Staff file photo / J.T. Whitehouse U.S. Steel engine 777 couldn’t be saved last year and ended up in the scrap yard. It was from the McDonald Works plant and the MVRHA tried to preserve it after the McDonald plant closed in 2024.

McDONALD — The Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association was unable to save engine 777, which came from the U.S. Steel McDonald Works plant in the village.

The MVRHA was formed in 1985 as a way to preserve railroading history and heritage in the Mahoning Valley. Operating from a switch yard off Poland Avenue in Youngstown, the organization has saved many historic railroad cars and engines. The collection is on display in the Jim Marter Yard, which is named after the late Jim Marter, who promoted railroading both on the real level as well as the model railroad hobby.

Around the middle of 2025, the MVRHA learned about engine 777 that was operational and was formerly used in the McDonald Works switch yard. The engine — from U.S. Steel and taken to McDonald from the Ohio Works plant — was for sale and could have been purchased and moved to the museum yard for $37,000.

“We couldn’t raise the money for it (in time),” MVRHA President Carl Jacobson said. “It was cut up in September, which is too bad. It was a nice engine, but had brass bearings. That was the only large item from the U.S. Steel Ohio Works and we couldn’t save it. That is a shame.”

Jacobson said there are not a lot of items saved from the old Ohio Works. A few old photos have turned up, but for the most part, nothing. Jacobson said he worked six years in the open hearth area of the Ohio Works and he said no cameras were ever allowed inside the plant. It was an offense that could get a person terminated.

As for Engine 777, it would have to have been placed on a semi-truck trailer using a crane. The wheels would have to be removed. Although the engine was in running condition, it had brass bearings that are no longer permitted on main line tracks.

For 2026, Jacobson and other members of the MVRHA have moved past the loss of the engine and are focusing on saving another part of local railroad history. The MVRHA has two Youngstown Sheet and Tube hot metal cars numbered 21 and 23. The cars are stored at an industrial park 4 miles from the museum yard.

“These are the last hot metal cars left in the entire Mahoning Valley,” Jacobson said. “They were built by Treadwell Engineering of Pennsylvania during World War II, but both cars received a substantial rebuild by the William B. Pollock Company of Youngstown in the 1970s.”

He said car number 21 received a welded tank during the rebuild, but car 23 still has the original riveted tank.

According to Jacobson, the two hot metal cars have early-type roller bearings that wouldn’t pass inspection. Also, the cars’ brake system is inoperable and there are no parts available to fix that. The only option for the MVRHA is to move the cars by having a contractor load the brick-lined tanks onto railroad flat cars via a crane. Once secured, the flatcars can be moved to the museum yard by rail.

The wheel sets and end sections of each car will have to be loaded on trailers and moved to the yard, where the cars can be reassembled and restored.

“To be able to accommodate the cranes and flat cars in our museum yard, we need to move the rest of our collection out of the way,” Jacobson said. “Our museum is located on property that was once Republic Steel’s employee parking lot. There was the stub end of a track in the rear of the property. The museum has built two complete tracks and is adding a third track. We need to complete a switch and add two more 39-foot sections to have enough room to move the collection over.”

He said the goal is to have the third track completed by July of this year. The museum would like to raise $10,000 to complete the hot metal cars move. Anyone interested in preserving these important historical rail cars from the industry that helped build the Mahoning Valley can make a tax-deductible donation online at GoFundMe, Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association, Hot Metal Cars.” Checks can be sent to MVRHA, P.O. Box 3055, Youngstown, OH 44511.

The two hot metal cars will join other historic cars such as a restored ladle transport car.

“This car is Youngstown Sheet and Tube number 17,” said MVRHA member Mike McCleery. “We don’t know what year it was built, but believe it was around the 1930s.”

The Jim Marter Yard also has several cabooses, a vintage boxcar, four locomotives and an ingot car. One of the engines is a fireless steam engine built by Heisler Locomotive Company of Erie, Pa. The engine had no firebox. It was basically a steam tank on wheels running off hot steam pressure. The engine was made to travel inside a mill and under low wooden beams, thus no flame to start a fire. It would fill with steam at the mill’s boiler house.

The MVRHA museum is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month from May through September. Educational and private groups can be accommodated by calling 330-301-9830 to make an appointment.