The Pittsburgh, Bessemer & 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. At the end of 1925 B&LE operated 228 miles of road on 631 miles of track; at the end of 1970, mileages were 220 and 489. Enter our next guest who’s carefully modeling the B&LE in the early 50’s.

Ray Brown has worked all over the United States and finally settled just west of Erie, Pennsylvania for two reasons: To experience as much snow fall as possible and to faithfully recreate the Bessemer and Lake Erie in a fifty by thirty-foot basement on a double and triple deck layout. Introduced to us by our in-house medical staff of one, (Mike Hauk) Ray’s story is a great listen and one we’re sure you’ll enjoy!!