Ore Traffic

[NW Mailing List]

List, 

In the “Party Line” section of the May, 1943 Norfolk and Western Magazine, the Scioto Division’s Chillicothe correspondent noted that the lake shipping season had begun and that lake coal traffic was increasing, but that eastbound ore traffic hadn’t yet started. I assume this is because the upper Great Lakes weren’t yet ice-free.

The reason this caught my attention was that I had never thought of the N&W as an iron-ore hauler. It stands to reason, given the steel production in Portsmouth, but I’d like to know more about this traffic. Would the ore have been in partially filled coal hoppers being returned to the mines? Has this been covered in any of the books on the railroad? 

Thanks for any pointers,

Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio, US