Bessemer & Lake Erie (#1005)

The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad was a railroad company operating in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. The railroad's main route ran from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio to North Bessemer, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, a distance of 139 miles. The original rail ancestor of the B&LE, the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad, began operation in October of 1869. Rail operations were maintained continuously by various corporate descendents on the growing system that ultimately became the B&LE in 1900, until it was purchased by Canadian National Railway in 2004. The B&LE and its predecessors offered passenger service but, in 1955, the railroad became strictly a freight hauler. The Pittsburgh, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company was founded in 1897 by Andrew Carnegie to haul iron ore and other products from the port at Conneaut, Ohio on the Great Lakes to Carnegie Steel Company plants in Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. On the return trip, Pennsylvania coal was hauled north to Conneaut Harbor. The company was created largely out of a series of small predecessor companies including the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad, and the Butler and Pittsburgh Railroad Company. The company was renamed the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad in 1900. Carnegie Steel had an exclusive 999 year lease to the PS&LE. This lease was acquired by US Steel when that company acquired Carnegie Steel in 1901. In 1988, the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of Transtar, Inc. Transtar is a privately-held transportation holding company with principal operations in railroad freight transportation, dock operations, Great Lakes shipping, and inland river barging that were formerly subsidiaries of USX, the holding company that owns U.S. Steel. In 2001, the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad became part of Great Lakes Transportation, LLC. On May 10, 2004, Canadian National Railway acquired the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad. Iron ore and coal are still the route's major freight commodities.

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