From the shores of Lake Erie to the industrialfurnaces of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the Bessemerand Lake Erie was a critical link in America’seconomy. A fleet of orange and black F7s keptthis conveyer of coal, ore and finished materialsmoving for decades. In fact, the Bessemer keptseveral of its F’s in regular service into the 1980sand beyond. Many now survive in new paintschemes on railroads all across the country. Butlong before they were parading fancy dinnertrains, these locomotives were gritty workhorseskeeping the mills rolling. This isheavy industrial railroading at its best.