Eastern Railroad Discussion > Allegheny Ludlum Steel RR in Natrona, PA - request for info.

I will be in the Butler, PA area soon and was curious about the possiblities of railfanning the Allegeheny Ludlum Steel RR in Natrona, PA.  Any information re. operations, legal photo spots, etc. would be appreciated.  Do they run on Saturday?  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/16 08:12 by birdman.

There is public roads on both sides of the track which runs parallel to the NS Conemaugh line. They had a long strike and business is down. Not sure about Saturday operations. It is slower than weekdays.

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I live near there and pass the mill daily on my way to work. Since the strike ended, there has been a cut of empty coil gons waiting on the siding to be taken in and loaded. That strike ended quite a while ago now. Operations there have been pretty slow. There has still been some movement in the recycling yards a little north of the new mill. Before the strike, there was fairly constant activity there during daylight hours. I can't comment on evening or nighttime operations there as I never really looked. 

There are public streets along the tracks and mills with plenty of street parking available. Along the rail side of the new mill, there is a street that goes up the hill. From this street, there are some good high vantage point shots available. On the trackage between the older part of the mill and the recycling yard, there is a decent amount of mill traffic and plenty of surface-level sidewalks and such. When the mills are working, there are also hot slag ladle cars that run this line from the mill to the slag dumps in the recycling yard. 

There is an open lot next to the recycling yard buildings that might be a good spot to watch some operations there. It is fenced off from the mill property and has no trespassing signs on the fence, but it is unclear if they mean no trespassing in the lot or no trespassing on the other side of the fence. I take them to mean the latter, and have not been bothered there, though I've never stayed long. 

I'm hoping to spend a bit of time there this summer. I want to catch a few ladle trains and maybe some of the interesting motive power (specifically the rail "tractors" they have that were put in service with the new plant). With the slowdown after the strike, though, I'm not sure how much is happening right now. 

Jonathan