Youngstown Abandoned Yard

Coming into Youngstown from PA on Rt 80 there is a large abandoned yard underneath Rt 80. Looks like it still has one main track though the yard still active. Anyone have any info on who owns this and last time it was used? Any other info maybe photos? Thanks

I have seen this old yard and wondered about it also. From what I can tell from the map, the line that runs through there may be the NS Youngstown line that goes to Ashtabula.

tahawus84 wrote:Coming into Youngstown from PA on Rt 80 there is a large abandoned yard underneath Rt 80. Looks like it still has one main track though the yard still active. Anyone have any info on who owns this and last time it was used? Any other info maybe photos? Thanks

What you saw is the former New York Central Doughton Yard. Don't know when it was last used as an active yard but I would speculate it was closed during the early years of Penn Central. Penn Central and Conrail used the yard to store inactive cars and I think for a while a scrapper was located there to scrap dead GG1 electrics. The main track you saw is Norfolk Southern's Youngstown Line to Ashtabula. It is the former NYC Youngstown Branch.

Noticed on tuesday that they are removing all the tracks

Ron is correct on this.

Former NYC/PC yard was sold to Railroad Scrap Co which later changed its name to Midwest Steel and Alloy. RSC and MSAX scrapped tens fo thousands of railcars as well as thousands of locomotives at this location. Later, MSAX bought a facility in Youngstown that had been operated by Luria Brothers and they operated both locations.

MSAX wanted more than one rail carrier---they were captive to Conrail at Hubbard. At Youngstown they had Conrail, CSX, P&LE and later, Ohio Central.

During the 1980's and 1990's they took cars to Hubbard that had wood floors and interiors as they could burn at Hubbard. Youngstown scrapped the all steel cars.

In an effort to reduce costs, MSAX "mothballed" the Hubbard operation about 1994 (give or take a few years) and centralized their entire operatin at Youngstown where they had a "state of the art" yard as far as layout, scale, video equipment and also better highway access.

They operate out of Youngstown presently as a major player in the scrap industry. They are also noted for derailment cleanup---not actual wrecking, but on-site salvage operations after the wrecking is complete.

SMT

I drove over that yard on Monday and saw a white Alco switcher. Does anyone know about that locomotive ?

Michael Thomas

The white switcher is at the former Columbia Iron & Metal in Girard, which is about 10 miles west of the yard that is being discussed here.

SMT

The white alco used to be used by Heckett inside North Star Steel. There were three of them, colored red, white and blue. I don't know why the white alco was parked where it is at. I do know that Heckett lost the North Star contract to Olympic Mill Service.

I recall driving past it about 8 years ago with my mom on her way to Sharon, and there was a coaling tower on site.

Since this past August, I have been working in Connecticut, but live in Ohio, and I regularly drive between the two every two weeks or so. My route is mostly I-80, and I've noticed that the tower is gone. Any idea of when it was demolished?

I grew up in this area. That yard used to fascinate me as a kid. I rode my bike the length of it one day and a homeless person scared me away. Never went back.

In the Y at Doughton Junction is the remnants of an engine servicing facility. If you look on google maps and zoom in you can still see the spokes of the roundhouse. There were/are also two towers last time I was there. I have explored back in there in the past and again, I was fascinated. What I would really like to see is some old photos of that facility, or even some history maybe. My older brother told me once he went there when it was still an active facility. Would appreciate any info.