The former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Gateway Yard sits abandoned in Youngstown, Ohio. The railyard opened in the fall of 1957, and was considered a major milestone for the P&LE. The yard was built on 200 acres, and covered an area all the way from Center Street to Lowellville. The P&LE operated between Youngstown and Pittsburgh, and due to servicing Pittsburgh’s steel mills, moved larger weights than normal for its route mileage. This eventually earned it the nickname “The Little Giant.” It had operated only one tenth of one percent of the nation’s railroad miles, but incredibly hauled around one percent of its tonnage thanks to the steel mills heavy consumption of materials. The P&LE serviced many steel mills over the years it had remained in operation.

P&LE was formed on May 11, 1875 by William McCreery, a prominent Pittsburgh businessman, merchant and railroad builder. The company was headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, and connected with Youngstown at Hazelton, Ohio in the west, and Connellsville, PA to the east. The first rails were laid in Beaver Falls in 1877. The final tracks connecting Pittsburgh to Youngstown were laid on January 27, 1879. The line was initially deemed poorly built, and was only a single track line. Even so, the P&LE had immediately seen huge success, and more money had quickly become available to make improvements.

By the end of 1970, P&LE was operating 211 miles of road on 784 miles of track. It would not be until 1976 that the P&LE reached Lake Erie in Ashtabula, around the same time of the formation of Conrail. Most of the railroad’s revenue had come from coal, coke, iron ore, limestone and of course steel.

The gateway served mostly as a place to classify and sort freight cars, as well as serving as an interchange with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the New York Central Railroad. Most of these cars were headed to various Youngstown steel mills. Originally the yard had held numerous structures and areas including a classification yard, office complex, diesel locomotive servicing facilities and car repair facilities.

The yard tower, which resembles an aircraft tower served as the home for the main office as well. In front of this tower, there is a hump, which was used in the sorting of freight cars.

The Gateway Yard has sat quietly since 1993, when operations came to a halt after the P&LE was absorbed into CSX. They had decided to shut down the yard due to the closure of many steel mills into the early 90s. Most tracks have been removed, but many structures still stand. Over the past 27 years, the yard has seen some vandalism, but as far as any work goes, has remained silent.

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