01-11-2009, 11:35 PM
BR60103 Wrote:It used to be possible to tour the steel mills in Hamilton; I was taken there in high school. Hamilton's old style mills are a more interesting visit than the new, sanitary, all-behind-glass mills.
Don't visit in January. A little elementary physics will tell you that the the hot air produced by the bast furnace rises straight up and is replaced by cold air directly off the lake. You can freeze standing 40 feet from molten steel.
Unfortunately, most of Stelco's old-style mills are gone, fed back into the furnaces from whence they came. Their railroad, once employing 29 diesel locomotives, is but a shadow of its former self.
Here's a LINK to some info on the operation, including some interesting photos. The hi-riser cars, used extensively where I worked, are built on old steam loco tenders, and were saved when the locos came in for scrapping.
And, David, you're right about how cold it gets there in the winter - I worked in the Universal Slabbing Mill, and checking the north end (near the lake) soaking pits in January was almost surreal, with snowdrifts on the steel plate floor, and ingots in the soaking pits 20' away sitting at 2350 degrees F.
Wayne