Nostalgia & History > The best interchange operation I ever saw...WM to PC

While B&O owned the Connellsville Pa. area, there were four other roads that made appearances in town back in the late 60s and early 70s. P&LE was down to about one train a day each way in their interchange with the Western Maryland. N&W and WM were very active with their handoff of the Alpha Jets, and assorted other moves. The one very sporadic but by far most fascinating interchange was between WM and PC. WM would bring ore trains from Baltimore west , and pull just beyond their trackage that came up from their Bowest yard. The caboose would cut off on a bridge over the PC tracks, and the train would pull forward then back down a steep grade to the PC track. The soon to be helpers for the PC move would couple on to the train and pull it east until completely on PC trackage. The PC road power would then couple on, brake test was made, and off they went in a northbound trajectory to the mills up in the Pitteburgh area I presume. The images here are the ones I was able to salvage from one of those fascinating moves.

top...Western Maryland ore train arriving. PC tracks below the bridge.

middle...this is the now PC ore train pulling. WM bridge is above.

bottom.... good overall view of connection track on left, and the PC helpers working on the rear of the outbound train. 1971

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Interesting as usual. The power on both trains is a railfan's delight. (Photo one: Four F-units/ Photo two: ALCO, GE, EMD/ Photo three: ALCO, EMD.
Bob

I’ve heard and read about these ore movements but have never seen images of such. This is truely rare historical documentation. Thank goodness you were able to salvage and share with us. The train is heading up the ex-PRR Southwest Secondary and will connect with the mainline near Greensburg, Pa. The trackage still exists today although it has been cut just outside of Connellsville proper at was what known as the Bullskin Loadout. SWP is now operator but I’m uncertain if trains are still being loaded at Bullskin.

bigkidpgh Wrote:
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> I’ve heard and read about these ore movements
> but have never seen images of such. This is truely
> rare historical documentation. Thank goodness you
> were able to salvage and share with us. The train
> is heading up the ex-PRR Southwest Secondary and
> will connect with the mainline near Greensburg,
> Pa. The trackage still exists today although it
> has been cut just outside of Connellsville proper
> at was what known as the Bullskin Loadout. SWP is
> now operator but I’m uncertain if trains are
> still being loaded at Bullskin.

About as obscure an operation that I've ever heard of regarding the WM Connellsville Sub. I have never seen such coverage anywhere before now.
While the WM bridge and roadbed is now the GAP trail, the x-PRR is nothing but vacant roadbed until the very top of the last pic, where the GAP trail diverges onto the x-PRR roadbed for a short distance before it turns onto 3rd street to run west. What a sight the PC train must have made crossing West Crawford St. in Connellsville!

This is the kind of material that the WMRHS should be featuring in their publication, instead of regurgitated material about logging RRs in WVA...

Super cool - thanks for posting!

Question:  Where was the ore mined?  I would assume overseas - ovbiously it wasn't mined in or near Baltimore!!  I know the Reading hauled iron ore loads from Philly to Bethlehem back in the same era.  Another question would be, why wouldn't Pennsy/PC just haul it from one of their own docks in Philly or Baltimore instead of sharing the revenue with WM?

In the late 50's I know that some iron ore came to Phila from Venezuela (!) and also from Labrador.  Possibly shipments went to Baltimore from same overseas mines.

rbenko Wrote:
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> Super cool - thanks for posting!
>
> Question:  Where was the ore mined?  I would
> assume overseas - obviously it wasn't mined in or
> near Baltimore!!  I know the Reading hauled iron
> ore loads from Philly to Bethlehem back in the
> same era.  Another question would be, why
> wouldn't Pennsy/PC just haul it from one of their
> own docks in Philly or Baltimore instead of
> sharing the revenue with WM?
If memory serves me correctly, the Western Maryland had a better facility for unloading the ore at one time with their facilities at Port Covington in the southern portion of Baltimore.  Western Maryland used to bring a lot more coal down to Baltimore for loading onto ships back in those days too.  They had an excellent facility there at Port Covington.  There is nothing left in that yard today which is waiting to be redeveloped in Baltimore.  Chessie sold the whole Port Covington Yard when the WM was merged into it.
Thanks for those outstanding photos of history that I too had never seen Bill.
John in White Marsh, Maryland



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/20 10:00 by ClubCar.

The rotary dumper at Port Covington Pier#4 had a washing system to clean empty hoppers for iron ore loading, part of WM's utilization program for empty hoppers.
Pier#6 was used also for its gantry cranes to offload ore and other minerals.
Import minerals included:
Iron ore from Venezuela
European manganese
African ore and manganese
Upper Great Lakes taconite via St. Lawrence Seaway
After 1973, operations moved to B&O's Curtis Bay pier.
Small, profitable WM could compete very well against huge, bankrupt PC for this traffic.

You beat me to it, bigsavage. Yes, I think Clubcar nailed it.
Pier 6 at Port Covington had 3 cranes to unload ore from ship to railcar.
With those excellent facilities available, it's possible that WM was simply more aggressive in securing that business.
/Ted 
 

You learn something new every day!  I never knew about this move, so interesting.

And as for WM having the traffic, I remember talking to WM men when I was young and them saying how they could swipe traffic from larger roads like PC or even  B&O because of their service.  They would have a train delivered while the big roads would have it in a yard somewhere waiting to go out.

I knew about the moves but never knew how they got from WM to PC. That connector track was a surprise to me. I thought the interchange would take place at the other end of Bowest but I don't believe there was a PC connection there and if there were it would have gotten involved with B&O (or Chessie whichever it was at that time).
Thanks for another out of the park hit! 
Go

Very cool interchange. I've never seen any other photos of this operation. Great post Bill !

This is awesome stuff Bill! I'll second the earlier comment about getting stuff like this in WMRHS publication, you've got plenty of stuff that would fit the bill! In regards to the connection track, the grade was so steep on it that in the days of the Challengers on the WM, they were only allowed to back down the hill to the Pennsy so as to keep enough water over the crown sheet. The south side of the river in Connellsville really was impressive back in the day with all five of the roads in town having a piece of the action on that side of town. Throw in the West Penn traction that lasted into the 50's and it really had everything back in the day.

Thanks for digging out more gems and keep the good stuff coming!

Scooter

Wow. Incredible stuff. I likewise assumed the WM/PC connection was down at the south end of Bowest by the engine terminal.

Re Bullskin on the SWP, the tipple loads sporadic shipments of limestone by rail. A small portion of the PRR is also intact at Mt Braddock south of Connellsville to serve a customer in the industrial park at this location.

Posted from iPhone

After obtaining and reading Salamon and Hopkins' WM in the Diesel Era in the mid-1990s with its excellent maps, I was always curious about the path of the PRR through the west side of Connellsville.
Fortunately in 2005, while visting the New Haven Hose Co. (Connellsville's volunteer fire dept.) on 7th St., we were shown the remains of Opossum Run Jct, while shooting pics of their classic Mack fire engine. The former Jct. is located just to the south and behind the fire station, but very little is left of the rest of the path through to the former Youghiogheny River bridge, which is gone without a trace.

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Bill - fantastic coverage.  I've never seen any shots of this operation until now.  Be glad you were there to record it.  I knew the WM had an interchange with PRR/PC here, but had no idea they interchanged solid trains of iron ore.   I don't think this was a common or regular move.  The steel mills in western PA and eastern OH got most of their iron ore through the ports on the Great Lakes, but did get some imported iron ore through the East Coast ports, and there were several available options.  The B&O could handle imported iron ore at Curtis Bay, the WM had their Pier 6 at Baltimore, and PRR/PC had Pier 122 at South Philadelphia.  In the days of regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the rates from the east coast to a particular steel mill would have generally been the same, no matter which carriers were in the route.  A Western Maryland salesman could have sold WM's superior service and car availability, and convinced a steel company to use a WM-PC route, even though the move could have been made directly over the PC.  The PC would have been compelled by ICC regulation to cooperate with the WM on such a route.  The division of line-haul revenue would have been governed by formulas maintained by the ICC.     
  
The de-regulation of the rail industry led to the virtual disappearance of routings such as the WM-PC route pictured here.  In the deregulated world, a carrier like PC could competitively price its own direct route, and require a high line haul division for a route with another carrier, rendering the joint line route uncompetitive.  In addition, after deregulation, rail carriers could enter into long-term contracts with customers that offered lower rates in return for a commitment by the shipper to move all, or the vast majority of their tonnage in a particular lane.  

Thanks for sharing with us.   

 

An open cab CF. Image of the day.

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

Bill, do you remember if this was "raw" ore or taconite pellets? If the former, this train may have been heaed for the USS Sintering plant on the B&LE at Saxonburg, PA. I seem to remember that PC/CR handled much of this ore to the interchange with B&LE at Butler, PA.

Another question: Couldn’t WM have interchanged this ore with PC in Hagerstown instead of sending it the length of the road with the “tricky” handoff at Connellsville?

They could have but in those days it behooved WM to keep the train on its rails as long as possible. Bottom line was more revenue. The other question about type of ore; I really don't remember, but I don't believe pellets were moved only because I never saw any pellet spillage out along WM lines at any time.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD