Here in a photo by Bob Rathke, you can see what Ashtabula Harbor looked like in the early 1960s (just three years before I went to work for the Pennsy). Looking at the picture you can see the Hannah Docks in the foreground serviced by the PRR and across the Ashtabula River, the A.& B. and Union Docks, serviced by the New York Central. Closest in the picture are storage tracks for the coal and iron ore docks. The coal unloading machine is on the near side of the river on the left side of the picture, and the ore bridge is beyond that to the far left. The main function of the Pennsy docks in the late 1950s and 1960s was to unload ore boats that Cleveland could not handle. The docks and the PRR had to be ready almost at a moments notice awaiting a call from Cleveland telling that an ore boat was on its way. Smart train masters always kept a stash of empty hopper cars ready so Cleveland would NOT send boats to Ashtabula for lack of cars to take on a boat load of ore. The 1960s were a time when business use of computers to do things like keep accurate inventories of locomotives and cars was in its infancy, and so hoppers could be hidden in back, out of service yard tracks along the winding Ashtabula River. From March until mid December, Ashtabula Harbor always stayed busy.
