Bethlehem Steel is negotiating to buy a rail mill.

The mill, which is owned by Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, will be closed within several months by Wheeling. It is located at Monessen, Pa., about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. Wheeling-Pittsburgh, which is reorganizing under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, said it failed to arrange financing for a new furnace needed to make the five-year-old rail mill profitable. Bethlehem Steel officials believe that the Wheeling-Pittsburgh facility will mesh well with the modern rail plant that it owns in Steelton, Pa., about 200 miles away.