The Gateway Yard of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad

Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad

The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad , also known as the "Little Giant", was formed on May 11, 1875. Company headquarters were located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The line connected Pittsburgh in the east with Youngstown, Ohio at nearby Haselton, Ohio in the west and Connellsville, ...

,
located in Youngstown, Ohio

Youngstown, Ohio

Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

, opened in the fall of 1957 and remained in operation until CSX

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 took over the P&LE and closed the yard in 1993. Gateway served as a place to sort and classify freight cars as well as an interchange with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 and the New York Central Railroad

New York Central Railroad

The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...

. Most of the cars that entered the yard were destined for Youngstown's steel mill

Steel mill

A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...

s.

History

The yard itself was built on over 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land and stretched for more than 5 miles (8 km) covering the distance from the Center Street Bridge to Lowellville, Ohio

Lowellville, Ohio

Lowellville is a village in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, in the "Steel Valley" area of the northeast part of the state, southeast of Youngstown. The village is an older, predominantly Italian-American, working-class community built along the banks of the Mahoning River, and centered around...

. The yard included a classification yard

Classification yard

A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...

, office complex, diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

 servicing facilities, and car

Railroad car

A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...

 repair facilities. The yard tower and yard office are housed in the same building. It is rather large and resembles an aircraft control tower

Control tower

A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...

. Running in front of the tower is the yard's hump that is used in the sorting freight cars.
The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Historical Society website includes a list of yard structures including their blueprints. Items include:

• The Gateway Yard at work
• Cars being sorted over the Hump
• 1993 photo showing the rear of the tower

The Gateway Yard Today

Today the Gateway Yard sits mostly empty after being closed in 1993. Most of the tracks have been removed. However, most of the structures still stand including the yard tower and office building. Vandals have taken a toll on the site. The office/tower complex have had every window broken out, including those that overlook the hump that runs in front of the tower. Railfan

Railfan

A railfan or rail buff , railway enthusiast or railway buff , or trainspotter , is a person interested in a recreational capacity in rail transport...

ning the Gateway Yard is not hard since Ohio State Route 289

Ohio State Route 289

State Route 289 is a east–west state highway in the northeastern quadrant of the U.S. state of Ohio. The western terminus of SR 289 is at a diamond interchange with U.S. Route 422 and SR 193 in Youngstown. Its eastern terminus is at the Pennsylvania state line just east of...

runs alongside the yard. The yard tower is visible from the road, and the CSX mainline runs right in between the tower and the road. Also visible from route 289 is the large car repair shed and several small support structures. Photos:

• This photo shows the Gateway Tower as it stands on November 2, 2008
• This is a head on shot of the tower taken from State Route 289

A Walk Through the Abandoned tower building as it sits today.