<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16514">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">Dennis</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">I am astounded that beehive coke ovens were
still in use that late in time. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">But then Sharon Steel was not a bastion of
progressivity. Worse yet, at the time you worked there, it was owned by
Victor Posner (or by him through companies he controlled), the notorious
corporate raider and looter. He did a "masterful" job of looting
Sharon Steel.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">Dwight</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=alto_trombone@hotmail.com href="mailto:alto_trombone@hotmail.com">DF
Cramer</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Western PA Trolley
discussion</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 22, 2013 7:18
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [PRCo] Burning Leaves--and
Coal</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Many of you know I put myself through undergraduate school
working two summers at a beehive coke facility located off Mahoning Creek just
north of Templeton (on the Allegheny River). We were a captive facility of
Sharon Steel. The devastation to the environment was severe. I once brought
some classmates over at night during the winter term and as they looked down
from the road above they replied: "You worked in Hell!" That is probably
a great way to describe what it was like.<BR>By the way, I made great money;
over six thousand dollars over two summers. (73 & 74) The coke yard
closed shortly thereafter and nothing remains. The environment has
recovered.<BR><BR>Dennis F. Cramer <BR><A
href="http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/">http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/</A><BR><BR>>
From: <A href="mailto:eskuchas@comcast.net">eskuchas@comcast.net</A><BR>>
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 07:07:31 -0400<BR>> To: <A
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</A><BR>>
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Burning Leaves--and Coal<BR>> <BR>> Back in the
70's, the Clairton works had an open house. First time in ten years. I signed
up and went. We did go next to the coke batteries. They were tight with little
leakage, and they had semi-automated capturing devices when they emptied a
section of the battery. Doors removed with pusher on one side and capturing
unit on receiving end. Various ducts and fans to suck off the vapors. <BR>>
The bus taking us through that part of the plant went by the chemical
processing plant where our guide pointed out the chemicals that they can
recover and sell. Also mentioned that the chemicals were nasty. <BR>> The
other perspective that I had was how bare the hill side was opposite the
plant. We were over by the barge unloader and had a clear view. <BR>>
<BR>> Ed S<BR>> <BR>> Sent from my iPhone<BR>> <BR>> > On
Oct 21, 2013, at 10:53 PM, "Dwight Long" <<A
href="mailto:dwightlong@verizon.net">dwightlong@verizon.net</A>>
wrote:<BR>> > <BR>> > <BR>> > Herb<BR>> > <BR>>
> But Irvin works is not a primary producer but rather a rolling mill (as
you said) and so would not generate the "fire and brimstone" that
characterized a primary steel producer.<BR>> > <BR>> > I went by
Clairton on a train in July and did not notice any smoke at all, just some
condensed water vapor. I think the coking processes are so contained
these days that very little emissions emanate from it. Besides
environmental concerns, the steelmakers have learned that the effluents from
the coke making process are valuable by products that need to be trapped and
sold. The days of the beehive coke ovens that spewed all the byproducts
into the atmosphere are long gone.<BR>> > <BR>> > Dwight<BR>>
> ----- Original Message ----- <BR>> > From: Herb Brannon
<BR>> > To: Western PA Trolley discussion <BR>> >
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2013 10:41 PM<BR>> > Subject: Re: [PRCo]
Burning Leaves--and Coal<BR>> > <BR>> > <BR>> > Bob
R,<BR>> > It still had that "orange glow" when I first moved here
in 1972. Plus, when<BR>> > atmospheric conditions were right, it
smelled like fire & brimstone,<BR>> > everywhere. Even today,
on humid days, I still smell the "fire &<BR>> >
brimstone" coming from the Irvin Works just over the hill (on Camp
Hollow<BR>> > Rd) to the south-east of my place.<BR>> >
<BR>> > Contrary to popular opinion steel is not dead in
Pittsburgh. The Clairton<BR>> > Works still produces coke as it
always did, the Edgar Thompson Works makes<BR>> > primary steel,
the Irvin Works produces rolled steel and the relatively new<BR>>
> Mckeesport Tubular Works (old National Works, now reopened) makes
tubular<BR>> > products for the Marcellus Shale drilling industry.
So the sulphur and fi<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
_______________________________________________<BR>> Pittsburgh-railways
mailing list<BR>> <A
href="mailto:Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</A><BR>>
<A
href="https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways">https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways</A><BR>
<BR><BR><BR>-------------- next part --------------<BR>An
HTML attachment was scrubbed...<BR>URL: <A
href="http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20131022/4f2a4440/attachment.html">http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20131022/4f2a4440/attachment.html</A>
<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Pittsburgh-railways
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</A><BR><A
href="https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways">https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways</A></BLOCKQUOTE>
</BODY></HTML>