Monday, September 17, 2007

Focus on Our Collections: First Rail




From time to time I will feature a particular item from our collection of steel industry artifacts. Today's piece is a 3/4" thick section of 85 pound rail, a souvenier of the first rail rolled at the Republic Iron & Steel Co. Haselton Works on April 22, 1905.


The Youngstown District was never well known for the production of railroad rails. The only two mills known to have rolled rails locally were Republic's and a short lived rail mill at the Ohio Steel Company, which became the US Steel Ohio Works. Neither could compete with the rail mills at the Edgar Thomson Works or Steelton, PA.


Although rails were not successful in Youngstown, the production of track spikes were. Both Republic and the YS&T Struthers Works sported spike mills, and YS&T also manufactured tie plates.

1 comment:

Nate said...

Rick, Great to see your blog and your project. I was with Dr. Leary's class that came to see the engine on Monday last week.

My grandfather worked for U.S steel, so it was really neat seeing something he may have worked with.

Keep up the good work, and I'll be checking your blog often!