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A bitterly cold mid-February morning see 1949 built GE 50 Ton Center Cab (likely #4 but unnumbered from 1977 onward) in safety yellow (formerly painted in steel plant red) resting next to 1957 built American Magnetic Rail Crane on the Canadian Furnace Division property of Algoma Steel Corporation.  Starting in January 1981 the pair were put to work regularly to load gondolas with the mountains of pig iron that lined the north side of the property for the past 4 years since the Blast Furnace was idled.  With dismantling of the plant to start in the summer of 1981, the task of cleaning up the inventory and moving out the in-house fleet of rolling stock was job #1.  The American Rail Crane was transferred to Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie later that same year as their #5 Rail Crane (2nd), eventually moving to the ACR as their 10216 (2nd), Wisconsin Central as 9404 and finally CN as their 9404.  It is still active on the CN roster.  It appears that the #4 Locomotive is at the Colorado Railway Museum since 2004, so it also survived.  The view is looking north, the Company Engine house is on the left, and Welland Canal Lift Bridges in the distance. Special thanks to Paul O'Shell for providing the Rail Crane background and the whereabouts of Canadian Furnace #4 GE 50 Ton.
Copyright Notice: This image ©Michael Klauck - Collection of Harry Whiting all rights reserved.



Caption: A bitterly cold mid-February morning see 1949 built GE 50 Ton Center Cab (likely #4 but unnumbered from 1977 onward) in safety yellow (formerly painted in steel plant red) resting next to 1957 built American Magnetic Rail Crane on the Canadian Furnace Division property of Algoma Steel Corporation. Starting in January 1981 the pair were put to work regularly to load gondolas with the mountains of pig iron that lined the north side of the property for the past 4 years since the Blast Furnace was idled. With dismantling of the plant to start in the summer of 1981, the task of cleaning up the inventory and moving out the in-house fleet of rolling stock was job #1. The American Rail Crane was transferred to Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie later that same year as their #5 Rail Crane (2nd), eventually moving to the ACR as their 10216 (2nd), Wisconsin Central as 9404 and finally CN as their 9404. It is still active on the CN roster. It appears that the #4 Locomotive is at the Colorado Railway Museum since 2004, so it also survived. The view is looking north, the Company Engine house is on the left, and Welland Canal Lift Bridges in the distance. Special thanks to Paul O'Shell for providing the Rail Crane background and the whereabouts of Canadian Furnace #4 GE 50 Ton.

Photographer:
Michael Klauck - Collection of Harry Whiting [52] (more) (contact)
Date: 02/15/1981 (search)
Railway: Other (search)
Reporting Marks: None (search)
Train Symbol: Not Provided
Subdivision/SNS: Algoma Steel Corporation (search)
City/Town: Port Colborne (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
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Photo ID: 41915

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3 Comments
  1. Remarkable.

  2. Great photo Michael. Thanks for posting. For those interested in specific crane details, the machine featured in Michael’s submitted photo is an American model 850-80 DE locomotive crane, serial number J-3414, built and delivered new to Canadian Furnace Co. in June 1957.

  3. Thanks AWM, and again Big Thanks to Paul O’Shell for the background on where these units ended up, it amazes that these pieces of equipment survived the cutters torch

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