Youngstown Belt RR - POC 8702, Girard, Ohio_
The Youngstown Belt crew is returning to their home terminal at Brier Hill after a trip to serve customers at Warren. Here they pass the old Pennsylvania RR coaling tower at Girard. There were once two tracks under each arch of the coaling tower and one passing outside of each arch. It was built in 1922. A position-light signal was once mounted on the steelwork over the left arch of the coaling tower. The leaning steelwork to the left has fallen, but once stood straight up and was part of the conveyor system transporting coal to the top of the structure.
The Pennsy, B&O and EL all had parallel lines through here and up the Mahoning River Valley. They served a burgeoning steel making industry that today is but a very small fraction of what it once was. With no access to cheaper water transport of raw materials, the steel makers here were victim of higher transportation costs.
Youngstown Belt RR - POC 8702, Girard, Ohio_
The Youngstown Belt crew is returning to their home terminal at Brier Hill after a trip to serve customers at Warren. Here they pass the old Pennsylvania RR coaling tower at Girard. There were once two tracks under each arch of the coaling tower and one passing outside of each arch. It was built in 1922. A position-light signal was once mounted on the steelwork over the left arch of the coaling tower. The leaning steelwork to the left has fallen, but once stood straight up and was part of the conveyor system transporting coal to the top of the structure.
The Pennsy, B&O and EL all had parallel lines through here and up the Mahoning River Valley. They served a burgeoning steel making industry that today is but a very small fraction of what it once was. With no access to cheaper water transport of raw materials, the steel makers here were victim of higher transportation costs.