[PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways

[Herb Brannon]

The real question is, what kind of a 'computer' did they use back in
'68-'69?
On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 18:24, BobDietrich <bob.dietrich1 at verizon.net>wrote:

> I suppose I should throw in my Mill job.  I was at Homestead for about 18
> months between 1968 & 69.  The most significant remembrance I have is guys
> being forced to take something like 8 weeks vacation then coming back and
> trying to recall what they were supposed to do.  You see I was working in
> the computer department.  The computer was just inside the 8th Ave entrance
> and I never got any further.  Truth is I never wanted to go any further.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Dwight
> Long
> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 12:13 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>   Cc: Dennis Lamont
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways
>
> John
>
> There was a lot of slack time in my job at Crucible as well.  But woe
> befall
> any laborer who failed to heed the whistle at the cold roll station when
> the
> operator--who was on incentive--needed oil, scrap toted away, or whatever!
> Slack time was particularly bad on night shift.  One night all the laborers
> (myself included) were sacked out on shelves in the warehouse.  The foreman
> was really pissed when he found us--cold roll needed rolling oil.  He said,
> can't at least one of youse guys stay awake?  But no one was disciplined
> for
> it.
>
> I just missed you at Homestead.  I was based there, in the transportation
> office, for a short time in early 1965. That was a blast--got to see all
> the
> USS Valley mills, ride the Union RR, etc.  and got paid for it!
>
> Dwight
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: John Swindler
>  To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>  Sent: Saturday, 30 October, 2010 11:54
>  Subject: [PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways
>
>
>
>
>  I spent the summer of 1966 in Homestead works as a grinder.  The job
> involved grinding imperfections out of steel plate, which would then be
> welded, and we would then grind the weld smooth.
>
>  My favorite story was first shift on night turn.  There were two of us
> college students.  We worked for about an hour grinding 5-6 plates when an
> old timer came over to us and said:  "you boys need to take it easy for the
> rest of the night.  Otherwise, when you go back to school, the 'incentive'
> will be ruined for this job".
>
>  I remember that whenever I see closed, rusted factory buildings.
>
>  Cheers
>  John
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  > From: hwandrews at wowway.com
>  > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>  > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways
>  > Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:34:17 -0400
>  >
>  > Hell is right here in Michigan.  No, I don't mean Detroit - there is a
> city
>  > named Hell just to the west of Detroit.
>  > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan)
>  >
>  > I think many of us from the 'burgh had interesting summer jobs.
>  >
>  > I was a hooker at the Homestead works for a summer.  That's the guy on
> the
>  > floor who places the crane hooks to lift and move a load of steel - what
> do
>  > you guy thing?
>  >
>  > My toughest job was laboring in a Gray Iron Foundry in Lawrenceville.
> One
>  > of the elevators for reclaiming the mold sand needed repair.  My job was
> to
>  > stand in the elevator pit and shovel the sand that fell off back onto
> the
>  > elevator belt.  Guess that was cheaper than doing the repairs....  and
> by
>  > the end of the summer I had a great set of biceps!
>  >
>  >
>  > -----Original Message-----
>  > From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
>  > [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
> John
>  > Swindler
>  > Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 11:05 AM
>  > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>  > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways
>  >
>  >
>  > Very interesting Dennis
>  >
>  > My father once commented that flying over the Allegheny Mtns. towards
>  > Pittsburgh at night - my guess would be 1945 -  was like descending into
>  > Hades.
>  >
>  > As for college - I was more fortunate - didn't spend two summers in
> 'hell'.
>  > Instead spent summer of 1968 and 1969 as a full time temporary CTA bus
>  > driver, and achieved similar results.  Suspect many are glad they went
> to
>  > college then, instead of now.
>  >
>  > Isn't Hell north of Georgetown in the Cayman Islands???
>  >
>  > Cheers
>  > John
>  >
>  >
>  > > From: trombone at windstream.net
>  > > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>  > > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways
>  > > Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 09:24:49 -0400
>  > >
>  > > Great stuff.  If you go the coke oven section and then select Shoaf,
>  > > you will see a short film featuring coke production.  This is very
>  > > similar (our coke pulling process was different) to where I worked at
>  > > Carpentertown Coal & Coke (Sharon Steel) facility on Scrubgrass Creek
>  > > in Armstrong County during the summers of 1973 & 74.  Yes, there were
>  > > still beehive ovens in production and my college friends who saw it
>  > > from the top of the hill at night referred to me working in "hell."
>  > > They could not believe such a place existed.
>  > >
>  > > I made $6,000.00 in 2 summers.  My undergraduate degree cost me about
>  > > $10,000.00.  Other jobs provided the rest of the money and I graduated
>
>  > > debt free, a life style I still attempt to maintain.  (No wonder my
>  > > credit score is only 15 points from perfect.)
>  > >
>  > >           Dennis F. Cramer
>  > > http://home.windstream.net/dfc1
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
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-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park