Exhibit 31.1

                     Certification under Section 302 of the
                           Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Stan L. Hasselbusch, President and Chief Executive Officer of L. B. Foster
Company, certify that:

1.   I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of L. B. Foster Company;

2.   Based on my knowledge,  this  quarterly  report does not contain any untrue
     statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to
     make  the  statements  made,  in  light of the  circumstances  under  which
     statements  were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
     this quarterly report;

3.   Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
     information  included  in this  quarterly  report,  fairly  present  in all
     material respects the financial  condition,  results of operations and cash
     flows of the  registrant  as of, and for,  the  periods  presented  in this
     quarterly report;

4.   The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and  I are  responsible  for
     establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
     in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(e) and 15d - 15(e)) for the registrant and we
     have:

     (a)  Designed  such  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,  or caused such
     disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
     ensure that material information relating to the registrant,  including its
     consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made  known to us by  others  within  those
     entities,  particularly during the period in which this quarterly report is
     being prepared;

     (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
     procedures and presented in this quarterly report our conclusions about the
     effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures,  as of the end of
     the period covered by this report based upon such evaluation; and

     (c)  Disclosed  in this  quarterly  report any  change in the  registrant's
     internal  control  over  financial   reporting  that  occurred  during  the
     registrant's  most recent fiscal  quarter (the  registrant's  fourth fiscal
     quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially  affected,  or
     is  reasonably  likely to  materially  affect,  the  registrant's  internal
     control over financial reporting; and

5.   The registrant's  other certifying  officer and I have disclosed,  based on
     our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
     the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board
     of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

     (a) All significant  deficiencies and material  weaknesses in the design or
     operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
     likely to adversely  affect the  registrant's  ability to record,  process,
     summarize and report financial information; and

     (b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves management or other
     employees who have a significant role in the registrant's  internal control
     over financial reporting.

November  12, 2004                 /s/ Stan L. Hasselbusch
                                   ---------------------------
                                   Name: Stan L. Hasselbusch
                                   Title: President and Chief Executive Officer