Walther's New Steel Industry ~~ **Future Plans**

[Trucklover]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but do you know what you want to use to make the BOF? I was thinking about doing something similar for my layout, but I think I may just go with the electric arc furnace.

-Dr.J

Hey Dr. J

I was planning on using a bunch of Rolling Mill and Electric Furnace Kits from Walthers. As well as any other buildings i might find useful from Walthers GREAT line of structures These combined with some scratchbuilding with styrene should make for a pretty cool building. Its in the planning stages right now and im trying to get some pictures of what they look like before i make a building for the plan lol

[Trucklover]

Ive been studying and looking over a map i found of the Pittsburgh Steel Mill. The plan is from 1986 but im sure the plant looks similar if not the same as it did back then. However, i also found of a plan of this Steel Mill from 1923, and the plans from 1923 and 1986 have some major differences and some major buildings being scraped and demolished lol.

I used the plans from 1986 and came up with this for the BOF part of the layout



Notice the numbers in and around the BOF plant. they correspond to this:





The plan from the map is what i tried to copy. I was able to do it fairly to the same shape, although this is a scaled down version. The Continuous Caster Building is a backround building and it is not build to the full size, its the only way i could get it in there lol

I added in a Pump House (RED) and a Water Treatment Plant (NAVY BLUE)

Now i need to add in some buildings to fill in that big empty spot lol


Question, Maybe Wayne could help me out on this? From the Continuous Caster Building, would the steel come out in ingots and then go into an ingot mold stripper then to a soaking tower building? Or does the steel come out in some other form?

[Trucklover]

And here is the revised Top Level Plan



Number Chart is as follows:

• 1. Coke Oven & Quencher Plant (2 kits)
  2. Quencher Car to Coke Car Transfer Building
  3. Gas Storage Tank
  4. Dorr Thickener
  5. Water Treatment Plant #1
  6. Pump House #1
  7. Blast Furnace A
  8. Filter House
  9. Stoves and Piping for Furnace A
  10. Stoves and Piping for Furnace B
  11. Settling Tank #1
  12. Mechanics Office
  13. Blast Furnace B
  14. Blower Engine House
  15. General Office
  16, Locker and Washroom
  17. Blacksmith Shop
  18. Blast Furnace C
  19. Highline Raw Materials Trestle
  20. Stoves and Piping for Furnace C
  21. Stoves and Piping for Furnace D
  22. Central Steam Plant
  23. Settling Tank #2
  24. Blast Furnace D
  25. Machine Shop #1
  26. Water Treatment Plant #3
  27. Pump House #3
  28. Machine Shop #2
  29. Store House #1
  30. Power Plant #1
  31. Broiler House #2
  32. Utilities Building
  33. Broiler House #1
  34. Water Treatment Plant #2
  35. Pump House #2
  

[tomustang]

You really are going all out there josh

[Trucklover]

You really are going all out there josh

Thanks Tom, this is the layout i hope to build some day Someday when i get a house of my own with a big garage

[doctorwayne]

Josh, you show a "broiler house" on your plan - should this perhaps be a "boiler house"?

One of the benefits of a continuous caster is that it eliminates several operations in the steelmaking process, cutting down on facilities, associated equipment and labour. The plant where I worked cast both slabs and billets, using the same caster (although not at the same time). Slabs varied in width from, if I recall correctly, about 57" up to at least 80", and lengths varied from a minimum of 175" up to about 40' - the thickness was always just under 10". Billlets were cast in two "strands" at the same time and were generally the same thickness and about 25" wide, and, I'm guessing, about 15' long. Slabs went, for most grades, to #2 Conditioning, where they were, in some cases, slit lengthwise into two slabs (this was destined for the Strip Mill, which was only capable on rolling fairly narrow slabs). After slitting, and, for slabs that weren't slit, all were visually inspected for defects, and some or all, depending on the grade, would be "scarfed" with very large hand-held torches - this was to allow better inspection of the surface for cracks, and also to remove defects, such as scrap inclusions, etc. The large, un-slit slabs were sent to another plant, where there was a strip mill capable of rolling coils up to 80" wide. Certain grades of slabs were conditioned, then sent to the Plate Mill, where they would be torch-cut into shorter lengths, then rolled as plates, which, again depending on the grade, could be used in shipbuilding, railway cars (particularly hoppers), pipe, pressure tanks, or military tanks.
Billets underwent a similar process, and, like slabs, were re-heated, then rolled into various sizes for further processing.

A continuous caster eliminates the ingot moulds, and their stools, buggies, handling, and preparation, along with the stripper cranes that remove the moulds. The slabbing mill is also eliminated, with its soaking pits (for re-heating ingots for rolling), roller stands (for turning the ingots into slabs), shears (for cutting off the head- and tail-crops and for cutting slabs to ordered lengths), and slab handling equipment. Waste is reduced, as casting is continuous - there's scrap at the front end of the "strand", and no more (if things are working properly) until the caster is shut down for maintenance or to change the slab mould over to billet moulds. Every ingot, when rolled into a slab, has scrap at both ends of the slab. Quality control is also more precise - with ingots and billets, additions of various elements and compounds was done manually - shovels-full of this or that, and "a few bags of such-and-such" tossed in. With a caster, these are done with machinery controlled, nowadays, by computers.

When steel is cast into moulds, as ingots, it has to sit in the mould a specified time, depending on the grade, the type of ingot, and the size of the ingot, before the mould can be removed. This is to allow it to harden sufficiently for the stripping process. The minimum time, at least at our plant, was an hour and a half, but most were longer, up to four hours. Of course, as the steel hardens, it's also getting colder. When the ingot finally gets to the soaking pits, it will take proportionately longer to re-heat it to rolling temperature (about 2350 degrees F. for most grades).
Cast slabs, on the other hand, are solidifying as they pass from the bottom of the mould, and, by the time the strand reaches the torch cutting operation, it's solidified right through. Since it needs, in most cases, to be conditioned before further processing, it may be sent to a slab yard, where it's allowed to cool. When the slabs have been conditioned, and move on for further processing (usually some form of rolling) they still have to be reheated. However, a 25 ton slab can be re-heated much more quickly than can a 25 ton ingot, as the slab is both thinner than the ingot and has a much larger surface area through which to absorb the heat. It's easy to see why continuous casters are much more common than the older processes.

Wayne

[Trucklover]

Josh, you show a "broiler house" on your plan - should this perhaps be a "boiler house"?

:oops: Yes i did lol, its been fixed on my plan, see i typed it once and copied it on the others, and.... ohhh heck why even bother trying to explain

One of the benefits of a continuous caster is that it eliminates several operations in the steelmaking process, cutting down on facilities, associated equipment and labour. The plant where I worked cast both slabs and billets, using the same caster (although not at the same time). Slabs varied in width from, if I recall correctly, about 57" up to at least 80", and lengths varied from a minimum of 175" up to about 40' - the thickness was always just under 10". Billlets were cast in two "strands" at the same time and were generally the same thickness and about 25" wide, and, I'm guessing, about 15' long. Slabs went, for most grades, to #2 Conditioning, where they were, in some cases, slit lengthwise into two slabs (this was destined for the Strip Mill, which was only capable on rolling fairly narrow slabs). After slitting, and, for slabs that weren't slit, all were visually inspected for defects, and some or all, depending on the grade, would be "scarfed" with very large hand-held torches - this was to allow better inspection of the surface for cracks, and also to remove defects, such as scrap inclusions, etc. The large, un-slit slabs were sent to another plant, where there was a strip mill capable of rolling coils up to 80" wide. Certain grades of slabs were conditioned, then sent to the Plate Mill, where they would be torch-cut into shorter lengths, then rolled as plates, which, again depending on the grade, could be used in shipbuilding, railway cars (particularly hoppers), pipe, pressure tanks, or military tanks.
Billets underwent a similar process, and, like slabs, were re-heated, then rolled into various sizes for further processing.

A continuous caster eliminates the ingot moulds, and their stools, buggies, handling, and preparation, along with the stripper cranes that remove the moulds. The slabbing mill is also eliminated, with its soaking pits (for re-heating ingots for rolling), roller stands (for turning the ingots into slabs), shears (for cutting off the head- and tail-crops and for cutting slabs to ordered lengths), and slab handling equipment. Waste is reduced, as casting is continuous - there's scrap at the front end of the "strand", and no more (if things are working properly) until the caster is shut down for maintenance or to change the slab mould over to billet moulds. Every ingot, when rolled into a slab, has scrap at both ends of the slab. Quality control is also more precise - with ingots and billets, additions of various elements and compounds was done manually - shovels-full of this or that, and "a few bags of such-and-such" tossed in. With a caster, these are done with machinery controlled, nowadays, by computers.

When steel is cast into moulds, as ingots, it has to sit in the mould a specified time, depending on the grade, the type of ingot, and the size of the ingot, before the mould can be removed. This is to allow it to harden sufficiently for the stripping process. The minimum time, at least at our plant, was an hour and a half, but most were longer, up to four hours. Of course, as the steel hardens, it's also getting colder. When the ingot finally gets to the soaking pits, it will take proportionately longer to re-heat it to rolling temperature (about 2350 degrees F. for most grades).
Cast slabs, on the other hand, are solidifying as they pass from the bottom of the mould, and, by the time the strand reaches the torch cutting operation, it's solidified right through. Since it needs, in most cases, to be conditioned before further processing, it may be sent to a slab yard, where it's allowed to cool. When the slabs have been conditioned, and move on for further processing (usually some form of rolling) they still have to be reheated. However, a 25 ton slab can be re-heated much more quickly than can a 25 ton ingot, as the slab is both thinner than the ingot and has a much larger surface area through which to absorb the heat. It's easy to see why continuous casters are much more common than the older processes.

Wayne, thanks for all that info. Thats the kind of stuff i was looking for and the answers i needed to help me for the plans. Its all becoming so clear to me now lol, thanks for all your excellent information, you are a great resource for the steel industry Wayne and i really appreciate you taking the time to reply

[Trucklover]

Middle Level with added in buildings:

• 1. Teeming Platforms
  2. magnetic Separation House
  3. Scrap Unloading Warf
  4. Heat Exchanger
  5. West Penn Power Sub-Station
  6. Pump House #5
  7. Tundish Preparation
  8. Bloom Cooling Beds
  9. Locker and Washroom Building
  10. Metallurgical Lab
  11. Water Treatment Plant #4
  12, Rail Finishing
  13. Beam Finishing
  14. Rail Shipping
  15. Beam Storage/Shipping
  16. General Office
  17. Electric Arc Furnace
  18. Compressor Room
  19. Electric Shop
  20. Pump House #4
  21. Tube Mill
  22. Rolling Mill (2 Walhers Kits)
  23. Rod Mill
  24. Wire Mill
  25. Boiler House #3
  26. General Office
  27. Carpentry Shop
  28. Blacksmith Shop
  29. Pattern House
  30. Store House #2
  31. Machine Shop #3
  

[Trucklover]

And here is the final size of the 3 levels looking down (reversed, meaning teal level is bottom, black level is middle, and green level is top)



Final Dimensions are as follows:

GREEN Level:

• 1. Top Wall = 42" Wide x 20' Long
  2. Bottom Wall = 36" Wide x 15.2' Long
  3. Right Wall = 30" Wide x 10' Long
  4. Left Wall = 24" Wide x 10' Long

BLACK Level:

• 1. Top Wall = 40" Wide x 20' Long
  2. Bottom Wall = 26" Wide x 15.2' Long
  3. Right Wall = 26" Wide x 10' Long
  4. Left Wall = NONE

TEAL Level:

• 1. Top Wall = 24" Wide x 20' Long
  2. Bottom Wall = 24" Wide x 15.2' Long
  3. Right Wall = 24" Wide x 10' Long
  4. Left Wall = 24" Wide x 10' Long
  5. Lift-Out Spanning Doorway

[Bigsteel]

ha,i see the HABS site really did come in handy! ,its the best resource i've found of true scale plans of steel mills.and it really helped your trackplan.i think the way you have it now is very realistic! great job man.--josh

[Trucklover]

ha,i see the HABS site really did come in handy! ,its the best resource i've found of true scale plans of steel mills.and it really helped your trackplan.i think the way you have it now is very realistic! great job man.--josh

Josh that website really did help out a bunch. I used the Pittsburgh plans for basically the whole middle level lol. I found it really useful in the way that all the buildings were labeled and numbered, so i could pull buildings off the plan and put them in my plan that would really be there lol

[Trucklover]

Here is a logo a guy by the name of Adam, some of you may know him as Stogie on the hobby forums.



There are a couple reasons i really like this logo.

First it just sounds like a industrial type name. And Steel Mills are heavy industrial places, so i think CenVal Steel fits the industry well. CenVal Steel will be based in California and be my own creation of a Steel Mill

And Second, i really like the logo and the colors, and i think they will look cool on my MASSIVE buildings lol

[HO King]

Josh, whatever works for you is what will work for the scene. I don't have the room, even if I used my entire layout room, to do a to-scale rendition of a steel plant. Almost 40 years ago, I was scratchbuilding a model of a very large blast furnace. Had I been able to afford to finish it, it would have occupied almost half of the Chippawa Creek aisle on my layout. You have to pick the aspects that are most interesting to you, then use some of the other interesting elements to create the backdrop and surrounding scene. Tracks disappearing behind or into various buildings are your connections to the unmodelled sections of the plant. The layout of the plant doesn't have to be totally logical, as it would in real life, although many real plants are laid out in what appears to be a haphazard and inefficient manner simply because they grew that way over the years.

Wayne

Wayne you have been a big help to me on this subject. You have made me think and get some ideas flowing through my head on how to lay things out. Right now, im thinking i will modeling 2 Blast Furnaces Kitbashed together with the Blower Engine House connected to the furnaces with the piping kits. Nxet to this and offest to the left will be a MASSIVE BOF, 56" long, 14" wide and 22" high, with some truck docks along the left wall and some rail docks along the long side. Piping and other details will help tie in the BOF with the Blast Furnaces. Offset from the BOF, would be a small backdrop building, by small i mean narrow and would serve as a very long backdrop representing an Open Hearth Furnace. The Rolling Mill which would be 64" long, 11" wide, and 10" tall would come in about half way down the Open Hearth Furnace backround building, which would still be visible towering over the rolling mill. Beyond the Rolling Mill would be a serious of small buildings where the steel would be cast into various parts and shipped out via boxcars and flatcars, containers and trucks. Basically the small buildings would take the huge coils, slabs.... of steel from the rolling mill and make them smaller and into parts for machines or anything else that might come on order from Manufactures around the world....

Beyond those would be the Tri-State Power Authority, a huge sub-station and a ton of High Tension Towers providing power to the whole Steel Mill. This is what i am thinking so far, i just have to get it into a plan lol

Truck I was going to chime in on this subject but Doc did a fine job .You know how I work and dreaming works
great for me I love it .Boy have I got a list to show you

[Trucklover]

Truck I was going to chime in on this subject but Doc did a fine job .You know how I work and dreaming works
great for me I love it .Boy have I got a list to show you

LOL i dont even wanna see what you have built-up for your STEEL layout, its gunna make me feel sick

So Far, ive got 2 Bridge Cranes, a Coke Retort Kit, 2 Coal Flood Loader Kits, and 2 Tri-State Power Authority Kits. Im slowly going to build up stock for the layout through the orders i place from Walthers for my store lol

[HO King]

Ya I have just about everything I'm going to use .In the near future if you and Doc will allow me to pick your brains on some areas because
I think I may need some help on some plan designes.