FL9

It seems like a good time for a few more chapters of our trip to Wheeling, WV this past August.  We left off with Judy and Molly our yellow lab standing on the banks of the Ohio River in Wheeling on the evening of August 13th.  The next day we left Molly with my first wife’s family and picked my son Lukas before heading towards the Oglebay Zoo.  Along the way we stopped briefly at Benwood Junction, a busy location in steam days just south of Wheeling.  Today this spot is the northern end of a CSX branch line that serves industries south of here along the Ohio and an interchange for coal trains with the Wheeling & Lake Erie.  Today all that was evident were a few freight cars and a pair of big GE’s shut down and silently waiting for their next assignment.

A mile or so north in an industrial park that used to be a Wheeling-Pittsburgh steel facility sits this long abandoned Whitcomb 70-ton center cab switcher.

We arrived at the zoo on the grounds of the beautiful Oglebay city park and resort, and our first stop was at the large O-guage model railroad in the main building.  This shot was interesting due to the name of the auto dealership and the fact that Judy’s father owned a Humble/Esso service station for many years.

This model of a blast furnace was built by a retired steel worker.

Now it was time to see a few of the animals and ride the zoo train for old time’s sake.