Hi all,
I'm modeling the PRR's New Castle branch, and while looking on Google Maps I ran across what appears to be a steel mill on the east bank of the Neshannock Creek in New Castle, PA.
I think that the mill is either one of the Neshannock Furnaces, or a Carnegie Steel plant. Here's the coordinates of the plant to input into Google Maps: 40.993059,-80.350313
The PRR E&A division 3 track chart shows that track arrangement for the area, but does not give the industry name. The plant is right beside what used to be an Erie RR line. It is also right beside what I think used to be Moravia Street Yard.
Street view shows a very old building (perhaps a warehouse or rolling mill) and some newer construction. It is possible that the mill was torn down except for the one structure and this new industry built on the site.
It's across the river and a little to the north of what used to be Shenango Tin Mill in New Castle.
What used to be Pennsylvania Engineering Works, and then PECor, is the older structure to the north of the larger facility. Demolition of that structure started early this year.
Any information on the larger industry by what used to be the Erie RR line would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
S&S
Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!
S&S,
Out of curiosity, I ''Googled'' Steel Mill New Castle PA and it stated that there were 11,so somewhere,I believe,you may need,something more specific to go on..
Good Luck!!
Cheers,
Frank
ZSTRIPE:
Thanks for the suggestion. I figured that there were maybe 8, but 11? Wow!
I found an old sketch of Pennsylvania Engineering Corp, that showed the entire complex from the north-west (panoramic map style). It looks like in 1900, PECorp had a larger industry with a covered yard runway and several good-sized outbuildings. The rest of the area seems to be a wooded lot. I'll check LOC and see if they have a panoramic map of New Castle.
Thanks again,
I found a panoramic map pretty fast. The map was drawn in 1896, so the PECorp buildings would have been owned by James P. Witherow Works. Finding the PECorp buildings wasn't too hard. The victorian tower on the NE corner is very distinctive. Apparently the sketch of PECorp wasn't too accurate, because New Casyle Wire Nail Co. is right behind it, according to the map. The map labels the James P. Witherow Works as simply "Machine Shop", which I suppose is accurate, since that's the label the building bears
The map shows "Machine Shop" between Nut St. and George St. Nut St. is now Margaret St., and George St. is an unlabeled alley on Google Maps.
Here's the link to the map for anyone who's interested.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl
The current sprawling complex to the south of PECorp is built on top of the sites of 5 different industries (#11, 28, 29,20,31). The map lists them as "New Casyle Wire Nail Co.", "Red Jacket Furnace", "Rod Mill", "Sheet & Plate Mill", and "Shenango Valley Steel Co."
ZSTRIPE: Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
What year are you modeling? I see you mentioned 1900. You can try the Sandborn Fire Insurance maps. Here is the link: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/sanborn.html. Once you get there, you can pick New Castle. For that town there are four sets of maps ranging from 1894 to 1920.
Who said, curiosity,,killed the cat??LOL..
Have Fun,,
I live about a 1/2 hour from there I'll have to go down and check the place out. Looks like a place to get some interesting pics. Jim.
When doing this kind of research, which I find enormously enjoyable (or ast least it is enjoyable when it actually results in useful information or photos) do not ignore searching on Google Books. There is an astounding amoung of government publications available, not to mention other publications, and sometimes they include photos that are not to be found in a similar search on Google Images.
Another avenue of research can be local government, particularly the offices of city engineer, because those guys have the lovable habit of not wantint to through stuff out even if it is very old. Yet another avenue can be the libraries in the area, including university libraries if any, which sometimes are the repository of the papers of a local company or local businessman.
Dave Nelson
Thanks all for your help.
I finally got it all straightened out. PECorp was the large building that I saw on Google Maps. It used to have a very distinctive Victorian tower on the NE corner, but that was removed before Google got there. The building is now torn down to make room for a scrap metal processing facility.
To the south of PECorp was the New Castle Wire Nail Co. That was torn down and the current large plant was built on the lot. Judging from the architecture, the new plant was built after 1960. 1970s is most likely.
I managed to fit both PECorp and New Castle Wire Nail Co. on my layout plan in a 2x8 space.
Thanks for the tips for other good resources. Google Books had several references to PECorp, and I found a recruitment add for PECorp in Google News Archives.
Thanks again.