McDONALD — The Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association will be the sponsoring agency for fundraising to purchase and move the diesel locomotive known as McDonald Steel number 777.
The engine’s fate was up in the air as demolition began on the former McDonald Steel facility. According to MVRHA President Carl Jacobson, the switch engine that worked the McDonald plant’s rail yard is operable.
“It is in running condition and was pushing railroad cars last week,” Jacobson said.
The MVRHA wasted no time and is now working to set up the needed online fundraising sites to help raise the estimated $37,000 for the project.
“It will be moved to the organization’s museum, located at 1340 Poland Avenue, Youngstown,” Jacobson said.
He said the move will have to be by crane and a semi-truck as the engine has brass axle bearings. That type of bearing is no longer allowed to move along main line rails, which confines it to the McDonald yard rails only.
Jacobson said if the locomotive had the more modern bearings it would be worth a lot as it could be used by shortline railroads. It can be operated within the MVRHA yard.
He said 777 will be the only piece of railroad equipment preserved from the century old U.S. Steel presence in the Mahoning Valley. The locomotive was built in 1946 and served U.S. Steel Ohio Works as engine 73. When U.S. Steel closed and the McDonald Rolling Mill was continued, the engine was repainted and renumbered 777.
“It used to pull two passenger cars that took guests around the McDonald Works,” Jacobson said.
He said the MVRHA is in the process of setting up some online fundraising links for the project, but for now can take checks made out to the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association (MVRHA) at P.O. Box 3055, Youngstown, OH 44511.
The MVRHA also is fundraising to move two Youngstown Sheet and Tube hot metal cars from the Struthers industrial park to the museum yard later this summer.
McDONALD STEEL SALE
The former McDonald Steel plant on Ohio Avenue was acquired in July by a New Jersey-based company that purchases decommissioned industrial properties and redevelops them for future use.
AP McDonald LLC, an affiliate of Applied Partners LLC, purchased the 650,000-square-foot facility for $3.2 million from McDonald Industrial Land Company, according to property transfer records with the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office. The transaction, recorded July 23, is for three parcels totaling nearly 52 acres, the largest of which is 46.7 acres at 100 Ohio Ave., McDonald, the address of the facility.
AP McDonald LLC formed April 5, 2024, according to records with the Ohio Secretary of State.
“We’re pleased that this sale has taken place not only because it provides significant financial flexibility to McDonald Steel Corporation, but also because it means that rather than becoming another deteriorating industrial facility, the site will become a vibrant center of economic growth in our community,” James M. Grasso, McDonald Steel Corporation president, said at the time of the sale. “AP has successfully redeveloped decommissioned industrial properties across the country, and we’re confident that success will be repeated in McDonald.”
AP McDonald officials said at the time it was ready to work with McDonald, Trumbull County and Ohio officials on post-demolition redevelopment plans for the site.
The facility, built in 1918 by U.S. Steel Corporation, was closed in 1979 by U.S. Steel after the company determined it was too old and inefficient to operate profitably. A group of local investors and entrepreneurs stepped in and bought the mill, reconfigured staffing and operations and began producing hot rolled steel shapes in 1981.
McDonald Steel shuttered the 14-inch rolling mill in early 2024 and the mill processed the last of the customer orders in November.
During its time operating the mill, McDonald Steel produced nearly 1 million tons of hot rolled shapes there.
McDonald Steel continues to operate McDonald Steel Plate, the former General Steel Corp. in Cleveland. There, the company produces and sells CNC-milled joint rail bars to railroads across the U.S.
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