PRR N1s and the Brier Hill Plate Mill

I recently saw this photo on an ebay listing for a brass locomotive and noticed the building in the background. The caption says the picture was taken in 1919, which would have been one year after the Brier Hill plate mill in Girard, OH was completed. In this photo, the locomotive is probably sitting upon the old PY&A main line, which was relocated to its current right of way behind the building when the plate mill was constructed.

The stacks are for the heating furnaces for the 84" and 132" plate mills. The windows are of the continuous sash type and are all wood and glass. It must have taken carpenters months just to make them! Although this building still exists this view is partially obscured by the electric weld tube mill which was added to this building in the 1930s. Of course the Tod Engine Foundation has hundreds of engineering drawings of the plate mill and electric welded tube buildings.

From 1997 until 2006 the Tod Engine was stored in the plate mill building before being moved to the Tod Engine Heritage Park.