Ashtabula Harbor, July 7, 1957 - The New York Central Side

In this photo by Bob Rathke, you can see what the bigger New York Central Harbor Yard looked like on the east side of the Ashtabula River.  The picture shows several GP-7s (the standard NYC diesel yard engine in Ashtabula during the mid-50s and 1960s) and the size of the yard  in general.  It was at least three times the capacity of the Pennsy side.  Picture is looking north with Lake Erie off in the distance.  I, like my father, his brother and my grandfather all worked in this yard , on this side of the river.  My grandfather and my uncle because they were New York Central men, Dad and I (and later my brother) because we were brought over as Penn-Central employees when the Pennsylvania and New York Central merged in 1968.

As on the Pennsy side, coal was shipped to Ashtabula Harbor and the Central coal docks from Youngstown, Ohio and the P. & L.E. R.R. (the farthest south NYC trains could travel out of the Harbor).  Like the Pennsy, emptied coal cars were used to take iron ore (brought in by lake freighters) from the Central's several ore docks back down to Youngstown via Carson Yard ( up the "hill" and southeast of Ashtabula), and the New York Central Youngstown Branch.  This all terminated at the P. & L.E.'s Gateway Yard in Youngstown.

After the Penn-Central merger, it was obvious that there was not a need for parallel track lines ending in Youngstown from Ashtabula, both mainly hauling iron ore and coal.  Unlike the Pennsylvania Rail Road, the New York Central maintained and upgraded its Youngstown Branch, and in 1975, with the coming of Conrail, the Pennsy P.Y.& A. branch was  abandoned in favor of the Youngstown Branch which lives today under the flag of the Norfolk-Southern as the "Youngstown Line".  In the hearts of old "P - Company" men, such as myself, the P.Y. & A. will live on.