want to monkey around, so I got in position for the southbound:

1. The daily ore drag has a nice surprise in the form of SD38-3 867 in the lead.
2. As the ore train was passing, I hustled up the walkway on the bridge and crossed 4 lanes of traffic to the other side to get into position for the local...I didn't have to wait long until the ore cleared and a single B&LE tunnel motor rambled past with a handful of empty gons. The Calvin Yarcd caboose (which is still apparently picked up on the way south and used for the long) shove to the mill was nice to see. I'd imagine the crew had a less than fun trip south with a long hood forward SD.
3. I hustled back across the bridge to my vehicle in the hopes of catching the ore train again. SD38's in the lead of ore trains aren't unheard of by any means, but they aren't exactly common either and worth another shot. Fortunately, I beat the train to Russellton with time to spare and got him coming under the signal bridge amid encroaching early winter shadows.

Not bad for an hour on the B&LE!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/12 10:42 by PittsburghMike.

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Not bad at all! Really like #3!

Jon

Picture #3 is superb !!! What railroad had that signal bridge there where that picture was taken? Is that what they call a "searchlight" signal? Thanks...

Forever-Railfan-45 Wrote:
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> Picture #3 is superb !!! What railroad had that
> signal bridge there where that picture was taken?
> Is that what they call a "searchlight" signal?
> Thanks...

This is Canadian National former Bessemer & Lake Erie (B&LE) Railroad. And yes, it is indeed a searchlight signal.

Excellent day!
JB

resqjon Wrote:
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> Not bad at all! Really like #3!
>
> Jon

Thanks bud. Needs some snow!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/12 20:36 by PittsburghMike.

Nice stuff Mr PM.

Nice pics, Mike. Thanks...

Well done for one hour Mike. You will be hard pressed to top this. Excellent late afternoon signal bridge shot.
John

Perfect location shots

Thanks all.

SUPER pics!!!! Thanks for sharing.

Neat catch on that single Tunnel Motor. I have yet to see a photo of one of the tunnel motors out on the main running long hood forward.