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<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">John</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">In my summer job in the steel mill the amount
of work for the laborers decreased progressively from day through swing to
graveyard shift. On the latter the labor gang primarily slept wherever
they could, usually on racks in the storeroom, with one person designated as a
lookout in case the boss came by looking for someone to do some menial task,
like rolling out a barrel of lube oil for the rolling mills. It became
obvious early on that to "rock the boat" would not endear one to the old
hands.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Gothic">Dwight</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=j_swindler@hotmail.com href="mailto:j_swindler@hotmail.com">John
Swindler</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 1:20
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [PRCo] WORKING IN THE MILL
AND GROWING UP</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><BR> <BR>Also a summer at Homestead Works where I saw how
some American workers 'game the system' to avoid working. ("you boys
better just sit down for next seven hours. If you keep working like
this, you will ruin the incentive on this job by time you go back to
school")<BR> <BR><BR> <BR>> From: <A
href="mailto:fwschneider@comcast.net">fwschneider@comcast.net</A><BR>>
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 11:48:30 -0400<BR>> To: <A
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</A><BR>>
Subject: Re: [PRCo] WORKING IN THE MILL AND GROWING UP<BR>> <BR>> That
is something a lot of kids do not get today … the opportunity to work in the
mill or factory and GROW UP. You got it in the coke
ovens. I had it for three years in the army and then helping
working myself through college in a local factory and feeding the fireboxes of
locomotives on the Strasburg Rail Road (I actually had 119 months of service
on the railroad). Swindler paid for his whole college experience
dodging L support poles in Chicago with CTA buses. Ed Skuchas remembered
Lukens Steel … guess that means the Coatesville plant (as in the knock-knock
joke that Coates villa wear better than the pants vill). <BR>>
<BR>> I am afraid that too many kids today think that they are entitled and
should not need to get dirty.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> On Oct 22, 2013, at
7:18 AM, DF Cramer wrote:<BR>> <BR>> > 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>>
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