Origins of Union Railroad piece

A friend of my uncle gave him (who then gave me) a piece of metal cut out years ago from what I believe to be a scrapped steam-tender???? I've found out that the logo is from the Union Railroad Company of Pittsburgh, PA. How old is this piece and what could it be off of? I would love to find out some history on the piece as I really know nothing about it. It's quite large and heavy!

Would this be better of in the PA forum?

Thanks, Warren

Warren-You're correct, that is the Union Railroad emblem. Is it possible that you could provide us with dimensions of the piece, including the thickness of the steel? That might be a clue as to whether this came from a steam locomotive tender.

I don't know how much you've researched on the Union Railroad but here's a brief history on the Union Railroad at "Trainweb":

http://www.trainweb.org/pt/union.html

The current operator of the Union is Transtar, a little more on the Union RR here:

http://www.tstarinc.com

The Union Railroad rostered some unique steam locomotives of the 0-10-2 wheel arrangement. One of them still survives today, on display in Greenville, PA. However, it is painted for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railroad. I'm unsure when the Union diselized but some of their remaining steamers went to the DM&IR, as both railroads were at one time owned by the US Steel Corporation, along with the Bessemer and Lake Erie. I know very little about the Union RR so am unsure what other steam locomotives were on their roster. I tried the trusty Google search but came up with very little.

Photos here:

http://www.members.tripod.com/~greenville/rrpark.html

At your suggestion, I will move this topic to the "Pennsylvania Railfan" forum where it will most likely receive more exposure.

Interesting and unusual logo ! I like the way that the bottom of the "U" aligned with the circle looks like the counter-weight on a steam locomotives driving wheel. I wonder if that was meant to be the suggestion ? Nice work there, Art !

Thanks Art. I had looked for some info on the rr but those sites you posted were very helpful.

The piece is 41" X 22" and looks to be 1/8" thick.

Warren

There is a book "Union Railroad in Color" which is 99% post steam era but they do mention their rudamentary passanger service (taking guys to the steel mills who lived by the tracks) that ended after WWII. They used 0-6-0's to carry two passanger trains. The color scheme fits into the 1920's-19946 period. I would bet money it wasn't from their infamous 0-10-2s as only 9 of those were scrapped.

The Union also ran 2-8-0 Consolidation another possibility