Groups plan to blow whistles Saturday

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The industrial whistles that once were heard throughout the Mahoning Valley will be back for a day as the Mahoning Valley Railroad Historical Association has a Whistle Blow day from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the B&O Station, 530 Mahoning Ave.

Residents can relive — or experience for the first time — the attention-grabbing sounds of steam whistles from railroad engines and the Valley’s steel mills that haven’t been heard since the ’70s. Examples will include the warning whistle of a steam locomotive and the shift-change and trouble/maintenance whistles at a steel mill.

Admission is free, and patrons can blow a whistle for $1. Those who bring a whistle from their own collection can hook it up to the steam source and blast it for a $20 donation. Youngstown Thermal is providing the steam, and Eagle Mechanical is providing the hookup manifolds.

Donations will benefit the MVRHA’s efforts to preserve steel-mill railroad rolling stock and locomotives displayed at the James Marter Yard along Poland Avenue. For more information, call 330-550-8165 or go to MVRHA.org.