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

Tue Nov 2 16:37:34 EDT 2010

Perhaps IBM system 360??  

Even at that point, the Point Park College teacher commented that the actual computer only took up about a 1.5 foot space in a six foot high cabinet.  The rest was empty space.  He claimed that the reason was packaging - so that purchasers would think they were getting their money's worth.  The image was that computers should take up lots of space - that's what was shown on TV - and miniaturization was already underway.  

Any truth to this, Bob?????

> From: hrbran at cavtel.net
> Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2010 22:42:08 -0400
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Stuff That's Gone- West Penn Railways
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> 
> 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
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
> 
> 
> 