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From: "Joe Mayer" jmayer AT insight DOT rr DOT com
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2023 13:36:06 -0500
Subject: Re: (erielack) Hullets in Buffalo
"Ore_Loaders_on_Lake_Erie_1.jpg" - image/jpeg, 544x832 (24bit)

I am inclined to agree with Henry.
I believe the photo Mike shared shows the PRR's James Thompson Ore Dock.
I found one source stating that the PRR dock had a 10T Hulett, which I think
this is based on the truss arm (I think the 15T, 17T, 20T, and 22T had more
solid-fabricated arms).
Note there is only one Hulett in the photo- behind it appears to be a Brown
Hoist unloader.

Another Buffalo boat-to-rail unloader was, as Henry said, the BR&P facility.
Here is a link to a photo of what I believe is a 15T Hulett there.

https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/general/id/4650

I think Henry's figure of 77-80 or so Huletts built is accurate. 77 seems
to be a number I find.
Huletts were found all over the Great Lakes, but seeing as how they were
built by Wellman in Cleveland, Ohio and Cleveland were partial to them.

It is interesting to see that in some cases these trans-loaded from boats
(they aren't "ore ships" on the Great Lakes) to rail cars, but in other
cases, like the Bethlehem Lackawanna Works in Buffalo, the four 17T Huletts
seemed to just feed the ore directly into the ore yard for the furnaces,
with ore bridges then moving it as needed. It seems to have been all
in-house with no rail intermediary. The Huletts were still worth it due to
how fast they could unload a boat.

So I could be wrong, but I don't think there were large boat-to-rail ore
unloading facilities in Buffalo like there were in Ohio. The ore seems to
have been mostly used right there at the water's edge. The PRR and BR&P
facilities were not as big as some of the facilities in Ohio that then
transported the ore by rail to Youngstown and Pittsburg. However, here is a
c1900 photo on ebay identified as ore at the "Lackawanna docks, Buffalo",
being trans-loaded to rail with Thornberger hoists (Now there is a job I
would not want, swinging the ore in a bucket over my head!).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275524672915

Just for fun, I have attached what I found about ore-unloading facilities on
Lake Erie .
More info was easily available online for Ohio, and that info is from 1969.
I count 27 Huletts operating in Ohio, including the EL's three in Cleveland.

Thanks!
Joe Mayer
ELRRHS #702

Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2023 12:54:41 -0500 (EST)
From: "J DOT Henry Priebe Jr DOT "
Subject: Re: (erielack) Hullets in Buffalo

On Thu, 2 Feb 2023, Mike Dickinson wrote:

>
> NOTE: This message had contained at least one image attachment.
> To view or download the image(s), click on or cut and paste the
> following URL into your web browser:
>
>
> http://lists.railfan.net/listthumb.cgi?erielack-02-02-23
>
> 24DC012C94614DBEAADE20524D4FA98A.jpg (image/jpeg, 618x1170 107224 bytes,
> BF: 6.74 ppb)
>
> I found two pictures on Hullets in Buffalo. Were these on the Erie or one
> of the other Railroads? I thought that the Hulletts were in Cleveland
> Ohio?
> Thanks Mike Dickinson
>

I think that shot is of the PRR docks in Buffalo. The Buffalo, Rochester &
Pittsburgh and Bethlehem/Lackawanna Steel also had Huletts in Buffalo. I'm
not
sure who else might have had them in Buffalo. There were around 80 (84?)
Huletts built and at least 77 were in use on the Great Lakes at one time.

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr. Blue Moon Internet Corp Network Administrator
www.railfan.net Railfan Network Services


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