Ozone

[Fred W. Schneider III]

But Clairton was relatively clean because they captured and sold much of what
would normally go in the air ... it was called a byproduct coke plant.
Clairton spelled the end of those mines in the Coke Region that didn't have a
means to load river barges for transport to Clairton.  It also helped to
write finis to many of the beehive coke ovens.  And indirectly to West Penn
Railways. I think Clairton dated to World War I or slightly earlier, not long
after West Penn Railways built their last car lines serving the mines.

That was a nice picture of locomotive smoke ... it was obviously a fantrip.
The P&LE cars are all in Green 1960s New York Central paint. Was the smoke
made for the fans?

And if you really want smoke, imagine what Standard (Mount Pleasant),
Leisenring, Phillips, and some of those other towns were like when the
beehive opens were working.  I'll bet there were many days when the sun
simply didn't shine.  The were actually more lineal miles of beehive coke
ovens than West Penn had track in the Coke Region.  And then there was the H.
C. Frick Coal and Iron Co. lieutenant who, in response to a complain about
smoke, explained that it was good for the people ... "it goes up in the air,
the rains brought it back down to fertilize all your gardens"

Do I have that right Professor Lybarger?

brathke at juno.com wrote:

> You wanna see smoke?  Take a look at my photo of the U.S. Steel Clairton
> Coke Works.  Also note the steam locomotive to the left, and the towboats
> on the river.
>
> See <http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/gtw/gtw-s4070ar.jpg>.
>
> Bob 7/3
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, 03 Jul 2000 18:40:12 -0400 "Fred W. Schneider III"
> <fschnei at supernet.com> writes:
> > Thanks for the wonderful opportunity to get way off target!  I love
> > it.
> > Obviously, visible smoke is the result of very incomplete combustion
> > ... a heavy
> > fire.  But the larger American locomotives used stokers to screw run
> > of the mine
> > dirt and dust into the firebox ... a lot of that crap simply went
> > through the
> > flues and up the stack unburnt.  I fired for several years at
> > Strasburg; it is
> > possible to run with a relatively clean stack if you have nice
> > lumps.
> >
> > The British always tended to run with a clean stack, but I don't
> > have any
> > knowledge of how good the coal was that the burnt.  I do know that
> > few if any
> > British locomotives had stokers ... they never dragged the weight
> > that we expected
> > an engine to maul around.
> >
> > And Wismer's West Penn picture at Hopwood was not retouched ... but
> > no one needed
> > to with a stoker-fed Mallet throwing out the dirt.
> >
> > Lester had a remarkable talent at catching steam and trolleys
> > together ... three
> > perfect hits and ten or so near misses at Hatfield on the LVT (he
> > went out every
> > Sunday after church once he determined that the steam train should
> > overtake the
> > interurban there).  He had one similar hit with a Bethlehem to
> > Hellertown local
> > car and a Reading drag.  And then there were the two on the West
> > Penn.  Makes me
> > think he must have have been going to the right church ... should I
> > trade in the
> > Episcopal church for the Mennonites?  Will it help?  Rhetorical of
> > course.  The
> > fact is, though, that Lester Wismer really understood how to merge
> > trains and art
> > into one great package.
> >
> > Kenneth and Tracie Josephson wrote:
> >
> > > Bob Schmidt wrote:
> > >
> > > > If our List discussion re Ozone production continues any
> > further, and
> > > > the EPA gets wind of it, the demse of the trolley may well be
> > added to
> > > > the list of causes for Ozone depletion. Move over flurocarbons!
> > >
> > > I'm going waaaaaaaaaaaay off topic, but I doubt you'll have to
> > worry about the
> > > EPA anytime soon. They'll probably go after those jokers running
> > the steam
> > > excursions first.
> > >
> > > You know, the guys who insist on having the locomotives smoke far
> > worse than
> > > they ever did in regular service for a more dramatic runby and
> > photo op.
> > > Smoking so much that the hogger and the fireman would be docked an
> > entire
> > > day's pay for wasting fuel back in the days of steam.......
> > >
> > > How can I get back on topic? By mentioning that great photo of the
> > West Penn
> > > car racing the smokin' steamer . That shot kicks butt! Ken J.
> >
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> On the other hand, you have different fingers.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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