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Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad"Fast Reliable Transportation" from the Great Lakes to the great mills |
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
The Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company was founded in 1897 by Andrew Carnegie to haul iron ore and other products from the port at Conneaut, Ohio on the Great Lakes to Carnegie Steel Company plants in Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. On the return trip, Pennsylvania coal was hauled north to Conneaut Harbor. The company was created largely out of a series of small predecessor companies including the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad, and the Butler and Pittsburgh Railroad Company. The company was renamed the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad in 1900. Carnegie Steel had an exclusive 999-year lease to the PS&LE. This lease was acquired by US Steel when that company acquired Carnegie Steel in 1901. At the end of 1925 B&LE operated 228 miles of road on 631 miles of track; at the end of 1970 mileages were 220 and 489.
The Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad is a class II regional railroad founded in 1900 that continues to operate in northwestern Pennsylvania. The railroad's mainline runs from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio, to the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania -- a distance of 139 miles. A secondary branch leaves the mainline at NA Tower and connects the railroad to Erie, Pennsylvania. A large engine terminal and an operations center are maintained in Greenville, Pennsylvania. The "Bessemer's" predecessor railroad was founded by steel giant Andrew Carnegie to haul iron ore and other materials from the Great Lakes to Carnegie steel mills in Pittsburgh. After decades of ownership by U.S. Steel, in 1988 the railroad was purchased by Transtar, Inc. -- a transportation holding company with interests in lake shipping, dock operations, and railroads. Then in 2004, the Canadian National acquired the railroad and today operates it as its Bessemer Subdivision. On the southern end of the line, the B&LE hands off its loaded ore traffic to the steel switching operation Union Railroad; empties are returned via the same. Although traffic levels are lower than those of its heyday, several branches into coal regions abandoned and a lot of local traffic dried up, its motor power roster leaner than years past, under Canadian National the Bessemer continues to carry on its core transportation mission conceived by Carnegie more than a century ago: hauling ore from the Great Lakes to the great mills.
BLE route map / collection
1988 route list / collection
HawkinsRails thanks railfan friend Jon Clark for use of his Bessemer & Lake Erie photographs
Motive Power
The B&LE's orange and black diesel fleet was unique among Appalachian coal hauling railroads because it relied primarily on 6-axles with low horsepower as mentioned earlier. In the '70s, the Bessemer owned pretty much every EMD non-turbocharged 6-axle model offered including SD7s, SD9s (both high- and low-nose), SD18s, SD38s, SD38ACs and SD38-2s. The fleet was a mix of new builds and second-hand acquisitions from other railroads, most notably corporate partner Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range. F-units worked the WA and the docks at Conneaut until retired in the early '90s. In 1999-2000, the B&LE modernized its fleet somewhat with rebuilt ex-Southern Pacific SD45T-2s which have been repowered and derated from 3600 to 3000 hp and designated as SD40T-3Ms. Ironic that a railroad with no mainline tunnels is powered by tunnel motors.
Bessemer & Lake Erie #866
Greenville, Pa / Dec 2008 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #866
Greenville, Pa / Dec 2005 / Nate Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #867
Jamisonville, Pa / Feb 2017 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #867
Albion, Pa / Apr 2014 / Jon Clark
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #868
Greenville, Pa / Mar 2006 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #868
Bessemer & Lake Erie #878
Wallace Junction, Pa / Dec 2008 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #878
Albion, Pa / Dec 2008 / Jon Clark
"Tunnel Motors"
from The Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide
/ collection
The SD45T-2 is a 6-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Like the later, SD40T-2 it is colloquially nicknamed a tunnel motor. 247 total units (including the original EMD/SP joint venture working Prototype) were produced from February 1972 to June 1975, including 84 for SP's subsidiary Cotton Belt. From April 1986 to December 1989, 126 were rebuilt and re-designated as SD45T-2R, including 24 for Cotton Belt.
The SD45T-2 is a variant of the venerable SD45 that featured the "Dash 2" upgrade components such as improved electronics and high traction trucks, with the "T" denoting its cooling system modifications. The intake for radiator cooling air was moved to the walkway level and the cooling fans themselves were under the radiator cores, instead of above. Tunnel motors were built for mountainous areas in the western United States, where SP had previously encountered repeated overheating issues on their SD45s.
The later SD40T-2 looks similar to the SD45T-2. One spotting difference is the longer hood on the SD45T-2 to accommodate the V20 prime mover vs. the V16 used on the SD40T-2. The SD45T-2's cab is further forward on the frame, so there is less "front porch". This mimics the differences between the SD45-2 and the SD40-2. Another spotting difference is the SD45T-2's three fan access doors on each side above the cooling air intake, while the SD40T-2 has two.
EMD SD45T-2 vs SD40T-2 radiator fan motor access doors Like their SD40T-2, some of SP's SD45T-2 tunnel motors were obtained by Kansas City Southern Railway, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway, and by the Union Pacific Railroad when it merged the SP in 1996.
Some SD45T-2s were rebuilt and designated to SD45T-3, SD40T-3 and SD40-2T.
Albion, Pa / May 2006 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #867
Kremis, Pa / Oct 2009 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #900
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #900
Meadville Junction, Pa / Oct 2009 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #901
Kremis, Pa / Mar 2007 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #901
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #901
Greenville, Pa / Sep 2008 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #902
Osgood, Pa / Dec 2008 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #902
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #902
Kremis, Pa / May 2006 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #904
Greenville, Pa / Oct 2004 / Nate Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #904
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #904
Mercer, Pa / Oct 2007 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #905
Kremis, Pa / Oct 2008 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #905
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #905
Jamisonville, Pa / Feb 2017 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #906
Kremis, Pa / Mar 2007 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #906
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #906
Bessemer & Lake Erie #907
Osgood, Pa / Dec 2008 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #907
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #907
West Springfield, Pa / Jan 2012 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #908
Kremis, Pa / Mar 2006 / Jon Clark
Bessemer & Lake Erie #908
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #908
May 2006 / Jon Clark
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #909
Homewood, Il / May 2005 / Scott Koehler
Bessemer & Lake Erie #909
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #909
Bessemer & Lake Erie #910
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #910
to Bessemer & Lake Erie #910
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Rolling Stock
Bessemer & Lake Erie #A259
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #A471
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #A479
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Survivors
BLE equipment in our collection preserved on display or in operation at museums
Bessemer & Lake Erie #76857
3 bay hopper / Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #1825
wooden caboose / Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
May 2009 / RWH
See also our Conneaut Railroad Museum scrapbook in Preservation
Locations
Greenville, Pa
BLE engine terminal overhead / Google Maps
Click to see this location plotted on a Google Maps page
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Greenville, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Grove City, Pa
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Grove City, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Slippery Rock, Pa
Carter, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Carter, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Carter, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Click to see this location plotted on a Google Maps page
Butler, Pa
Butler, Pa / Jul 2011 / RWH
Butler, Pa / Jul 2011 / RWH
Conneaut, Oh
Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
Click to see this location plotted on a Google Maps page
Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
Conneaut, Oh / May 2009 / RWH
Action
Carter, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Carter, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Carter, Pa / Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Publications
1910 Official Guide ad / collection
1955 Official Guide ad / collection
1972 Official Guide ad / collection
1988 Official Guide ad / collection
Lagniappe
Crossing
Fredonia, Pa / Aug 2018 / RWH
Bucks Stop Here
Fredonia, Pa / Aug 2018 / RWH
Can You Hear Me?
Fredonia, Pa / Aug 2018 / RWH
Stop Counting
Fredonia, Pa / Aug 2018 / RWH
Bessemer Blizzard
Jan 2012 / RWH
Bisected Winter Afternoon
Jan 2012 / RWH
One Horsepower Crossing
Mercer, Pa / May 2009 / RWH
And the Chase Is On
Jan 2012 / RWH
Snapshots
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Jan 2012 / RWH
Links / Sources
- Canadian National Railway Company
- Wikipedia article for Bessemer & Lake Erie
- Diesel Shop roster for Bessemer & Lake Erie
- American-Rails.com Bessemer & Lake Erie page
- Carsten S. Lundsten's Bessemer & Lake Erie page
- Bessemer & Lake Erie Archives
- Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide - Fifth Edition (Kalmbach, 1996) 44-45
- Charles W. McDonald, Diesel Locomotive Rosters - Third Edition (Kalmbach, 1992) 29-30