11 Years Ago Today

Eleven years ago today I formally announced that the Jeannette Blast Furnace Preservation Association was giving up on our efforts to preserve Brier Hill's Jeannette Blast Furnace. Also on this date I began dismantling the Tod Engine at North Star Steel Ohio. We have come a long way in 11 years!

Winter Enclosure for Tod Engine

Although we are planning the construction of a 55' x 60' prefab steel building in 2008, the engine still needs protected from the ravages of the upcoming Ohio winter. To solve this problem we are constructing a temporary enclosure as shown in the picture. It is being built completely with lumber that we have on hand, and will be roofed with used corrugated steel roofing that was acquired several years ago. The sides will be covered with tarpaulins, and when finished the engine will be completely sealed off from mother nature.

After the new steel building is completed next year this temporary enclosure will be dismantled and materials saved for reuse in a proposed permenent shelter to be built to house the two pledged EEC locomotives.

YSU Preservation Class Visits Tod Engine

For the third year in a row Professor Tom Leary's Introduction to Historic Preservation class at Youngstown State University has visited the Tod Engine Heritage Park. We hosted 13 class members for this visit and talked for almost two hours about how the Tod Engine was saved, why it was done and what it means now that it is preserved.

We are eagerly looking forward to next year's visit!

Focus on Our Collections: First Rail

From time to time I will feature a particular item from our collection of steel industry artifacts. Today's piece is a 3/4" thick section of 85 pound rail, a souvenier of the first rail rolled at the Republic Iron & Steel Co. Haselton Works on April 22, 1905.

The Youngstown District was never well known for the production of railroad rails. The only two mills known to have rolled rails locally were Republic's and a short lived rail mill at the Ohio Steel Company, which became the US Steel Ohio Works. Neither could compete with the rail mills at the Edgar Thomson Works or Steelton, PA.

Although rails were not successful in Youngstown, the production of track spikes were. Both Republic and the YS&T Struthers Works sported spike mills, and YS&T also manufactured tie plates.

Gantry Crane Put to Work

It didn't take me long to put the 5 ton gantry crane to work. While most Americans took Labor Day off, I labored most of the day moving around large pieces of iron. The first task this morning was to put the William Tod name plate back on the HP cylinder head. To do this required removing the tail rod support casting then sliding the name plate over the piston rod. The tail rod support casting was then put back in place and bolted down.

The next task was to assemble the HP main bearing. It may look simple but each main bearing is actually composed of twelve pieces, all of which are quite heavy. The main bearing cap is the heaviest and will be put in place soon, however we ran out of time and energy today to get it in place today.

The bearing needs to be assembled to assist with the lining up of the engine. When it comes time to install the crankshaft the bearing will be disassembled, crank put in place then the bearing will be reassembled.

Its been 11 years since we took these bearings apart and amazingly I remembered where all the parts go. Fortunately William Tod Co. put match numbers on just about everything so reassembly is made easier.

Jeannette Blast Furnace Salamander

This is the salamander for the Jeannette Blast Furnace as it appeared on September 1, 2007. The salamander is the solidified iron that remains in the bottom of a blast furnace after it is blown out.

Grace Blast Furnace Remains

On Saturday Chris Hockett, Ken Izzo and myself visited the site of the YS&T Brier Hill blast furnace plant and discovered the mortal remains of the Grace blast furnace. Here is the hearth cooling jacket, iron columns and bedplate for the blast furnace. City Concrete, which now operates a ready mixed concrete facility at the site, excavated the furnace remains recently.

According to YS&T drawing 105367 dated November 15, 1917 there are twelve sections of the hearth jacketing. Each piece is 8' 10" tall and 5" thick of cast iron and weighing 10,800 lbs. Drawing 100769 dated Sept. 19, 1907 (almost 100 years ago exactly) shows the base plate ring upon which the six columns rested.

Finding the remains of Grace furnace is extraordinary and hopefully some way can be found to preserve all or part of these historic pieces.

Wallace Gantry Crane Erected

The 5 ton Wallace gantry crane that we purchased at the Cold Metal Products auction in January was erected today at the Tod Engine Heritage Park. With 19 feet under the girder and a span of 34 feet, this gantry crane should serve our needs well during the restoration of the engine.

The crane has been painted safety orange, all wheel bearings have been refurbished or replaced and new bolts installed where neccessary. A 5 ton chain hoist will be hung from the girder after it has been checked over and any worn parts replaced. The bridge is motorized, however the motors will not be attached until 3 phase power is available at the site later this fall. Until then the crane can be moved by two people pushing on the legs. A 3 ton electric hoist is also scheduled to be added to the gantry at a later date.

Progress on Hot Metal Car Display

Slag is in place and we are ready for the ties and rail.

Ames Uniflow Engine

I recently took a trip to Camillus, NY to pick up parts for a 17" x 20" single cylinder uniflow stationary steam engine. Last year I brought a few of the parts back, this trip was to retrieve the bedplate, cylinder and half of the flywheel. That leave the other flywheel half and crankshaft still up there to bring back. Here is a picture of the parts arriving at the Tod Engine Heritage Park. What took us almost 8 hours to load using a chain fall and portable gantry took me 10 minutes to unload with the front end loader.

Hot Metal Car Display Track

We had originally planned to display the 80 ton Treadwell hot metal car at the rear of the Park property, however it was decided to move it to the front of the property for display. At the new location it will be much more visible from the road and hopefully gain the attention of motorists driving by.

On Saturday June 16 Ken Izzo and I laid out railroad ties in a rectangle to form a curb around the new display track. Since the property slopes in this area much fill dirt was brought up and placed around the ties. The area between the ties will be filled in with stones and slag then the display track will be placed on top.

The Tod Engine is Turning Green!

We have undertaken a major project to completely paint the engine for this summer to improve its appearance and protect it from the elements while it awaits construction of our new display building. The color chosen is Rustoleum Hunter Green which closely matches paint chips found on the engine. Earl in its life the engine was painted a dark green, then wore a lighter green before carrying various shades of grey and silver. Hunter Green is also a widely available color and is easy to obtain from our local hardware stores.

I have painted both cylinders and part of the HP bedplate so far and over the next few weeks will continue working at it until both bedplates are painted. Also during the summer we will reinstall many of the engine's smaller parts and try to eliminate the "field of parts" in the front yard of the Park.

I am asking that supporters consider making a $25 contribution to help pay for the paint. A gallon of Rustoleum primer and topcoat costs $25 each, and if all of our supporters just donated $25 each I can buy enough paint to finish this project without digging into the building fund. Please send a check to the Tod Engine Foundation, 2261 Hubbard Road, Youngstown, OH 44505 or you can do it via Paypal to rick@todengine.org

Railroad Industry SIG Meet in Cleveland

On Friday night, April 27, 2007 I gave a presentation to the participants of the NMRA Railroad Industries Special Interest Group in Cleveland. I gave two talks, the first a general overview of the steel industry and railroads of the Mahoning Valley, the second a detailed look at the operations of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Brier Hill Works and our efforts to create the Youngstown Steel Heritage Park.

Many thanks to Aaron Dupont who organized a great meet. Also thanks to Ken Izzo who sold many of our drawing CDs and was largely responsible for the over $500 which we raised at the meet. I was also able to meet face to face many of our supporters who until now I've only known from the Internet.

In the picture above I am talking to Ted Schultz, a former YS&T employee and wealth of knowlege about Sheet and Tube operations in the late 1970s. In the background is a large map of the Brier Hill Works.

Does the Hot Metal Car have a Youngstown Connection?

The discovery of the Youngstown & Northern Railroad identification on the air hoses on the hot metal car got my head spinning with new theories about where this car was in service at. Both hoses on ther car are Y&N and date stamped first quarter 1980. They were part of a run around hose that was applied to the car probably when it made its last trip on a mainline railroad. But my question is, how could the Y&N hoses have made it onto a Homestead car?

A possible answer is that the car may have spent a period of time at the Ohio Works in Youngstown. I have no doubt that the car was built for the Homestead Works originally. However in the 1950s Pollock built several 250 ton bottle cars for Homestead displacing the tiny 80 ton Treadwells. Some were sold off but perhaps number 36 was shipped off to the Ohio Works to be used there. The Ohio Works' older furnaces couldn't use large HM cars, they mainly used Kling type cars due to tight clearances. The 80 ton Treadwells would however fit. So car 36 remained at Youngstown until the plant closed in 1981. At that time I believe that any useful cars at the now closed plant were shipped to the Pittsburgh district mills for reuse. At that time the Y&N Railroad car dept. would have placed the runaround hose and new brake hoses on the 36 to prepare it for its trip.

At about the same time I assume that Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, Looking for a hot metal car to display, contacted US Ssteel and this car was donated and moved to the old P&LE Terminal complex.

If the above is indeed true then by the wildest stroke of luck we have stumbled upon a Youngstown significant artifact without even knowing it!

Hot Metal Car Rolls Again!

On March 30 Ken Izzo, myself, Frank Stingone and others were at Station Square to move the hot metal car out from under the bridge to the other end of the track. It took several hours of cranking on a chain hoist but we were successful. We did break the handle on one chain hoist, fortunately I brought an extra "just in case".

The rail that the car was previously sitting on will next be pulled up, transported to Youngstown and relaid. That will leave the car sitting on a very short 30 foot piece of track until the car is moved, at which time those last two rails will also be moved to Youngstown. My thanks to everyone who helped. It is appreciated.