Caption: All is good in the world, Gondolas of Victoria Pig iron are loaded by American Rail Crane (blt. 1957) and shuttled around by the unnumbered GE Center Cab (blt. 1949) at the Canadian Furnace Division of the Algoma Steel Corporation. The Blast Furnace situated on the east bank of the Welland Canal had an extensive rail network to move around metallurgical coke and other raw materials used in the Iron Making process, slag pots for dumping molten slag, and gondolas for shipping out the finished product. Welland Canal Lift Bridges #21 (autos/trucks) and #20 (rail - ex CNR Dunnville Sub) can be seen in the distance. Given that the Gons are CPR, the shipments would have likely been picked by the TH&B which retained running rights into Port up to the end of 1988. The scene looks very different today with all the rails gone, Bridge #20 gone since 1997, and much of the property used for raw material bulk storage (Salt, Sand, Calcium Sulphate-Gypsum, etc) offloaded by lake ships. As a side note, there is growing interest in Pig Iron to help offset the rising prices of Scrap used in EAF - Electric Arc Furnace steelmaking with STELCO Nanticoke commissioning their new Pig Casting machine in Q1 2021.
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Very cool
That’s a fabulous photo. Thanks for posting!
Thanks James and Paul, they were interesting times for sure