YOUNGSTOWN – The Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association is hosting an event Saturday that its members hope will become an annual event.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the group is hosting the first Youngstown Sheet & Tube Day, which will showcase the former steel company’s rail cars and memorabilia. MVRHA President Carl Jacobson said members will be on hand to answer questions about Youngstown Sheet and Tube, some on a personal level.
“We have two members who were employees of YS&T,” Jacobson said.
One of the members, Curt Sanders, lost his job at YS&T on Black Monday.
He will be on site on Saturday to answer questions about what it was like in the valley during this dark time.
Several tents will be set up with various YS&T artifacts. In the rail yard, much of what the MVRHA owns is connected to YS&T.
A good example of this is the shunting locomotive No. 320. This locomotive has not yet been restored.
“It’s YS&T’s first diesel engine,” Jacobson said.
“At least that’s what the records say. It was in Brier Hill for a long time before we had it brought to our garden.”
Another YS&T piece is slag car No. 17. Jacobson said that back then, the Mahoning Valley was full of slag cars.
They were used to transport and dump the slag from the furnaces, creating the orange glow at night that some people remember.
Car 17 is the very last known slag car in the Mahoning Valley. It was built by the Pollock Company of Youngstown, a manufacturer of railroad cars for the steel industry.
The cinder car was moved by truck and crane last year and reassembled at the Jim Marter Yard. Restoration began this year and the car is currently primed and ready for its YS&T orange paint job.
Both the cinder car and the diesel will be on display at YS&T Day. The event will be held at the Jim Marter Yard, 1340 Poland Avenue in Youngstown. The MVRHA suggests a donation of $2 for anyone age 5 and older.
For more information about the farm, MVRHA and YS&T Day, visit mvrha.org.
Staff File Photos / JT Whitehouse
Mike McCleery, treasurer of the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association, poses with the rare Sheet and Tube diesel locomotive No. 320, which is the first diesel locomotive purchased by the company. The diesel locomotive, along with a variety of Sheet and Tube memorabilia, will be on display Saturday at the MVRHA’s first Youngstown Sheet and Tube Day.
