Grace Mine Cleanout
Bethlehem Steel’s Grace Mine in Joanna, PA provided countless trainloads of iron ore for the company’s main steelmaking plant in Bethlehem, PA. Joanna was located on the Reading’s Wilmington & Northern branch, which diverged from the Reading Belt Line at Birdsboro, and meandered through rural Pennsylvania and Delaware to Wilmington, DE. Post-Conrail, the W&N from Joanna south to Coatesville was abandoned, and the portion from Coatesville to Wilmington was spun off to short lines. By 1985, the ore had played out, and mining operations were discontinued. Once a week, a thirty car train of empties was delivered to the mine, and thirty loads of stockpiled ore were pulled back to Reading. Here one of those cleanout trains works the small yard at Grace mine. As I recall, there were only two or three more trains run to Joanna before the entire line between Joanna and Birdsboro was abandoned.
Grace Mine Cleanout
Bethlehem Steel’s Grace Mine in Joanna, PA provided countless trainloads of iron ore for the company’s main steelmaking plant in Bethlehem, PA. Joanna was located on the Reading’s Wilmington & Northern branch, which diverged from the Reading Belt Line at Birdsboro, and meandered through rural Pennsylvania and Delaware to Wilmington, DE. Post-Conrail, the W&N from Joanna south to Coatesville was abandoned, and the portion from Coatesville to Wilmington was spun off to short lines. By 1985, the ore had played out, and mining operations were discontinued. Once a week, a thirty car train of empties was delivered to the mine, and thirty loads of stockpiled ore were pulled back to Reading. Here one of those cleanout trains works the small yard at Grace mine. As I recall, there were only two or three more trains run to Joanna before the entire line between Joanna and Birdsboro was abandoned.