YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association is planning to move a vital part of its collection to its property on Poland Avenue.

A Pollock company-built slag car soon will be moved to the property for restoration and display.

“This slag car gives our museum two important things,” MVRHA President Carl Jacobson said. “First, it gives us a direct connection to the city of Youngstown through this railroad car being built right here by the The William B. Pollock Co. The grandchildren of Pollock workers, and all younger people that have only heard stories about the large machinery built by that company will be able to experience the durable construction of this car firsthand.”

Jacobson continued: “The second thing that this car gives our collection is a direct connection to the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. This car was built for YS&T and spent its entire working life here in the Mahoning Valley. This will be the first piece of YS&T equipment that we have been able to restore in our collection.”

MVRHA Secretary / Treasurer Mike McCleery has been credited with obtaining the grants to move the car from a Struthers rail yard to the MVRHA property on Poland Avenue. That came about in an unusual set of circumstances.

“I was at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society Founder’s Day Dinner last September, which was an informal event at Penguin City Brewing,” McCreery said. “There were some empty seats at a table so I was able to join the people already seated there. Somebody else … knew I am a member of the MVRHA and asked me about our museum on Poland Avenue.”

During the conversation, it was mentioned that Roberta Hannay, niece of William B. Pollock II, was also sitting at the table. … Carl and myself then wrote a letter formally asking for a donation. So thanks to the generosity of the Pollock Company Foundation and Roberta Hannay, the MVRHA can properly preserve and display this piece of local history.”

The slag car is different from the hot metal car that is restored and at the entrance to the MVRHA’s Jim Marter Yard. Jacobson said the hot metal car was used by Ellwood Engineering Castings in New Castle, Pa. The car would be filled with molten metal from the furnace and would be used to pour into molds used by the company. That car is important because The William B. Pollock Co. of Youngstown also built it.

The slag car, according to Jacobson, also was made by the Pollock company and was used to collect the slag from the blast furnace, which was skimmed when the furnace was tapped. The slag would be molten also and would run down a special channel that emptied into the slag car. It was then transported to a reclamation area, dumped, cooled and crushed into different sizes and sold.

The car was donated by its prior owner, the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co.

McCreery said the slag car needs some restoration work, but the MVRHA needs to first get it to the Jim Marter Yard. That task won’t be easy as it likely won’t happen by rail.

“Since it was built for in-mill use, it does not have any brakes,” McCreery said, “and it has older friction bearings on the axles. As a result, we have to have it trucked to Marter Yard since none of the local railroads want to risk moving it. A crane company will have to be used to take the ladle off the rail car, turn it upside down and then load it on a flatbed semi-trailer. The crane will then load the rail car onto another semi-trailer. The crane and semi-trucks will then go to Marter Yard to set the rail car on our tracks before setting the ladle back on the rail car.”

He added that one of the wheels has a broken flange so they will be replacing the entire wheel assembly on that end of the car.

The move is expected to take place within the next two months. The cost to move it will be more than $7,000, which will be covered grants received from the Pollock Company Foundation and Roberta Hannay.

McCreery said once the car arrives at Jim Marter Yard, the first step in the restoration will be sandblasting it.

McCreery said the MVRHA still has about a dozen donated rail cars in various yards awaiting the move to its yard. There are plans to add more storage track to accommodate the collection. The MVRHA eventually wants to put up a building on that property.