Williamsport’s industry did not end when the lumber barons left. Through the twentieth century the city built aircraft engines at the Lycoming works, serviced rail traffic through its yards and shops, and ran the machine shops and foundries that supported both. Philadelphia trial lawyer Michael C. Schafle, Esq. represents Lycoming County residents diagnosed with mesothelioma after careers in that economy.
Engines, rail, and the machine trades
An engine plant tests what it builds, and test cells, heat-treat departments, and foundry operations ran hot enough to demand asbestos insulation, gaskets, and protective gear throughout the mid-century decades. The city’s rail side carried its own exposure: locomotive boilers and steam lines were lagged with asbestos, and brake work put friction dust in the air of every roundhouse. Machinists, grinders, boiler tenders, and maintenance crews across Williamsport’s shops worked among these products without a single warning label. Our factory workers and railroad workers pages break down both patterns, including the FELA remedy (45 U.S.C. § 51) that applies to railroad employees instead of workers’ compensation. Veterans widen the picture further: many Lycoming County men served in the Navy or another branch before joining the plants, and shipboard engine rooms were among the most concentrated asbestos environments of the era, so a case can and should account for both chapters.
The diagnosis arrives a generation late
Mesothelioma does not follow quickly after exposure. The National Cancer Institute reports a typical latency of 20 to 50 years (https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/asbestos/asbestos-fact-sheet), which is why the machinist who retired in the 1990s, or his widow, is the person reading this page. Pennsylvania law is built around that reality: the two-year filing period generally starts at diagnosis (42 Pa. C.S. § 5524), not at the last day of work. The work-history notes a doctor takes at that first appointment often become early evidence.
When the diagnosis comes after retirement, or after death
If the person exposed has already died, the claim does not die with him. Pennsylvania recognizes wrongful death actions for the family’s losses and survival actions for the estate under 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 8301-8302, each generally within two years of death. Which relatives can bring the claim, and what opening an estate involves, is set out on our wrongful death page. Adult children hesitate to raise this after a funeral; raising it is often the only way the question ever gets answered.
Working with a Philadelphia trial lawyer from north-central Pennsylvania
The 180 miles between Williamsport and Philadelphia do no work in these cases; the evidence does. Schafle is counsel in the Philadelphia asbestos docket, the Court of Common Pleas program running since 1986 (In re: Asbestos Litigation, No. 1986-00001), and he files each case where venue analysis says it is strongest, Lycoming County included when that is the answer. The firm subpoenas the records, finds the co-workers, and comes to you for every conversation that matters. He resolved two multi-million-dollar mesothelioma settlements in 2023. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What this means for your family
A Williamsport career in engines, rail, or the shops leaves a paper trail the firm knows how to read, and manufacturers whose products are already documented in Pennsylvania litigation. Your part is the story and the signatures. The first review also settles the practical questions: what records exist, whether testimony should be preserved now, and which courts are realistically in play. Nothing about asking obligates you to file. The exposure site directory and the statewide city index show how work histories like yours become cases.
Make the first move a small one: request a free case review and tell us what the work was.