classic industrial objects

This is a hundred-year old complex of blast furnaces (they melt iron ore into pig iron, which is then carried in molten form to a rolling mill to be made into steel things).




It is in Saarbrucken, Germany, which has decided to turn the obsolete structure, closed since the 1980s into a world cultural heritage site, safe to visit. A lot of former steelworkers and their families still populate the area...

Scott

Great images. I love the old industrial stuff.
I bet these would look good in B&W.

A great new subject! Scrapping this obviously is not economical. Think of giant steel ships having to go to Bangladesh to be taken apart by, literally, by hand!

Asher

The Cuyahoga River was the lifeblood of industrial Cleveland. It was crossed by several major thoroughfares (over high-level bridges, in "modern" times) and numerous railroad lines. In the industrial area near the mouth of the Cuyahoga (where it enters Lake Erie), called The Flats, there is a fantastic collection of almost every kind of movable bridge imaginable.

When I was perhaps 10 years old or so, a favorite pastime on a Friday or Saturday night was for my parents to drive with me to an area alongside the river, between two of the bridges. (Near the Coast Guard Station, for you Cleveland guys.) There we would watch the various vessels (ore carriers and the like) traverse the river, while the bridges opened and closed. (Was I fortunate to have parents who would do this for me or what!) These vessels, by the way, regardless of their size (and some are truly enormous) are all "boats" - not ever "ships".

Especially for the shorter spans (often across branches of the river), some of the railroad bridges were of the bascule type, meaning that they pivoted up at one end, generally with large circular members at the end rocking on flat foundation plates, the bridge being forced to hold the proper position by teeth on the circular member engaging teeth on the foundation plates.

In 2003, Carla and I went to Cleveland to attend the 50th reunion of my high school class (Lakewood High School, in a suburb just west of Cleveland).

We took a boat trip along the river, and also dined in several fine restaurants that have been built as part of the renovation of The Flats as an entertainment district.

Here, for reference, we see a typical bascule bridge in the open position. I think this one was no longer in use at the time:


This was right near the area where my parents and I used to park and watch the river traffic.

Near one of the new restaurants stands another definitely-unused bascule bridge (the railway route it served has been paved over).


The restaurant in fact uses the bridge as a landmark, and it is illuminated at night.

Here we see Carla in the mouth of this bridge (you can see some of the lights):


Just to our left of Carla's right shoulder, we see one of the "rockers".

The panels to the right and left (with the many rivets) are large counterweights, attached to the pivot end of the bridge span. They drop into wells on each side of the bridge approach when the span is open. (In some of these bridges, the counterweights run across the full width of the bridge and then some, are not so high, and with the span open, sit on the approach.)

A little further up the river is another (obviously-unused) bascule bridge. From this shot, I'm not able to figure out exactly how its articulation is made.


To the right, we see a modern structure - part of the revival of The Flats (I forget now just what it is).

Best regards,

Doug

John -- of course they would make good B/W subjects, but I didn't see them that way, since the scene in the viewfinder and on the LCD on the back of the camera was in color. There was a nice thread on this at the Online Photographer a few days ago. I particularly like the rust colors, greenish mold and occasional patches of grass or weeds that show up in this set of shots. For more, see the whole gallery.

Asher -- They actually have torn out a lot of the old iron ore smelting facilities, and replaced the rolling mills for the most part with huge new facilities. While wandering the closed and preserved blast furnace area (with an exhibit of Thomas Struth's pictures and models of the new Pompidou-Metz in some of the old ore-holding areas), we saw many rail cars full of glowing red molten pig iron from a later blast furnace a few miles away being pulled into the newer rolling mills.

Doug -- the Cleveland flats and the Cuyahoga are famous. Not only for the flaming river, but from Margaret Bourk-White's early Life Magazine work stressing their magnificent structures. From my childhood, I remember the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton locomotive works south of Philadelphia, near where the airport is now. And I bore my kids by telling them how wonderful it was to stand on a little bridge over the B&O tracks and be enveloped in the steam coming from a locomotive passing underneath. But steam locomotives are another great subject...

scott

Hi, Scott,

scott kirkpatrick said:

And I bore my kids by telling them how wonderful it was to stand on a little bridge over the B&O tracks and be enveloped in the steam coming from a locomotive passing underneath. But steam locomotives are another great subject...

Click to expand...

Many years ago, I spent a late night standing on the footplate of the last steam locomotive in service in Cleveland, at the B&O roundhouse in The Flats. It was being stoked up for its last trip across the 'table to be put in a consist going to the knacker's. I had seen the firebox light through the doors of the 'house, and drove by to see what was lit (I had thought all the locos were gone).

The hostler let me cycle the power cylinder cocks, exercise the power Johnson bar, and cycle the straight air valve.

It was like petting the last dinosaur.

Best regards,

Doug

I realize it was impolite to use some steam loco jargon with which many readers may not be familiar, so let me clear that up:

Power cylinder cocks

Especially when steam locomotives stand still for a while, long enough that the cylinders cool, steam may condense in the cylinders. If we then try to move the loco, the water (incompressible) can cause a serious "thud" in the process. Even if that doesn't happen, the water reduces the efficiency of the locomotive.

Thus, each cylinder is equipped, near each head, at the bottom, with a cock (valve) used to drain any accumulated water before starting to move. (Sometimes there is a third cock near the center.) They are typically left open for a little while after the locomotive starts to move.

On a large locomotive, those cocks are substantial, and it may not be practical to operate them just with a mechanical rod running back to a handle in the cab. Thus the cocks are often themselves equipped with small operating cylinders, operated by steam, controlled by convenient smaller valves in the cab. This is called the "power cylinder cock" arrangement.

Power Johnson bar

The "Johnson bar" ("reverser" or "reversing lever" outside the U.S.) in a steam locomotive is a lever that controls the timing of the valve gear for two purposes:

• To control the direction of movement (forward/reverse).
• To control the "cutoff"; that is, for how much of the stroke of the piston is steam admitted to the cylinder. After the steam is cut off, it continues to expand, providing thrust on the piston for the entire stroke. The later the cutoff, the greater the overall "torque" potential of the locomotive, so a late cutoff is used when stating up and full drawbar effort is needed. The earlier the cutoff, the less steam is used to maintain a certain speed, attractive when at running speed (considering that less drawbar effort is needed then). Accordingly, change in the cutoff adjustment is rather like "shifting gears" in an automotive drive train.

In a large locomotive, the valve gear is ponderous, and moving the Johnson bar takes a lot of force. Thus, there is often an "assist" (driven by steam or compressed air), operating rather like a power steering system in a car.

Straight air valve

When a locomotive is part of a train, its brakes are normally controlled by the train-wide air brake system, an ingenious system I would love to describe here (but won't - well, not much). The train air brake system is controlled from the locomotive cab by manipulation of a special valve, very complicated, with mysteriously-designated positions. This manipulates the air pressure in a "brake pipe" running the length of the train to send braking control signals.

At each car, a complicated pneumatic device (essentially a "brake control receiver") interprets the pressure signals and, based on that, controls the pressure into the brake cylinders on the car. (The air comes from a reservoir on the car that was initially filled by the "idle condition" on the brake pipe, which is a high but carefully-controlled pressure). Zero pressure in the brake pipe is interpreted as "brakes full on", and thus provides fail-safe operation in the case of failure of the brake pipe (such as in the rubber hoses that carry it from car to car) - it even comes into play should the train "break apart".

The locomotive has an equivalent "brake control receiver", which observes the brake pipe pressure and follows the same cues as the cars (subject to some special considerations) in controlling the air pressure to the locomotive brake cylinders. Thus locomotive braking is integrated into the entire train braking schema.

But there is a second way to control the locomotive brakes: "straight air". Here, a separate valve (with not so many and not quite so mysteriously-marked positions) directly controls the flow of air into the locomotive brake cylinders. This is used when the locomotive is running not as part of a train (as the manipulation required is more direct, and the result more "responsive"), and in other special circumstances.

Best regards,

Doug

Hi Doug,

I realize it was impolite to use some steam loco jargon with which many readers may not be familiar, so let me clear that up:

Click to expand...

Another part for your collection.

I am told (by a certain Mr. West of blessed memory) that this is a Displacement Lubricator, taken from the Northern Rock loco of the Ravenglass and Eskdale narrow-gauge (15") railway.

An oil lubricator for steam locomotives first introduced in the UK in 1857 by John Ramsbottom It operates by steam condensing to produce water which is fed into a chamber and which gradually displaces oil from the top of the chamber, allowing it to rise and overflow into delivery pipes.


Regards,

Stuart

Mark,

You've got a great sense of humor and for one 1/100th of a split second, you got me with the giant truck sized bolt, LOL!

We'll put a copy in Sandrine's collection of here.


Asher