March 8, 2007 (Thursday) Proto Photos

[SAH]

I didn't know they were empty, but I was just guessing. The blast furnace is on one side, then cross the bridge in the video to the rolling mills. I figured they had just poured the hot metal and were running it to the other side to make coils out of it.

Thanks for posting the video Chris.  I can almost smell the mill.  And the usual great NE Ohio mid March weather for atmosphere too.   ;D

I'm not so sure they're empty.  I'm pretty certain the flow Chris describes is correct, with one addition.  In Warren anyway, between the BF and making coils, the iron will go to the BOF to make steel and then the continuous caster to make slabs.  The slabs are rolled into coils.

Steve

[Chris333]

Well if it was night time It'd be easier to tell ;D   A few weeks ago coming home from the bar in Youngstown I saw a bottle car moving at Brier Hill in the middle of the night. Syro steel must have an electric furnace and right down the way they make steel pipe.

Same thing when I was a kid I'd see bottle cars coming from Sharon PA going to Valley Mold in Hubbard. I lived on a slight hill there so got a nice view. They did use spacer gondolas, but they were running on the mainline too.


WCI just got a loan for a new re-heat furnace:
http://www.wcisteel.com/new/050906.html
But so far I have no idea where it's being built.

[GonzoCRFan]

I'm not so sure they're empty. 

I base my assumption on knowing those things are

a. Heavy as hell when fully-loaded, and
b. Lacking air brakes

So I sure as hell wouldn't want to be lugging 4 or 5 loads with a single engine. But I could always be wrong, since I don't know how their mill actually operates.

[SAH]

I'm not so sure they're empty. 

I base my assumption on knowing those things are

a. Heavy as hell when fully-loaded, and
b. Lacking air brakes

So I sure as hell wouldn't want to be lugging 4 or 5 loads with a single engine. But I could always be wrong, since I don't know how their mill actually operates.

Good assumptions, and I agree.  I've seen other plant RRs running loaded bottles without spacer cars too though.  Only within plant boundries and, I suspect, only when local knowledge says they know they can do it safely.  I have a Q in to the family "expert" on these matters.  If I get a response (not a guaranteed thing) I'll post what he says.

[RockGp40]

When I worked at Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point, MD, the Patapsco and Back River RR used a slug as its spacer. The switchers they used got that much more tractive effort and kept the engineer/conductor that much further away as they would initially pull, then push the bottle cars from the L blast furnace to the BOF.

....Oh, I wish I could go back to that era and watch more closely knowing what I know now.

[John]

When I worked at Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point, MD, the Patapsco and Back River RR used a slug as its spacer. The switchers they used got that much more tractive effort and kept the engineer/conductor that much further away as they would initially pull, then push the bottle cars from the L blast furnace to the BOF.

....Oh, I wish I could go back to that era and watch more closely knowing what I know now.

I think they still do .. let me look at the pics I took over there last year ..

[SAH]

  I have a Q in to the family "expert" on these matters.  If I get a response (not a guaranteed thing) I'll post what he says.

A much quicker response than I expected.     I asked other questions about the process flow beyond the BOF as well.  He addressed those first.  Bottle car question is answered last.

--------------------
The BOF is linked to the CC by a Ladle car.  It transports the steel form the BOF/LMF to the caster which is a separate building about 150/200 yards away.
 
Most all of the slabs are stored before they go to the rolling mill.  In fact since we do not make Silicon Steel any more I believe that nothing goes directly from the CC to the rolling mill. But I am not sure.
 
Before entering the hot mill, the slabs are reheated in furnaces.  Surface oxide, or scale, is removed from the heated slabs at the scalebreaker.  The slabs then are entered into the roughers, where horizontal rolls squeeze the slabs so they become thinner and longer.  The steel sheets then enter the finishing stand for final reduction.  The strip is cooled and coiled.. Some coils are shipped directly to customers form the hot strip, but most proceed to our finishing facilities for further processing.
 
When iron comes from the Blast Furnace they DO NOT put anything between the bottle cars.
----------------------------

I know they use(d) idlers for the braking ability when the bottle cars leave the plant.  I've seen some pictures and took a few (VERY bad) myself.

Steve

[Chris333]

Cool    I had no idea though, but the cars did just leave the furnace. 

Erie/EL used to run hot metal back-n-forth from Warren to Youngstown depending on who's furnace was down at the time.

[Iain]

Well, I still plan on running my cars with idlers.