Ashtabula, OH: NYC/LS&MS+NKP+Pennsy Ore and Coal Docks

(see below for satellite image)

Notes on boat backing up to a dock

Brendon Baillod posted
This view shows the harbor entrance at Ashtabula, Ohio. A schooner seems to on her way out with the help of a tug.

CSX got the NYC/LS&MS when Conrail was split and NS got the NKP. Conrail had abandoned a Pennsy branch that came in from the south. So there may have been a terminal railroad that allowed all three railroads to access the docks. (Update: nope. Pennsy came up the west side of the river to their yards and NYC came up the east side of the river to their yards. I learned this from 1969 topo maps.)

Joe Barron posted
The LS&MS ore docks in Ashtabula Ohio, 1900.
Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway iron ore and coal docks in Ashtabula, Ohio, circa 1900, with the bulk freighter S.S. Curry in the center of the image (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection – enhanced by Shorpy.com). The photograph was created from a dry glass plate negative. The notes accompanying the image do not include any information on the photographer.
[The description continues with more information about the railroad.]

James Torgeson shared
Ashtabula, Ohio was once a busy iron ore port. To the left (east) is the Union Dock, owned by the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, and to the right (west) is the Ashtabula & Buffalo (A&B) Dock, owned by Pickands Mather & Company. Both docks featured four 17-ton Hulett unloaders and were served by the New York Central Railroad. Out of sight to the right (west) on the Ashtabula River is the ore dock served by the Pennsylvania Railroad. (Thanks Dale Pohto for the ownership info!)
Mark Pato: how Iron was unloaded from Iron ships before self unloaded were installed on the Iron ore ships boats .last used in Lorain mill late 70's early 80's.
Dave Wagner: Not days, Hours depending on the tonnage, as little as 6 hours unload there many times..
Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted
"The Hulett was a tremendous invention that came out of Conneaut in the late 19th Century and changed the face of ship offloading," noted Jenny Luhta, vice chair of the Museum's Board of Directors. "What once took many men with shovels weeks to do became accomplished in days. What an honor it is to hear from someone who operated this amazing machine that improved the industry."
Dale Pohto: A&B Dock on the right, Union Dock on the left. All Huletts there were 17-ton capacity...
James Torgeson: And the last pair in service were on the Calumet River at the former Republic Steel plant. Built during WW2 during the plant's modernization/expansion at taxpayer/US Government expense, they were last used to unload coal from barges for the coke plant. They were scrapped in 2010.
James Torgeson: http://www.clevelandmemory.org/glihc/ports/ashtabula.html

Bridge Hunter
[Hulett Unloaders]

Bridge Hunter
[So they had ore docks upriver back in the heyday.]

Thomas Scmeh posted
Number two in a series...
Jerry Lambert Looks like Ashtabula???

 

pmpullman comment on model-railroad-hobbyist

 

Tina Lafauve posted
This was posted on a Cleveland history group.  A lady found negatives in her father's things and got them developed.  She guessed these were taken around 1920 something.   I told her this group could likely figure out when these were taken. 

Jim Mihalek: This is Ashtabula, facing west. There are 2 sets of 4 huletts, each with an ore bridge. To the right is the power house for Union Dock which is the closer of the two. In the distance is a coal dumper. Not sure if it is NYC or PRR. Also in the distance appear to be the unloaders at the PRR ore dock.

There were no mills in Ashtabula. The hulett docks were owned by NYC. The PRR had their own dock. They had Brownhoists or McMylers for unloading. Each railroad had their own coal docks closer to or on the river. Youngstown did get a fair amount of their ore from here. The Warren mill was the last one.

Vintage Poster, Ads and Illustration posted
Ashtabula Harbor Lake Erie New York Central Lines Rail, 1926.
By Herbert Morton Stoope
James Torgeson shared
There were once eight Huletts in Ashtabula, split evenly between two docks.

Mike Franks posted ten photos with the comment: "The ore processing, in Ashtabula, late 1800s. The unloaders were steam driven, and relied on men, in the bowels of the ships, shoveling the ore into buckets, which were mechanically lifted, and transfered, on a hoisting system, and dumped into pile on the pier."

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Rick Fleischer shared
I believe the is the LS&MS dock in Ashtabula, Oh. Mike Franks.

Mike Delaney posted
Ashtabula, Ohio. So much going on in this shot its scary. about 1910 or a bit later.
Dale Pohto: Same dock (A&B ore Dock), different angles.
John Travers: This photo was taken at Ashtabula in 1903. By 1910 the Huletts would be in the distant background.

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safe_image for Ashtabula Archive Flickr

I saved a satellite image to capture that coal was still being shipped out. Various aggregates are being shipped in. As expected, given all of the steel plant closures in Youngstown, etc., the iron ore trade is gone.

Satellite

It appears that pipe is also being shipped.

Satellite

I knew that NKP also came through this town. The following taught me that Pennsy had a branch that came up from the south. So there must have been a terminal railroad in town that let all three railroads serve the docks.

The NYC had their round house a little west of south from the PRR roundhouse.

Satellite (source)

safe_image for $474M Pig-Iron Plant Gets Permit for Ashtabula Site
[Does that mean they are going to build a blast furnace? How else do you make pig iron? I guess this plant is going to take regular pig iron from other blast furnaces and purify it into Nodular Pig Iron for foundries that produce ductile iron castings. "Petmin USA’s manufacturing facility will produce an estimated 425,000 tonnes per annum of premium NPI, utilising a best-of-breed gas-based pre-reduction shaft furnace and EAF process." [petmin] So a "shaft furnace" instead of a blast furnace. This sounds like another company that is building in Ohio to take advantage of gas made available with fraking.]

Ted Gregory shared Roger Durfee's post
A set of CSX road power lays over at Ashtabula on July 7th, 2019. That's the LLT tug "Invincible" in the foreground and the Paul R Tregurtha out in the lake. The PRT is the largest vessel on the lakes and is headed for nearby Conneaut to unload ore. With construction starting on a new steel facility in the area off to the right business will hopefully pick up here.

James Torgeson posted
The preserved Hulett unloader bucket and operator's cab at the Ashtabula Maritime & Surface Transportation Museum. The New York Central had eight Huletts in Ashtabula, spread across two docks. The Pennsy ore dock had cranes. April 29, 2007.
James Torgeson shared

Mike Delaney posted
Unloading at the Union dock in Ashtabula, Ohio 76. Across from the A&B dock. So wish I took more dock, steel mill and other shots but it was always going to be there, Right?

Comments on Mike's post

James Loveless posted
Steve Swirsky: One of the very first New York Central posters.
James Torgeson shared
Ashtabula once had eight Hulett unloaders, split evenly between two docks.

David Huskins posted three photos with the comment: "From the (formerly online) historical image archives at the University of Akron."

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Fred Bultman posted
The two Hulett batteries at Ashtabula, and more of the rail yards, about 1957.

Dave Laveck: Four Huletts on the left are located on the Ashtabula & Buffalo (A & B) Dock. This dock was originally developed by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad (LS & MS RR). The Union Dock (four Huletts) was also developed by the LS &MSRR, and is on the right of the picture - Minnesota Slip. These two docks were dedicated initially to red ore, and in the coming years to Taconite. The LS&MS RR was absorbed into the New York Central System, who owned and served these two important ore docks through the World Wars and beyond. Their days began to fade with the wide implementation of self unloading Great Lakes vessels. The two docks now

have rail tracks only, and serve as an offloading point for taconite which is loaded by front end loader into the awaiting cars. Over the years hundreds of men were employed on these docks, and many hundreds of families survived and prospered on the wages generated by the work. It is reasonable to state that these two ore docks played a very significant role in the rapid industrial development of North America during the last of the 19th century and through the 20th Century.

Harlan Rinto: Haven't loaded much iron ore lately, mostly stone. On the A&B there is still some of the old iron ore pit creosoted base boards under the ground

Jim Docker shared

Biran Bazan shared

Ben Ruszkoski: PRR on the left, NYC on the right