IC on the BLE Take 2
Here is a vertical crop of a frame taken a fraction of a second before this earlier post:
That image may just be my favorite overall of the trip just because of how it all came together with seconds to spare and the absolute perfect lighting and dramatic sky.
Here is the same caption info repeated for those that missed the earlier post.
The same light units shot before dawn earlier this same morning have run to Conneaut Docks, retrieved a train load of taconite, and are now headed south toward a date with the Union Railroad in North Bessemer. After a crew change at Kremis the south end turn crew has train U703 at the 35 MPH track speed passing beneath the intermediate signals at MP 55 on CN's Bessemer Sub. just north of the McCandless Rd. Crossing with IC SD70 1028 (blt. Jan 1999) and two sisters in charge. While we didn't get to shoot BLE orange here these classic EMDs that were among the last standard cab units ever built look pretty good!
The 139 mile long B&LE can trace its earliest history to the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad which began operation through Greenville in October 1869. Then in 1897 Andrew Carnegie established the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company tp carry iron ore from Conneaut, Ohio, on Lake Erie to Carnegie Steel Company plants in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Forming a link between his plants and the Great Lakes ore boats arriving in Conneaut from Minnesota's Missabe Iron Range, it was part of his plan to form a complete, vertically integrated steel company. The core of the PB&LE was formed by two small lines Carnegie absorbed: the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad, and the Butler & Pittsburgh Railroad. The company was renamed the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad in 1900.
Carnegie Steel had an exclusive 999 year lease of the B&LE. This lease passed to United States Steel when that company was formed by J.P. Morgan in 1901 by the merger of Carnegie with Federal Steel and National Steel. The Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of Transtar, Inc., in 1988, and subsequently a part of Great Lakes Transportation, LLC, in 2001 which was sold to the CN in 2004. Despite being disconnected from and virtually unrelated to the rest of CN's network they have retained the B&LE ever since.
Near Slippery Rock
Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Tuesday August 18, 2020
IC on the BLE Take 2
Here is a vertical crop of a frame taken a fraction of a second before this earlier post:
That image may just be my favorite overall of the trip just because of how it all came together with seconds to spare and the absolute perfect lighting and dramatic sky.
Here is the same caption info repeated for those that missed the earlier post.
The same light units shot before dawn earlier this same morning have run to Conneaut Docks, retrieved a train load of taconite, and are now headed south toward a date with the Union Railroad in North Bessemer. After a crew change at Kremis the south end turn crew has train U703 at the 35 MPH track speed passing beneath the intermediate signals at MP 55 on CN's Bessemer Sub. just north of the McCandless Rd. Crossing with IC SD70 1028 (blt. Jan 1999) and two sisters in charge. While we didn't get to shoot BLE orange here these classic EMDs that were among the last standard cab units ever built look pretty good!
The 139 mile long B&LE can trace its earliest history to the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad which began operation through Greenville in October 1869. Then in 1897 Andrew Carnegie established the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company tp carry iron ore from Conneaut, Ohio, on Lake Erie to Carnegie Steel Company plants in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Forming a link between his plants and the Great Lakes ore boats arriving in Conneaut from Minnesota's Missabe Iron Range, it was part of his plan to form a complete, vertically integrated steel company. The core of the PB&LE was formed by two small lines Carnegie absorbed: the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad, and the Butler & Pittsburgh Railroad. The company was renamed the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad in 1900.
Carnegie Steel had an exclusive 999 year lease of the B&LE. This lease passed to United States Steel when that company was formed by J.P. Morgan in 1901 by the merger of Carnegie with Federal Steel and National Steel. The Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of Transtar, Inc., in 1988, and subsequently a part of Great Lakes Transportation, LLC, in 2001 which was sold to the CN in 2004. Despite being disconnected from and virtually unrelated to the rest of CN's network they have retained the B&LE ever since.
Near Slippery Rock
Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Tuesday August 18, 2020