Steel Mill Information
Joe Magarac's Journal
Steel Mill Kits
Modeler's Meets
Other Modeler's Steel Mills
Construction Articles
Photo Galleries
Links
Journal Archive |
Magarac Steel & Iron a.k.a. Joe Magarac's Journal
One of the nice things about having a train shop and catering to the steel mill
modeler is that occasionally someone shows me some photos of what they are doing
with their mill. One such person is Ken Mayer. Ken was at the Baltimore SIG meet
a couple of years ago and had a chance to see our mill here at the shop. His letter
follows.
"Dear John:
Sorry my photography is so poor, but here is a shot of some piping which was inspired
by your modeling a couple of years ago. I used some color to emphasize which pipe
is which. The smaller diameter black pipe is a steam line going from the boiler
house (not visible in the shot) to the hopper dumping tracks -- needed in winter!
Since taking the picture, and following your published comments, on the other
side of the stoves I have added a pipe from the city gas into the clean gas line
to add more "BTU,s"
I'm having a lot of fun and still learning about the industry.
Best Wishes,
Ken Mayer"
I'm really glad that Ken took the time to send the photo. It shows how effective
the addition of piping can be to change the appearance of a blast furnace from
a simple free standing complex into a part of a mill. The piping ties it all
together and gives a sense of purpose.
I've included a picture of an old steel mill building with a large green pipe
similar to what Ken added. The most interesting thing is the coloration. Notice
that the TOP of the pipe is rusty. The red color is probably from an accumulation
of iron ore dust that has settled on it over the years. The photo is from Homestead,
PA.
Thanks again, Ken!
A few days ago, Charles Pravlik, a customer who normally purchased by E-mail
walked into the shop and showed me some of his pictures of his Walthers blast
furnace. Charles has given the Walthers furnace the complete treatment, adding
a huge variety of details and changing the top works to an earlier version similar
to what we did here at the shop. The attention to detail, and the completeness
of the work are very impressive. Note the pipe bends. They are segmented just
as the prototype and Charles made them all by cutting tubing into short angled
segments and gluing them together. Probably the most impressive thing about
Charles model is that he has only been in a steel mill once in his life and
that was to attend a retirement party! Nice work!
|
