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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'> <BR> <BR>My father commented several times that flying over the mountains towards Pittsburgh was "like descending into Hades". Unknown is if this was an actual experience from around 1949 (returning from a funeral) or earlier (returning from war), or dad was just making an observation. <BR> <BR>As for 'great money' during a summer job, the Chicago Transit Authority would hire up to 900 college kids. This was when bus drivers still collected fares and punched tickets. (Apparently even in the '60s it was difficult to find employees on streets of Chicago with a math aptitude.) The difference, Dennis, is that you certainly earned your pay. But being a railfan, I was paid (summer 68 & 69) for having fun.<BR> <BR><br> <BR><div>> From: alto_trombone@hotmail.com<br>> To: pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<br>> Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 07:18:19 -0400<br>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Burning Leaves--and Coal<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>> http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/<br>> <br>> > From: eskuchas@comcast.net<br>> > Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 07:07:31 -0400<br>> > To: pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<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" <dwightlong@verizon.net> 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>> > Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<br>> > https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -------------- next part --------------<br>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>> URL: http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20131022/4f2a4440/attachment.html <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list<br>> Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<br>> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<br></div> </div>
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