Jim The Mahoning Division really "held its own" right up to Conrail Day one. There were ups and downs with the steel industry but the Mahoning Division was diverse as far as traffic. Sand for light bulbs at several plants, plastic and copper for auto wiring harnesses, steel inbound and outbound as tubes, channels, structural forms, sheets, coils, slabs, etc. Also hot metal and slag cars (W B Pollock Co) steel moulds at two plants, plastic manufacturers, cardboard plants, oil refineries, finished light bulbs, etc. We usually ran the same trains every day and they were usually tonnage trains. BM-7 operated Buffalo to Meadville and did not go west of Meadville. 187 (later known as MC-3) picked up usually about 50-70 cars at Brier Hill daily and if there was more, 89, 93 or 95 got it or we ran a Marion Extra. MC-1 was a hot train from Meadville to Cleveland and usually ran 2nd dist. On the eastbound side 78 worked at Brier Hill daily, 92 and 94 worked at Brier Hill when required. CM-2 (Cleveland to Meadville usually worked at Brier Hill. 155/156 were the daily Brier Hill to Cleveland trains and they handled well over 150 cars in each direction working at Niles, Leavittsburg, and North Randall. Like I said, it was business as usual right into Conrail. Shortly after Conrail began, some eastbound traffic that headed for Meadville was diverted to Conway as PY-2 and PY-1 returning. Another train that operated daily was the Shenango Turn from Brier Hill (XNT) that handled 125 or so cars each way working at Ferrona. Occasionally there was a 2nd XNT when traffic dictated. The first blow to the Mahoning Division (and it remained the Mahoning Divn until Oct 1, 1979 when the Youngstown Divn was formed from the EL Mahoning and the PC Valley Divns) was Sept 19, 1977, Black Monday when YS&T announced they would idle the Campbell Works laying off over 5000 employees. The Campbell works was a huge source of traffic for the EL via the P&LE. Inbound ore and coal, outbound tube steel, slabs, blooms, coils and sheets. In later years, Republic Steel closed the Haselton Furnace and that was devastating to the local Conrail operations. Ore and coal moved to RISCO inbound, hot metal trains and finished product outbound. USS Ohio Works closed and later, YS&T's Brier Hill Works closed. It was a domino effect. SMT ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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