by Bob LeBras with additional text provided by Raye Scott Schaller and Steve Raith The weatherman predicted that it would be a cloudy, rainy day for our scheduled tour of the Union Railroad (URR) between Monroeville and Clairton, Pennsylvania. Ten men assembled for the event including our host and expert guide, Scott Schaller. No spirit was dampened by the forecast, and anticipations ran high for an informative and productive day-long photo shoot and history lesson.
The tour itself was organized by Schaller as a prelude to the industry railroad SIG that is holding its annual convention in Pittsburgh starting the next day and running through the weekend. In fact, everyone in the tour group was either directly connected to the steel industry, or modeled steel railroading in HO scale on their own layouts. Being an O gauger, I was the outsider, and, it seemed like, somewhat of a novelty as far as trains go. These guys are scale modelers scratch building entire steel mills in miniature. I am a toy trains collector/operator satisfied with some ballast, flock and a tree or two. Although we did not share a common interest in model railroading, we are all railfans, history buffs, and very interested in learning. While many of the attendees came from far-flung destinations like Texas, Florida and Louisiana to see the remnants of the greatest steel making valley in the world along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, I was there because it was my home, and I just didn’t know much about the URR.
The main thrust of the tour was to visit the trackage and facilities of the URR. However, as the primary purpose of this railroad is to serve the massive steel mills at Clairton and Hazelwood, one cannot simply look at the URR without also studying the United States Steel (USS) Clairton and Edgar Thompson (ET) Works, the Norfolk Southern (ex-Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail), CSX (ex-Baltimore & Ohio), and the Bessemer & Lake Erie (BLE). This integrated rail network of crossfeeding trackage is much like arteries and veins feeding raw material to the heart of the mill and circulating finished products out. I have never seen such an amazing amalgam of prototype trains intertwining, crossing, merging and dividing. If God had a layout, this was it, and His was better than everyone else’s.
Our tour began with a meet at the Monroeville Holiday Inn at 8:00 a.m. The guys were easy to spot because they were dressed for the outdoors and all had cameras; railfans tend to stick out in a crowd. Of course, I was hardly incognito in my East Broad Top T-Shirt and PRR baseball cap lugging my own baggage.
About a week prior to the tour, Scott sent everyone a packet that included a large folded map of the URR system from 1959 (not much has changed since then), signal locations, driving directions, bibliographic information, and a few interesting photos. He is passionate about the URR recognizing its history and importance to both the region and the nation. During the tour, he provided invaluable insight and I tried to stay close by so as not to miss too much detail. In fact, being an avid listener and learner, I rode the entire day in the passenger seat of his truck absorbing a myriad of descriptive facts.
The tour consisted mainly of visiting various URR physical plant facilities, chasing trains and witnessing the intricate marvel of steel production. While all of our stops were off-property, we were taken to some truly amazing locales to photograph. Like hunters in the bush, we stalked out pray relentlessly. With each passing train, cameras of every brand captured the movements in exquisite detail. Indeed, rolls and rolls of film were used while I stuck with digital imaging to facilitate this online report.
By far, for everyone, the most amazing stop was at a location in North Versailles. Parking the truck and van, we marched down an abandoned roadway for about 1,000 feet coming to an old steel and railroad tie bridge. The bridge spans the NS tracks between the tunnel and bridge at Port Perry affording a spectacular view of ET, river traffic, railroad operations on both banks of the Mon, and how this ballet of men and machines combines seamlessly to serve heavy industry. We were chased away by fast approaching severe weather, but not before taking good advantage of this very special opportunity.
By the end of the day, we wound up at the Universal cement plant. This abandoned factory is a crumbling gothic cathedral in concrete. Scott told us an amazing tale of the interdependence between Universal, the URR, and the steel industry. We saw an abandoned branch of the URR along with a stranded derelict train next to the facility.
I extend my sincere gratitude to Scott Schaller and the railroad industry SIG guys for a terrific day of railfanning and education. As a native Pittsburgher, I hope that all of the out-of-towners enjoy the convention, the city, and that great Primanti Brothers lunch.
TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!
The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.
The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.
The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.
You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:
Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.
There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!
This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.
* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.
Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal
If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.
In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.
How to do it:
Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):
This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!
The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!
An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!
* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.