The ('''B&LE''';
AAR reporting mark '''BLE''') was a
Railroad company operating in western
Pennsylvania and northeastern
Ohio . The railroad's main route ran from the
Lake Erie port of
Conneaut, Ohio to
North Bessemer, Pennsylvania , near
Pittsburgh , a distance of 139 miles. The original rail ancestor of the B&LE, the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad, began operation in October of 1869. Rail operations were maintained continuously by various corporate descendents on the growing system that ultimately became the B&LE in 1900, until it was purchased by
Canadian National Railway in
2004 . The B&LE and its predecessors offered passenger service but, in 1955, the railroad became strictly a freight hauler.
The Pittsburgh, Bessemer and 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 and 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 .
In
1988 , the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of
Transtar, Inc. Transtar is a privately-held transportation holding company with principal operations in railroad freight transportation, dock operations, Great Lakes shipping, and inland river barging that were formerly subsidiaries of USX, the holding company that owns U.S. Steel. In
2001 , the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of
Great Lakes Transportation, LLC . On
May 10 ,
2004 ,
Canadian National Railway acquired the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad. Iron ore and coal are still the route's major freight commodities.
The B&LE connects with the
Norfolk Southern Railway at Wallace Junction, near
Erie, Pennsylvania , and at the
Shenango, Pennsylvania yard. The
Union Railroad connects at the B&LE's southern terminus at North Bessemer, Pennsylvania.
CSX connects at Shenango Yard and the Buffalo and Pittsburgh connects at
Butler, Pennsylvania . The B&LE also formerly interchanged at Osgood, PA with the
New York Central System , later Penn Central and then Conrail, until the latter abandoned the line in 1988.
The main rail yard and locomotive and car shops are located in
Greenville, Pennsylvania . Although the B&LE acquired some early diesel-electric switching locomotives painted black with yellow trim, the company adopted a locomotive color scheme of bright orange and black in 1950, and it remained so through the CN purchase.
The B&LE mainline divides around Greenville between Osgood ("KO") three miles north of Greenville and Kremis (the waypoint uses this name) three miles south; the original line follows the Little Shenango and Shenango Rivers south into downtown Greenville (where the B&LE shops are located, and then to Kremis enroute to Fredonia and Mercer, PA. Some years ago, the B&LE constructed a shortcut cutoff ("KO") line to bypass this winding route through Greenville. It runs between the "KO" junction near Osgood over a massive trestle above the Little Shenango River (and the original B&LE mainline), passes east of Greenville, and rejoins the original line at Kremis, thus shortening the run by several miles (this section was double-tracked for some years but is now single track).
There was originally one
Tunnel on the B&LE mainline at Culmerville, but it was dug out or "daylighted" in 1922, converting it to an open cut through a hill.
As it approaches Bessemer, the B&LE is also noticeable where it crosses the
Allegheny River immediately north of and parallel to the
Pennsylvania Turnipke .
