CONRAIL Cab Ride Under HULETTS 

My father worked down the docks in Ashtabula shoveling iron ore out of the corner hulls of the iron ore boats so that the huletts could grab the load. When I was in grade school, on 2 occasions, my dad allowed me to get into the very tight cab with the operator who ran the hulett. Good thing both of us were skinny! It was exciting and terrifying, getting onto those iron ore boats by climbing up a vertical ladder on the side of the boat to see the deep cargo hulls. Thought they would always be there.

my uncle took me to work with him at one of the power plants in the flats. showed me the whole plant, tunnels under downtown, lunch at jimmys and for dessert, drove over to watch the huletts up and close.one of the best effing days of my life. thanks for posting.

Me too! Mt dad would take me to the flats on a Sunday afternoon and he'd park the car and we would watch all the activity at the steel mills, ore docks and freight yards. Never a dull moment, something going on everywhere you looked. Today... a ghost town. Thanks for commenting!

Yes, so sad and true. I had always hoped that they could be reassembled next to the William Mather Museum ore ship and positioned over her holds but we know that will never happen thanks to the economy, political wrangling and a disregard for our history and industrial heritage. Thanks for commenting!

Both happy and sad that this era came to an end. Happy that this and other video's captured the history that would have been lost and sad that continued operations were curtailed by environmental concerns and foreign competition. (Remember, we rebuilt the economies of Japan, Germany and Indo-China). Our children may not know Cleveland's contribution to the growth of industrialization before, during and after WW2 with companies like Cleveland Cliffs (Mather Ore Transport), Standard Oil (SOHIO), Warner & Swayze, Park Drop-Forge, Brush Industries (Beryllium), Parker-Hannifin (Jet Engine and Hydraulic Components), Lubrizol (Lubricants). Lincoln Electric (Welding), Cleveland Pneumatic Tube (Landing Gear), Bailey Meter, Jack & Heinz, Sherwin-Williams (Chemicals & Coatings), General Electric (Communication Components), GM Fisher Body (Jeeps and Trucks), Ford Motors (Engines & Stampings), Cleveland Tank Plant (IX Center) and MANY others large and small. Lucky for me and my sister Valerie Jean that our father, Raymond Steve and our mother, Elvira Cecelia (both born "teachers") instilled in us a sense of curiousity and dedication that helped us to appreciate the History and Achievement of past times and the evelotion of ideas into today's world. We are thankful for them and regret their short lives. RIP. Ray Allan, posted 4-19-2021

A lot of the yard switches were setup to throw over when you ran through them... this is one of 'em! Saved a lot of foot work. Good eye- Thanks for commenting!

I wish that I would win the lottery...I would send my sons to college and buy a 1995 Taurus SHO, but I would like to provide the funds to restore the Hulett ore unloaders, and allow a new generation to marvel at our industrial history. My friends and I used to watch them all the time. We live a five minute walk to Edgewater beach, and I will never forget the beauty of those magnificent machines...like stately, noble dinosaurs, going down and up in a mechanical ballet. I pray that they do not get scrapped before some kind soul donates to their restoration.

I remember those running at night unloading the boats fishing with my dad at night I always thought they were cool video brought back great memories thanks

sadly, you all know we will NEVER see a hulett standing tall ever again :(

wow awesome video. Thanks for having the foresight to document such a thing at the time and then share it. Cool industrial stuff.

Thanks ACL Tony - Sorry for the grammatic errors in the posting, but I am glad you appreciated it. I am hopeful that we can turn it around, and make it work again. There's still a chance.

Very sobering comments and realistic. Saddening and frustrating that basically, we did it to ourselves.

I sure hope that was a spring switch around the 7:10 point. In any case, thanks for preserving the memory of the truly amazing Hulett loader.

Never saw them this close. That was a real treat. Thanks.

The power house dates from 1890s.You had a good run boys.

Instead of sinking money into that Joke of a football team, why don't they restore the last two remaining Huletts?

if you go down there now all the builings by the hulletts are gone, two of the hulletts are still there. They have been dismantled and neatly placed on the opposite side of the yard from were they stood. You cant even tell that those building ever existed because a large stone pile is there now. everything is gone.

Very cool to see from this perspective.

Nice seeing a bit of history that's most likely gone forever.

Echoes of greatness, now shadows of the past.

Pretty neat to see all that stuff. Thanks for preserving and sharing this.

Love The Tower. It was my "night light" as a child.

Fascinating. Please carry on!

Whoever made this video, way ahead of their time.

The building @ 3:20 was my old shop on the breakwater side of Whiskey Island. Brings back memories.

that was cool thanks for the ride

Great video thanks.

Ford rouge had Huletts. Didn't look like that. Apparently its a brand name. Must have sold the classic ore unloaders before I got there in the 70's. These things had bridge booms that dropped down over the ship with buckets that went down inside. You had to be real good operator to not bang the hatch.

Very cool!

A rugged industrial masterpiece theater 🎥 👌

@alexander1485 Um, yes. From 1992-1995 Ford sold 1.4 million Taurus models. A few survived into 1999. Thanks for commenting...

so sad whats become of such amazing pieces of engineering history. hopefully the two left slowly rotting away up there will be resurrected someday as an ode to Mr. Hulett.

Those crossings didn't work....how lovely

Interesting run. Do you know what type(s) of locomotive(s) you were riding with? Looks/sounds like EMD hood units in the fading light. Sad to hear the Huletts are gone, but glad to hear railroad is still picking up ore loads from offshore boats.

i saw a 1994 or 1995 ford taurus...?

At 7:00 did he run through a switch? Hard to tell if it was a spring switch.

Question from England - The Hullets look as if they can unload from the ships to as far back as the last rail track but not beyond. How were the huge mound of ore in the centre of the balloon track built as the Hullets can't drop into that area?

Interesting how the powerhouse is not that unattractive. Even though it really didn't need to be pleasing to the eye since it was mostly out of the public eye they still spent extra money to make it look decent. Compared to today's factories and warehouses and even regular housing is just put together as cheaply as possible. I also notice in this video, there are only 3 sets of tracks going under the huletts even though I know there were 4 in operation. And it looks like the 3rd rail for the shunt cars has been removed as well.

I see that the river was not on fire that night.

way cool, long live Conrail, and all the other fallen flags.

Is that someones Smart Beep pager going off that I hear?

Disgusting the fate of these things of beauty

The entire infrastructure new and old appears to be falling apart... It seems nobody cares, aka no maintenance done.

Why are people so emotionally attached to these things?? It's just a tool of industry...

Too bad Cleveland turned into such a dump over the last 75 years. Truly the "Armpit of America". There are only 2 places worse off than Cleveland, Detroit and Baltimore. St.Louis is getting there also.