The Union Railroad is a
Class III switching railroad located in
Allegheny County in Western
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The company is owned by
Transtar, Inc., which is itself a subsidiary of
Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors () is a corporation.
History
On 31 May 2019, construction of the Long Ridge Energy gas-fired power plant began in Monroe County, Ohio. At the time, the Long Ridge project was 100% owned by FTAI. ...
, after being purchased from
United States Steel
United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...
in 1988. The railroad's primary customers are the three plants of the USS
Mon Valley Works, the USS
Edgar Thomson Steel Works The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area communities of Braddock and North Braddock, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been active since 1875. It is currently owned by U.S. Steel and is known as Mon Valley Works – ...
(blast furnaces,
basic oxygen steelmaking
Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...
, and continuous slab casting), the USS
Irvin Works (hot and cold rolling mills and finishing lines) and the USS Clairton Works (producer of coke for blast furnace ironmaking).
History
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
had been discussing rail transport with other lines, but determined the best way to protect his interests was to control the rail line himself. Several smaller companies had constructed sections of the route. "Bear Creek Railroad (name changed to Shenango and Allegheny Railroad Co.) was incorporated in March 1865 for the purpose of moving coal 21 miles from Pardoe to Shenango for delivery to other railroads and the Erie Extension Canal. By 1883, Shenango and Allegheny had extended north to
Greenville, Pennsylvania
Greenville is a borough with home rule status in northwestern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located along the Shenango River, it lies roughly 80 miles from both Pittsburgh and Cleveland. It is 1.89 square miles in area, and had a ...
, and south to
Butler, Pennsylvania
Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502.
History
Butler was n ...
. By 1892, the line had extended north to reach the port of
Conneaut, Ohio
Conneaut ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of Conneaut Creek northeast of Cleveland. The population was 12,841 at the 2010 Census. Conneaut is located at the far northeastern corner of the state. ...
. The extensions carried their own descriptive corporate names and survived a series of corporate reorganizations to become the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie." The rail line had been completed as far as Butler, still 40 miles distant from the Mon Valley. The first ore boat arrived in Conneaut in 1892 stimulating the interest of Andrew Carnegie. In April 1896, a tri-party agreement between PS&LE, Union Railroad Company and Carnegie Steel Company called for construction of a line from Butler to East Pittsburgh. The Butler and Pittsburgh Railroad Company incorporated April 8, 1896 and completed, spectacularly, by October 27, 1897 including a long, single track bridge across the Allegheny River. Also in 1897, PS&LE and B&P were consolidated into the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie under majority ownership of Carnegie. The Union Railroad or as some call "railroad in the sky" was created 1896. The railroad, as it exists today, has resulted from the union of five different railroads between the years 1906 and 1915. The original URR extended from East Pittsburgh to Hays, a distance of six miles, and was constructed in the years 1894–1907.
Four years later, Carnegie formed the
Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad is a class II railroad that operates in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.
The railroad's main route runs from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio, to the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pen ...
under this exclusive ownership and arranged to lease PS&LE for 999 years. This arrangement stayed in place with the formation of U. S. Steel in 1901, which bought out Carnegie interests.
The Union was expanded to include the several other mills in the Mon Valley Region. The Union was responsible for the various switching task within each mill, for delivering raw materials to each mill (which would arrive on the Union via interchange with the Bessemer & Lake Erie, another US Steel owned and operated railroad) and for delivering the finished products to interchange with the major railroads in the area (most notable the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie).
In 1906, B&LE leased, and later sold, to Union Railroad the portion of line between North Bessemer and East Pittsburgh.
At its peak, the Union served eight separate steel mills and numerous other businesses (see below for complete list)-
USS Homestead, USS Rankin, USS Edgar Thomson, USS Duquesne-National, USS National Tube & Pipe, USS Clairton, the relatively new USS Irvin rolling mill and Grant Steel in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. The URR also used four bridges crossing the Monongahela River -
Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge
The Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge is a truss bridge that carries the Pennsylvania Union Railroad across the Monongahela River between Duquesne, Pennsylvania and the former town site of Port Perry in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. Industrial ...
,
Union Railroad Clairton Bridge,
McKeesport Connecting Railroad Bridge
The McKeesport Connecting Railroad Bridge, also known as the Riverton Bridge, is a bridge that spans the Monongahela River between McKeesport, and Duquesne, Pennsylvania.
History
The bridge connected the U.S. Steel Duquesne Works and the Nation ...
(also known as: Union Railroad Riverton Bridge),
Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge
The Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge (also known as the Union Railroad Rankin Hot Metal Bridge #35) is a railroad truss bridge across the Monongahela River between Whitaker, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania. The bridge is out of service and ...
(also known as: Union Railroad Rankin Hot Metal Bridge) - and was one of the busy railroads in the United States by tonnage hauled. Unlike the rest of the steel industry, the Union was relatively accepting of modernization as demonstrated by construction of a then state-of-the-art yard and dispatching center in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, in the early 1950s. With the decline of the steel industry in the United States, the Union's operations were greatly scaled back.
Today main transportation is iron ore from North Bessemer interchange. Edgar Thomson gets it coke from the Clairton works that is also interchanged to Dexter yard, slabs from Edgar Thomson to Irvin works and finished steel products (coils) from Irvin works to the interchanges. Only the Port Perry Bridge remains open for rail traffic. For inner-mill service the Edgar Thomson plant uses US Steel own EMD-switchers to move the hot metal subs and for tressel unloading. Crews from the URR have their own motive power EMD's for general switching duties within the mill. Their duties include the movement of loaded ore and coke cars to the staging yard and tressel, spotting and pulling the caster and slab mills, along with bringing in scrap and flux cars into the BOP "Basic Oxygen Process". After closing the Riverton bridge in 2008 there is no rail connection between the URR network and Mckeesport Tubular Operations "Camp Hill". Using URR motive power to switch McKeesport Tubular is the duty of
McKeesport Connecting Railroad (MKC), another subsidiary of Transtar. The Duquesne Coal Docks are still in operations unloading scrap metal from barges to be used at Edgar Thomson and coal barges to interchange with Norfolk Southern in the Kenny Yard.
Union Railroad continues to serve the Mon Valley and have since expanded its customer base to include Dura-Bond pipe coating in the former Duquesne Works site and General Electric in West Mifflin hauling special oversize generators.
Historical timeline and notable facts
* 1894–1907 – The original URR extended from East Pittsburgh to Hays, a distance of six miles.
* July 2, 1894 – Union Railroad came into existence
* 1895 – Received the heaviest and most powerful locomotive built to that date.
* 1896 – Incorporated
* October 26, 1897 – the first 30-car ore train from North Bessemer yard through the new North Bessemer Tunnel to Edgar Thompson Steel Mill
* At year's end 5 million tons of freight cars traveled over the URR.
* June 30, 1898 – The first train over the newly completed Port Perry Bridge
* December 31, 1900 – Carrie Furnace bridge opened to hot metal traffic.
* June 14, 1901 – Carrie Furnace bridge open for general traffic.
* December 1907 – Completion of the Homestead connection between Port Perry Bridge and the north end of Munhall Yard
* 1917- 1920 – The Clairton Branch of the Monongahela Southern Railroad was constructed, it extended from Clairton Junction (Bull Run) to a connection with the St. Clair Terminal Railroad in Clairton and was first opened to operations on April 14, 1919.
* June 10, 1950 – Dedication Of the New Union Railroad Diesel Shop Hall, Pennsylvania, a state-of-the-art servicing facility for their increasing diesel fleet.
* Year's end 1951 – all-time high of 74,440,776 net tons of revenue freight were handled. The largest concentration of freight in the world.
Interchanges
*
Penn Hills Twp (North Bessemer)
**
B&LE (CN)
**
Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
*
East Pittsburgh (Dexter Yard)
**
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
**
P&LE @ Union JCT
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) , 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 in the H ...
**
PRR @ Valley Yard PRR may refer to:
* Parietal reach region, of the human brain
* Pattern recognition receptor, receptors of the innate immune system that identify pathogen-associated molecular patterns
* Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark), an American railroad ...
*
McKeesport (Riverton)
**
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
*
Kenny Yard
**
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...
**
PRR
*
West Mifflin (Mifflin Junction)
**
Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway
**
P&WV and MTR
*
Clairton(Peter's Creek and Conley Yards)
**
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...
**
Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway
**
PWV and PRR
**
P&LE @ Wylie
Notable facilities
Steel mills
*''U.S. Steel Homestead Works'' -
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the Monongahela River valley southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the ...
- Steel Operations ceased in 1986. Razed in late 80's. Shopping area called ''The Waterfront'' opened in 1999.
*''U.S. Steel Carrie Furnace'' -
Rankin, Pennsylvania
Rankin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, south of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River. The borough was named after Thomas Rankin, a local landowner. Early in the 20th century, Rankin specialized in manufacturing stee ...
- Part of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area
*''U.S. Steel
Edgar Thomson Steel Works The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area communities of Braddock and North Braddock, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been active since 1875. It is currently owned by U.S. Steel and is known as Mon Valley Works – ...
'' -
Braddock, Pennsylvania
Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is upstream from the mouth of the Monongahela River. The population was 1,721 as of the 2020 census.
The borough is represented by the ...
- Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill completed in 1875. Still in operation. Oldest integrated steel mill in the world.
*''U.S. Steel Duquesne Works'' -
Duquesne, Pennsylvania
Duquesne ( ) is a city along the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 5,254 at the 2020 census.
History
The city of Duquesne was settled in 1789 and incorp ...
- Steel operations ended 1984. Razed in late 1990s. now RIDC Park with a U.S. Steel Training Hub
*''U.S. Steel
Mon Valley Works - Irvin Plant
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* ...
'' -
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the Un ...
- Constructed 1937-1938, still in operation - Rolling mills and finishing operations.
*''U.S. Steel Clairton Works'' -
Clairton, Pennsylvania
Clairton is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is located along the Monongahela River and is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. The population was 6,181 at the 2020 census. Under Pennsylvania legal classifications for local gov ...
- Steel mill operation ended in 1984 - Coke Works continues to operate and produce coke and coke by-products. Largest coking facility in North America.
*''U.S. Steel National Works'' -
McKeesport, Pennsylvania - Original operations ended in 1987. Pipe and Tube works operations resumed in 2011 after purchase of remaining pipe mills from Camp Hill Corporation.
Yards
Prior to 1980 Reading from the northernmost point south.
*''North Bessemer Yards'' - North Bessemer was made up of six yards plus car shop tracks(
Penn Hills Twp)Along with Interchange tracks with the Unity Junction and the Bessemer and Lake Erie.
*''Northbound Empty Yard, Cabbage Patch, North Yard, South Yard, East Yard and West Yard''
*'' Hershey Siding'' Universal
*''North Yard'' - (
Penn Hills Twp)
*''Hall Yard'' - Hall Roundhouse
Hall, Pennsylvania
*''Oak Hill'' - South of Hall was made up of four yards (Monroeville and Wilkins Twp)
*''Santiago Yard, Peterson Yard, South Yard and Newtown Yard''
*''Edgar Thomson Yards Braddock, Pennsylvania'' are as follows: *''Valley Yard, Rail Yard, Joe Wolfe, Ore Yard,Port Perry Yard''.
*''Homestead and Rankin Yards as follows:'' *''Munhall A Yard and Munhall B Yard, Farm Yard, C, D, E, and F Yards, Hays Yard, West Run Yard''
*''Duquesne Yards'' - Classification Yard
Duquesne - Orchard, Swamp, Duquesne Furnace, Duquesne PVC, Duquesne Coal Docs
*''Mifflin Junction Yards'' - Mifflin Junction in
West Mifflin
West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the Un ...
*''Homestead Yards'' -
*''Irvin "A" Yard'' Storage
*''Irvin "B" Yard'' Empty and Loaded Slab Racks
*''Clairton "E" Yard'' Empty Hoppers
*''Clairton "C" Yard'' Empty Tanks
*''Clairton "B" Yard'' Loaded Hoppers
Bridges
*
URR Port Perry Bridge - over
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-cen ...
between Port Perry (
North Versailles Twp) and Duquesne
*
Union Railroad Coal Valley Bridge, Wilson, Pa - Over Rt 837 and the former PRR Mon Branch now Norfolk Southern RR
*''No Longer In Use (by the railroad)''
**
URR Rankin Hot Metal Bridge - over Monongahela River between
Rankin and
Whitaker
**
URR Riverton Bridge - over Monongahela River between Duquesne and
McKeesport
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. It ...
Part of the Great Allegheny Passage Rails to Trails network
**
URR Clairton Bridge - over Monongahela River between Clairton and Belle Bridge (
Lincoln Borough)
Tunnels
*''North Bessemer Tunnel'' - between North Bessemer and Universal (Penn Hills Twp)
*''Dravosburg Tunnel'' - between West Mifflin (south of West Mifflin Park) and
Dravosburg
*''Airport Tunnel'' - under runway 10-28 and taxiway A of
Allegheny County Airport
Allegheny County Airport is in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. It is the fifth-busiest airport in Pennsylvania following Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg. The airport is owned by t ...
in West Mifflin
Local businesses once served
*''Universal Atlas Concrete'' Penn Hills
*''Chambers Dump''
*''Butler Refractories''
*''Westinghouse Linhart division'' - Wemco E.Pgh
*''
Linde Air''
*''
84 Lumber
84 Lumber is an operated American building materials supply company. Founded in 1956 by Joseph Hardy, it derives its name from the unincorporated village of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place south of Pittsburgh, where its ...
''
*''General Electric Generators''
*''Pittsburgh Alloy Inc''
*''Risher Dump''
*''Taylor Dump''
*''Brown's Dump''
*''Continental Can Company''
*''Joseph M. Alfery & Associates''
*''Shwayder Bros., Inc'' Chair mfg co. Mifflin
*''Tube City'' on the site of the former United Iron and Metal Company
*''
General Motors Fisher Body''
*''
Ford Motor Co.''
*''Grant Steel''
Roster
The Union RR has operated a number of locomotives over the years. In steam days, the railroad was the only operator of
0-10-2 During the steam days it also was known to run
2-8-0 "Consolidations" and
0-6-0. The 0-6-0 were built by Lima and were significantly heavier than the USRA 0-6-0. In its height of operation, as much as 115 locomotives operated at once, including the current 33 locomotives on the roster. Among the more notable steam locomotives on the Union Railroad roster was engine 95 a 2-10-0 that was the most powerful locomotive built at its time (1895). Engine 115 a 2-8-0 appeared in a few promotional pictures for local charities. Common 0-6-0 switchers included engines 77, 118 (built by Baldwin), 119, 120 and 163. Oversized 0-6-0s were built for the railroad in 1936 by Lima and included engines 187 and 188. There were 6 of these ordered. Most Union Railroad 0-6-0 switchers did not have the sloping tenders (although a few did) but maintained a traditional designed tender (for non switchers). The famous
0-10-2 "Unions" were built by Baldwin and were numbered 301-310.
From 1941 until 1953 the URR would gradually replace their fleet of steam locomotives with diesel motive power.
In the years after 1970 some used engines (eleven EMD SW9 and six EMD SD9 from the DM&IR, five SD38-2 from the B&LE and few from other roads) and three new EMD SW1001 joined the URR.
The current roster is made up completely of second generation
EMD Switcher Units. Majority of the switchers are painted blue but numerous units are painted different colors including #3 and #17 are painted green, while #1 and #33 have a new yellow and red scheme.
Unique locomotive power
The Union Railroad was unique given that it was basically a switching railroad and yet its loads were incredibly heavy made up of either; ore, coke, coal, slag or steel. This unique combination in addition to the steep grades around Pittsburgh demanded some special tractive force.
In 1898 the largest locomotive of the time was built for the Union Railroad. This 2-8-0 had more weight on its drivers (208,000 pounds) than any built up to that time.
[Engineering News Vol. XL. No. 17 Page 258] This was locomotive 95 in the U.R.R. stable and according to the article was built by Pittsburg(h)(sic) Locomotive Works.
In the 1930s the
Lima Locomotive Works
Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...
began to build oversized 0-6-0s for use on the URR. These were among the largest 0-6-0s ever built.
The
0-10-2 wheel arrangement
In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...
was named the Union type after the railroad and produced over 100,000 pounds of tractive effort. Built for the Union RR by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, they boasted the title of "largest steam switch locomotive ever produced". The Union RR took delivery of 10 such locomotives. Only one survives today and is on static display in
Greenville, Pennsylvania
Greenville is a borough with home rule status in northwestern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located along the Shenango River, it lies roughly 80 miles from both Pittsburgh and Cleveland. It is 1.89 square miles in area, and had a ...
, painted as Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range (DM&IR) #604.
References
Official Union Railroad site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Union Railroad Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania railroads
Switching and terminal railroads
Industrial railroads in the United States
U.S. Steel