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We visited Steelstacks at a former Bethlehem Steel plant in the namesake town in Pennsylvania.  It is located along the Lehigh River with active NS tracks.  The area now hosts several event venues, including an outdoor music stage.

The trestle has been partially converted with an elevated walkway.    Electric transfer cars were used on narrow gauge track to move coke, limestone, and iron ore from the supply yard to the furnaces.  The transfer cars would dump the materials down into a bin below the track.  The bins fed the skip hoists which would carry the material up the side of the furnaces.

The building with all of the flywheels is the blower house.  I didn't realize hot compressed air was so important in the Bessemer process, and learned it is key component to oxidize impurities out of the steel.

It's a great place to get up close to some blast furnaces and trains.

No photos, but we saw a few trains pass behind the stacks and a NS SD60E shoving some cars.

The first product the mill produced...steel rails.



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Last edited by ESPEE 8722
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While the steel industry still functioned in the continental USA, Bethlehem steel had a large mill in the City of Vernon, an industrial area several miles south east of downtown Los Angeles. My folks and I passed it often on our way to grandma’s home in Rosemead. Heat from the nearest furnace, a good 100 yards or more from the street, could be almost unbearable if the car’s passenger window was open. It’s all gone now.

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