Thom
May 4th, 2000, 05:36 AM
EL inherited an Erie RR industrial account, the Sherwin-Williams Linseed Oil Mill in Cleveland.
SWP processed their own linseed oil at this site, off West 6th St. on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River for decades, taking the seed by rail or ship, processing the oil and shipping tank cars to the (SWP) Canal Rd. Paint Plant.
By-products of the oil included a Flaxoap, a pomade-like linseed soap similar to Murphy's Oil Soap; also meal, processed and shipped to Nabisco in Buffalo.
Drivers along I-71 could look down and see the SWP "Cover the Earth" logo on Big Bertha, an outsized grain bin visable to drivers just before they crossed the river on their way downtown.
Access to the LOM was by a spur off the old Erie passenger yards.
By the late 60's, latex paint had taken over the domestic coatings market and the "Flats" along the Cuyahoga River were losing their respectability as an industrial area.
The river burned in Cleveland in '68 or '69 and Cleveland was earning its place as a notch on the Rust Belt.
I worked at the LOM for college money, during the last two summers of operation in '70 and '71. By '72 the LOM was being dismantled; when I returned to Cleveland on a visit in '83, the LOM was gone.
I'm planning an N-Trak module based on the LOM and I'd like to learn more.
There's not much about the LOM or EL's operation on the Cuyahoga that I've found in books about EL. Does anyone have any more info?
SWP processed their own linseed oil at this site, off West 6th St. on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River for decades, taking the seed by rail or ship, processing the oil and shipping tank cars to the (SWP) Canal Rd. Paint Plant.
By-products of the oil included a Flaxoap, a pomade-like linseed soap similar to Murphy's Oil Soap; also meal, processed and shipped to Nabisco in Buffalo.
Drivers along I-71 could look down and see the SWP "Cover the Earth" logo on Big Bertha, an outsized grain bin visable to drivers just before they crossed the river on their way downtown.
Access to the LOM was by a spur off the old Erie passenger yards.
By the late 60's, latex paint had taken over the domestic coatings market and the "Flats" along the Cuyahoga River were losing their respectability as an industrial area.
The river burned in Cleveland in '68 or '69 and Cleveland was earning its place as a notch on the Rust Belt.
I worked at the LOM for college money, during the last two summers of operation in '70 and '71. By '72 the LOM was being dismantled; when I returned to Cleveland on a visit in '83, the LOM was gone.
I'm planning an N-Trak module based on the LOM and I'd like to learn more.
There's not much about the LOM or EL's operation on the Cuyahoga that I've found in books about EL. Does anyone have any more info?