The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie (P&LE) built the Lake Erie & Eastern (LE&E) Railroad. It ran from Struthers, Ohio to Brier Hill, Ohio, a distance of about 7 miles. The road opened on June 14, 1912. The P&LE switched the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company (YS&T) company’s Campbell works from their big yard in Struthers, Ohio. The P&LE wanted access to the lucrative steel business with the YS&T at their other mill in Brier Hill, further west in the valley. The LE&E established that connection and gave the P&LE access to Brier Hill.

Today it is all gone.

 

 

C&O 4-8-4 No. 614 came through Youngstown on the Chessie Safety Express in 1981. She’s eastbound on the ex-B&O Chicago Main.

The LE&E, up on the embankment at the left, was still there in 1981. It was a double-track, CTC railroad.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Scanned from a 35mm Kodachrome slide.

Here’s another view of the LE&E, taken in June of 1975, looking east from the Market Street Bridge in Youngstown. The railroad was busy then!

Scanned from a 35mm Kodachrome slide.

The same location as the 614 photo above, as it looks today, from Google Earth.

The B&O/CSX main is still there, but the LE&E has been swallowed up with trees and overgrowth.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

This is why the LE&E will
never become a bike trail.

The LE&E railroad ran through Youngstown on an embankment. Long sections of that embankment have been removed to accommodate new industry. This picture shows just one of several places where the embankment was removed so new industry could move in.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Here is a video showing a Youngstown Belt Railway (YB) train running under the LE&E bridge referenced in the upper right of the above image.

The YB is a Gennesee & Wyoming property.

The video was produced by Scott Taipale.