Nostalgia & History > Wonder if anything in this shot is 'Nickel Plate(d)?

From the Alan Miller Collection: NKP S2 #34.

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Don't know if anything is 'Nickel Plate(d)', but I certainly no one has an open flame because that is a Gulf refinery adjacent to the tracks. Note the name on the stack.
Very interesting photo. The background is almost more interesting than the unit.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN

Where did the Nickel Plate get to in the gulf coast? Just curious.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Is it Lima, Ohio?

Ok boys 'n girls, can you find the train man in the picture? I did! :)

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

jbohdan2 Wrote:
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> Is it Lima, Ohio?

In the late 1970's the Lima refinery was SOHIO (Standard Oil of Ohio). In-plant switching was split between then-N&W, B&O, and Conrail, four months each out of a year.

I'm going to guess that this is possibly Gulf's Toledo Refinery, which as late as 2015 was identified in a newspaper article in relation to a fire:

http://www.toledoblade.com/memories/2015/02/16/Toledo-oil-refinery-blaze-lights-up-sky.html

I think that this may be a Husky refinery today. It is fairly common in the oil industry for refineries to switch hands from one firm to another, something that has happened quite a bit in recent years particularly. The historical record does show that Gulf built a Toledo refinery early in the Depression. Any thoughts toledopatch?

Sorry, I could not come up with enough correlation between trackage maps for the NKP in Toledo and refinery locations to be sure.

To Bob Krieger's question, Gulf Oil had its origins on the Gulf Coast, particularly in the great Spindletop oilfield in far southeastern Texas --and thus its name when the firm was formally created in 1907. Some of its its earliest owners were members of the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, and the firm early on obtained financing from the Mellon Bank. The Mellons remained closely associated and held growing and key stakes thereafter, and Gulf's headquarters was moved to Pittsburgh, where it remained for many years. Gulf Oil was long a key part of the Mellon family wealth, one of the great family fortunes of the country.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/17 16:36 by ironmtn.