Union Railroad (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Encyclopedia
The Union Railroad is a Class III switching railroad located in Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania
. The company is owned by Transtar, Inc.
, which is itself a subsidiary of USS Corp, more popularly known as United States Steel. The railroad's primary customers are the three plants of the USS Mon Valley Works, the USS Edgar Thomson Works (blast furnaces, basic oxygen steelmaking
, and continuous slab casting), the USS Irvin Works (hot and cold rolling mills and finishing lines) and the USS Clairton Works (producer of coke for blast furnace ironmaking).
Four years later, Carnegie formed the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad under this exclusive ownership and arranged to lease PS&LE for 999 years. This arrangement stayed in place with the formation of U. S. Steel in 1901, which bought out Carnegie interests.
The Union was expanded to include the several other mills in the Mon Valley Region. The Union was responsible for the various switching task within each mill, for delivering raw materials to each mill (which would arrive on the Union via interchange with the Bessemer & Lake Erie, another US Steel owned and operated railroad) and for delivering the finished products to interchange with the major railroads in the area (most notable the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie).
In 1906, B&LE leased, and later sold, to Union Railroad the portion of line between North Bessemer and East Pittsburgh.
At its peak, the Union served eight separate steel mills and numerous other businesses (see below for complete list)- USS Homestead, USS Rankin, USS Edgar Thomson, USS Duquesne-National, USS National Tube & Pipe, USS Clairton,the relatively new USS Irvin rolling mill and Grant Steel in Duquesne, PA. The URR also used four bridges crossing the Monongahela River - Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge
, Union Railroad Clairton's Wyle Bridge, McKeesport Connecting Riverton Bridge (also known as: Union Railroad Riverton Bridge), Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge
(also known as: Union Railroad Rankin Hot Metal Bridge) - and was one of the busy railroads in the United States by tonnage hauled. Unlike the rest of the steel industry, the Union was relatively accepting of modernization as demonstrated by construction of a then state of the art yard and dispatching center in Duquesne, PA in the early 1950s. With the decline of the steel industry in the United States, the Union's operations were greatly scaled back.
Today main transportation is iron ore from North Bessemer interchange. Edgar Thomson gets it coke from the Clairton works that is also interchanged to Dexter yard, slabs from Edgar Thomson to Irvin works and finished steel products (coils) from Irvin works to the interchanges. Only the Port Perry Bridge remains open for rail traffic. For inner-mill service the Edgar Thomson plant uses US Steel own EMD-switchers to move the hot metal subs and for tressel unloading. Crews from the URR have their own motive power EMD's for general switching duties within the mill. Their duties include the movement of loaded ore and coke cars to the staging yard and tressel, spotting and pulling the caster and slab mills, along with bringing in scrap and flux cars into the BOP "Basic Oxygen Process". After closing the Riverton bridge in 2008 there is no rail connection between the URR network and Mckeesport Tubular Operations "Camp Hill". Using URR motive power to switch McKeesport Tubular is the duty of McKeesport Connection Railroad (MKC), another subsidiary of Transtar. The Duquesne Coal Docks are still in operations unloading scrap metal from barges to be used at Edgar Thomson and coal barges to interchange with Norfolk Southern in the Kenny Yard.
Union Railroad continues to serve the Mon Valley and have since expaned its customer base to include Dura-Bond pipe coating in the former Duquesne Works site and General Electric in West Mifflin hauling special oversize generators.
During the steam days it also was known to run 2-8-0
"Consolidations" and 0-6-0
. The 0-6-0 were built by Lima and were significantly heavier than the USRA 0-6-0. In its height of operation, as much as 115 locomotives operated at once, including the current 33 locomotives on the roster. From 1941 till 1953 the URR purchased the following diesel motive power and replaced with them steam traction:
In the years after 1970 some used engines (eleven EMD SW9 and six EMD SD9 from the DM&IR, five SD38-2 from the B&LE and few from other roads) and three new EMD SW1001 joined the URR.
The current roster is made up completely of second generation EMD Switcher Units. Majority of the switchers are painted blue but numerous units are painted different colors including #3 and #17 are painted green, while #1 and #33 have a new yellow and red scheme.
In 1898 the largest locomotive of the time was built for the Union Railroad. This 2-8-0 had a heavier weight on its drivers (208,000 pounds) than any built to that date.. This was locomotive 95 in the U.R.R. stable and according to the article was built by Pittsburg(h)(sic) Locomotive Works.
In the 1930's the Lima plant began to build oversized 0-6-0s for use on the URR. These were among the second largest 0-6-0s ever built.
The 0-10-2
wheel arrangement
was named "Union" after the Union Railroad. Built for the Union RR from the Baldwin Locomotive Works, it boasts "The largest steam switch locomotive ever produced". The Union RR took delivery of 5 such locomotives. Only one survives today and is located in Greenville, PA. These trains had over 100,000 pounds of tractive force.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The company is owned by Transtar, Inc.
Transtar, Inc.
Transtar, Inc. is a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation. It was organized in 1988 to own U.S. Steel's railroad and other transportation subsidiaries.Transtar owns or has owned the following companies:...
, which is itself a subsidiary of USS Corp, more popularly known as United States Steel. The railroad's primary customers are the three plants of the USS Mon Valley Works, the USS Edgar Thomson Works (blast furnaces, basic oxygen steelmaking
Basic oxygen steelmaking
Basic oxygen steelmaking , also known as Linz-Donawitz-Verfahren steelmaking or the oxygen converter process is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowing oxygen through molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and changes it into...
, and continuous slab casting), the USS Irvin Works (hot and cold rolling mills and finishing lines) and the USS Clairton Works (producer of coke for blast furnace ironmaking).
History
Andrew Carnegie had been discussing rail transport with other lines, but determined the best way to protect his interests was to control the rail line himself. Several smaller companies had constructed sections of the route. "Bear Creek Railroad (name changed to Shenango and Allegheny Railroad Co.) was incorporated in March 1865 for the purpose of moving coal 21 miles from Pardoe to Shenango for delivery to other railroads and the Erie Extension Canal. By 1883, Shenango and Allegheny had extended north to Greenville, PA and south to Butler, PA. By 1892, the line had extended north to reach the port of Conneaut, OH. The extensions carried their own descriptive corporate names and survived a series of corporate reorganizations to become the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie." The rail line had been completed as far as Butler, still 40 miles distant from the Mon Valley. The first ore boat arrived in Conneaut in 1892 stimulating the interest of Andrew Carnegie. In April 1896, a tri-party agreement between PS&LE, Union Railroad Company and Carnegie Steel Company called for construction of a line from Butler to East Pittsburgh. The Butler and Pittsburgh Railroad Company incorporated April 8, 1896 and completed, spectacularly, by October 27, 1897 including a long, single track bridge across the Allegheny River. Also in 1897, PS&LE and B&P were consolidated into the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie under majority ownership of Carnegie. The Union Railroad or as some call "railroad in the sky" was created 1896. The railroad, as it exists today, has resulted from the union of five different railroads between the years 1906 and 1915. The original URR extended from East Pittsburgh to Hays, a distance of six miles, and was constructed in the years 1894-1907Four years later, Carnegie formed the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad under this exclusive ownership and arranged to lease PS&LE for 999 years. This arrangement stayed in place with the formation of U. S. Steel in 1901, which bought out Carnegie interests.
The Union was expanded to include the several other mills in the Mon Valley Region. The Union was responsible for the various switching task within each mill, for delivering raw materials to each mill (which would arrive on the Union via interchange with the Bessemer & Lake Erie, another US Steel owned and operated railroad) and for delivering the finished products to interchange with the major railroads in the area (most notable the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie).
In 1906, B&LE leased, and later sold, to Union Railroad the portion of line between North Bessemer and East Pittsburgh.
At its peak, the Union served eight separate steel mills and numerous other businesses (see below for complete list)- USS Homestead, USS Rankin, USS Edgar Thomson, USS Duquesne-National, USS National Tube & Pipe, USS Clairton,the relatively new USS Irvin rolling mill and Grant Steel in Duquesne, PA. The URR also used four bridges crossing the Monongahela River - Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge
Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge
The Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge it is a truss bridge that carries the Pennsylvania Union Railroad across the Monongahela River between North Braddock, Pennsylvania and Duquesne, Pennsylvania. Industrial pipelines also adorn the bridge, as natural gas is transported between the communities....
, Union Railroad Clairton's Wyle Bridge, McKeesport Connecting Riverton Bridge (also known as: Union Railroad Riverton Bridge), Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge
Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge
The Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge is a truss bridge that carries a rail line across the Monongahela River between Whitaker, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania.-History:...
(also known as: Union Railroad Rankin Hot Metal Bridge) - and was one of the busy railroads in the United States by tonnage hauled. Unlike the rest of the steel industry, the Union was relatively accepting of modernization as demonstrated by construction of a then state of the art yard and dispatching center in Duquesne, PA in the early 1950s. With the decline of the steel industry in the United States, the Union's operations were greatly scaled back.
Today main transportation is iron ore from North Bessemer interchange. Edgar Thomson gets it coke from the Clairton works that is also interchanged to Dexter yard, slabs from Edgar Thomson to Irvin works and finished steel products (coils) from Irvin works to the interchanges. Only the Port Perry Bridge remains open for rail traffic. For inner-mill service the Edgar Thomson plant uses US Steel own EMD-switchers to move the hot metal subs and for tressel unloading. Crews from the URR have their own motive power EMD's for general switching duties within the mill. Their duties include the movement of loaded ore and coke cars to the staging yard and tressel, spotting and pulling the caster and slab mills, along with bringing in scrap and flux cars into the BOP "Basic Oxygen Process". After closing the Riverton bridge in 2008 there is no rail connection between the URR network and Mckeesport Tubular Operations "Camp Hill". Using URR motive power to switch McKeesport Tubular is the duty of McKeesport Connection Railroad (MKC), another subsidiary of Transtar. The Duquesne Coal Docks are still in operations unloading scrap metal from barges to be used at Edgar Thomson and coal barges to interchange with Norfolk Southern in the Kenny Yard.
Union Railroad continues to serve the Mon Valley and have since expaned its customer base to include Dura-Bond pipe coating in the former Duquesne Works site and General Electric in West Mifflin hauling special oversize generators.
Historical timeline and notable facts
- 1894-1907 The original URR extended from East Pittsburgh to Hays, a distance of six miles.
- July 2, 1894 Union Railroad came to existance
- 1896 Incorporated
- October 26, 1897 First 30 car Ore train from North Bessemer yard through the new North Bessemer Tunnel to Edgar Thompson Steel Mill
- At years end 5 million tons of freight cars traveled over the URR.
- June 30, 1898 First Train over the newly completed Port Perry Bridge
- December 31, 1900Carrie Furnace bridge opened to hot metal traffic.
- June 14, 1901 Carrie Furnace bridge open for general traffic.
- December 1907 Completion of the Homestead connection between Port Perry Bridge and the north end of Munhall Yard
- 1917- 1920 The Clairton Branch of the Monongahela Southern Railroad was constructed, it extended from Clairton Junction (Bull Run) to a connection with the St. Clair Terminal Railroad in Clairton and was first opened to operations on April 14, 1919.
- June 10, 1950 Dedication Of the New Union Railroad Diesel Shop Hall, PA a state of the art servicing facility for their increasing diesel fleet.
- Years end 1951 all-time high of 74,44O,776 net tons of revenue freight were handled. The largest consontration of freight in the world.
Interchanges
- Penn Hills Twp (North Bessemer)
- B&LE (CN)Bessemer and Lake Erie RailroadThe Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad is a class II railroad that operates in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.The railroad's main route runs from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio to the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, a distance of 139 miles...
- B&LE (CN)
- East Pittsburgh (Dexter Yard)East Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaEast Pittsburgh is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, about southeast of the confluence of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers at Pittsburgh. The population in 1900 stood at 2,883, and in 1910, at 5,615. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 1,822, having fallen from...
- CSXCSX TransportationCSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
- CSX
- McKeesport (Riverton)McKeesport, PennsylvaniaMcKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...
- CSXCSX TransportationCSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
- CSX
- Kenny YardDuquesne, PennsylvaniaDuquesne is a city along the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. The population was 5,565 at the 2010 census.-History:...
- Norfolk SouthernNorfolk Southern RailwayThe Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
- Norfolk Southern
- West Mifflin (Mifflin Junction)West Mifflin, PennsylvaniaWest Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census....
- Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway
- Clairton(Peter's Creek and Conley Yards)Clairton, PennsylvaniaClairton is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. The population was 6,796 at the 2010 census. Under Pennsylvania legal classifications for local governments, Clairton is considered a third-class city...
- Norfolk SouthernNorfolk Southern RailwayThe Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
- Wheeling and Lake Erie RailwayWheeling and Lake Erie RailwayThe Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway is a Class II regional railroad that provides freight service, mainly in the U.S. state of Ohio. It took its name from the former Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway, most of which it bought from the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1990.-History:In 1990, the Norfolk...
- Norfolk Southern
Steel mills
- U.S. Steel Homestead Works - Homestead, PA - Steel Operations ceased in 1986. Razed in late 80's. Shopping area called the The Waterfront opened in 1999.
- U.S. Steel Carrie Furnace - Rankin, PA - Part of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area
- U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson -Braddock, PA - Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill completed in 1875. Still in operation. Oldest intergrated steel mill in the world.
- U.S. Steel Duquesne Works -Duquesne, PA - Steel operations ended 1984. Razed in late 1990's. now RIDC Park with a U.S. Steel Training Hub
- U.S. Steel Irvin Works - West Mifflin, PA - Still in operation - Rolling mills and finishing operations.
- U.S. Steel Clairton Works - Clairton, PA - Steel mill operation ended in 1984 - Coke Works continues to operate and produce coke and coke by-products. Largest coking facility in North America.
- U.S. Steel National Works -McKeesport, PA - Original operations ended in 1987. Pipe and Tube works operations resumed in 2011 after purchase of remaining pipe mills from Camp Hill Corporation.
Yards
Prior to 1980 Reading from the northern most point south.- North Bessemer Yards - North Bessemer was made up of six yards plus car shop tracks(Penn Hills Twp)Along with Interchange tracks with the Unity Junction and the Bessemer and Lake Erie.
- Northbound Empty Yard, Cabbage Patch, North Yard, South Yard, East Yard and West Yard
- Hershey Siding Universal
- North Yard - (Penn Hills Twp)
- Hall Yard - Hall Roundhouse Hall, Pennsylvania
- Oak Hill - South of Hall was made up of four yards (Monroeville and Wilkins Twp)
- Santiago Yard, Peterson Yard, South Yard and Newtown Yard
- Edgar Thomson Yards Braddock, Pennsylvania are as follows: *Valley Yard, Rail Yard, Joe Wolfe, Ore Yard,Port Perry Yard.
- Homestead and Rankin Yards as follows: *Munhall A Yard
- Duquesne Yards - Classification Yard DuquesneDuquesne, PennsylvaniaDuquesne is a city along the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. The population was 5,565 at the 2010 census.-History:...
- Mifflin Junction Yards - Mifflin Junction in West MifflinWest Mifflin, PennsylvaniaWest Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census....
- Homestead Yards -
- Irvin "A" Yard Storage
- Irvin "B" Yard Empty and Loaded Slab Racks
- Clairton "E" Yard Empty Hoppers
- Clairton "C" Yard Empty Tanks
- Clairton "B" Yard Loaded Hoppers
Bridges
- URR Port Perry BridgeUnion Railroad Port Perry BridgeThe Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge it is a truss bridge that carries the Pennsylvania Union Railroad across the Monongahela River between North Braddock, Pennsylvania and Duquesne, Pennsylvania. Industrial pipelines also adorn the bridge, as natural gas is transported between the communities....
- over Monongahela RiverMonongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
between Port Perry (North Versailles Twp) and Duquesne - Union Railroad Coal Valley Bridge, Wilson, Pa - Over Rt 837 and the former PRR Mon Branch now Norfolk Southern RR
- No Longer In Use (by the railroad)
- URR Rankin Hot Metal BridgeCarrie Furnace Hot Metal BridgeThe Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge is a truss bridge that carries a rail line across the Monongahela River between Whitaker, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania.-History:...
- over Monongahela River between RankinRankin, PennsylvaniaRankin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, south of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River. Early in the 20th century, Rankin specialized in manufacturing steel and wire goods...
and WhitakerWhitaker, PennsylvaniaWhitaker is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is on the Monongahela River upriver from Pittsburgh. The population was 1,271 at the 2010 census.The borough is named for James Whitaker, who was deeded the land in 1788.... - URR Riverton BridgeMcKeesport Connecting Railroad BridgeThe McKeesport Connecting Railroad Bridge is a bridge that spans the Monongahela River between McKeesport, and Duquesne, PA-History:The bridge originally was served by the Pennsylvania Union Railroad and connected the U.S. Steel Duquesne Works and the National Tube Works in McKeesport. In the late...
- over Monongahela River between Duquesne and McKeesportMcKeesport, PennsylvaniaMcKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...
Part of the Great Allegheny Passage Rails to Trails network - URR Clairton BridgeUnion Railroad Clairton BridgeThe Union Railroad Clairton Bridge, commonly known as the Clairton Coke Works Bridge, is a truss bridge that formerly carried the Pennsylvania Union Railroad between Clairton, Pennsylvania and Glassport, Pennsylvania...
- over Monongahela River between Clairton and Belle Bridge (Lincoln BoroughLincoln, PennsylvaniaLincoln is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,072 at the 2010 census.As of 2009, the mayor is Nick Vay.Lincoln does not have its own post office...
)
- URR Rankin Hot Metal Bridge
Tunnels
- North Bessemer Tunnel - between North Bessemer and Universal (Penn Hills Twp)
- Dravosburg Tunnel - between West Mifflin (south of West Mifflin Park) and DravosburgDravosburg, PennsylvaniaDravosburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 1,792 at the 2010 census...
- Airport Tunnel - under runway 10-28 and taxiway A of Allegheny County AirportAllegheny County AirportAllegheny County Airport is located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, four miles southeast of the city of Pittsburgh. It is the fifth busiest airport in Pennsylvania following Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg...
in West Mifflin
Local businesses
- Universal Atlas Concrete Penn Hills
- Chambers Dump
- Butler Refractories
- Westinghouse Linhart division
- Linde Air
- 84 Lumber
- General Electric Generators
- Pittsburgh Alloy Inc
- Risher Dump
- Taylor Dump
- Continental Can Company
- Joseph M. Alfery & Associates
- Shwayder Bros., Inc Chair mfg co. Mifflin
- Tube City on the site of the former United Iron and Metal Company
Roster
The Union RR has operated a number of locomotives over the years. In steam days, the railroad was the only operator of 0-10-2Union Railroad 0-10-2
Ten Union Railroad 0-10-2 steam locomotives were built in 1936–1939 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. These were the only 0-10-2 locomotives ever built in the United States and this purchase gave the name "Union" to this type....
During the steam days it also was known to run 2-8-0
2-8-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels...
"Consolidations" and 0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
. The 0-6-0 were built by Lima and were significantly heavier than the USRA 0-6-0. In its height of operation, as much as 115 locomotives operated at once, including the current 33 locomotives on the roster. From 1941 till 1953 the URR purchased the following diesel motive power and replaced with them steam traction:
| Road Number | Model |
| 451-454 | Alco S1 |
| 455-476 | EMD SW1 EMD SW1 The EMD SW1 was a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between December 1938 and November 1953. Final assembly was at EMD's plant at La Grange, Illinois. The SW1 was the second generation of 600 hp switcher from EMD, succeeding the SW and SC... |
| 500-505 | Baldwin VO1000 |
| 506-535 | Alco S2 |
| 536-537 | Alco S4 |
| 541-560 | EMD NW2 EMD NW2 The EMD NW2 is a 1,000 hp , B-B switcher locomotive manufactured by General Motors Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. The NW2 was manufactured from February, 1939 to December, 1949, and 1145 were produced – 1121 for the U.S., and 24 were exported to Canada. Starting in late 1948... |
| 571-574 | EMD SW7 EMD SW7 The EMD SW7 was a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between October 1949 and January 1951. It was powered by a V12 567A engine developing . 489 SW7 locomotives were produced. The majority of the SW7s were built by EMD Plant #3 in Cleveland, Ohio... |
| 575-587 | EMD SW9 EMD SW9 An EMD SW9 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between December 1950 and December 1953. Power was provided by an EMD 567B 12-cylinder engine, producing .... |
| 601-612 | Alco RS2 |
| 613-624 | Baldwin DRS 6-6-1500 |
| 625-627 | Baldwin AS616 |
| 701-704 | EMD TR5A/B |
In the years after 1970 some used engines (eleven EMD SW9 and six EMD SD9 from the DM&IR, five SD38-2 from the B&LE and few from other roads) and three new EMD SW1001 joined the URR.
The current roster is made up completely of second generation EMD Switcher Units. Majority of the switchers are painted blue but numerous units are painted different colors including #3 and #17 are painted green, while #1 and #33 have a new yellow and red scheme.
| Road Number | Model |
| 1-9 | EMD SW1500 EMD SW1500 The EMD SW1500 was a diesel locomotive intended for switching service and built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between June 1966 and January 1974. 808 examples were constructed. It was closely related to the less powerful EMD SW1000 model, forming a line of switchers powered by the new... |
| 10-33 | EMD MP15DC EMD MP15DC The EMD MP15DC was a switcher-type diesel locomotive model produced by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1974 and 1980. 351 examples were built... |
Unique locomotive power
The Union Railroad was unique given that it was basically a switching railroad and yet its loads were incredibly heavy made up of either; ore, coke, coal, slag or steel. This unique combination in addition to the steep grades around Pittsburgh demanded some special tractive force.In 1898 the largest locomotive of the time was built for the Union Railroad. This 2-8-0 had a heavier weight on its drivers (208,000 pounds) than any built to that date.. This was locomotive 95 in the U.R.R. stable and according to the article was built by Pittsburg(h)(sic) Locomotive Works.
In the 1930's the Lima plant began to build oversized 0-6-0s for use on the URR. These were among the second largest 0-6-0s ever built.
The 0-10-2
0-10-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-10-2 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle ....
wheel arrangement
Wheel arrangement
In rail transport, a wheel arrangement is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed beneath a locomotive.. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and connections, with the adopted notations varying by country...
was named "Union" after the Union Railroad. Built for the Union RR from the Baldwin Locomotive Works, it boasts "The largest steam switch locomotive ever produced". The Union RR took delivery of 5 such locomotives. Only one survives today and is located in Greenville, PA. These trains had over 100,000 pounds of tractive force.