Railroad association hosts whistle-blow event next Saturday

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The industrial whistles once heard throughout the Mahoning Valley will be back for a day as the Mahoning Valley Railroad Historical Association hosts a Whistle Blow event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at B&O Station, 530 Mahoning Ave.

Residents can relive or experience for the first time the sounds of steam whistles from railroad engines and the Valley’s steel mills that have not been regularly heard for many years.

Examples will include the whistle from the 301 steam locomotive on display at the Canfield Fairgrounds and other railroad whistles in addition to shift-change whistles from local steel mills.

Admission is free. 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 information, visit MVRHA.org.