PBNE Bethlehem Steel

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2013
  • The PBNE was Bethlehem Steel's plant railroad at their namesake mill in Bethlehem, PA. It did most (but not all) of the in-plant switching, as well as receiving and delivering cars from Class 1 connections. Visible in the video are pouring of hot iron into "torpedo ladles" and tapping of slag from the blast furnaces into slag pots for disposal at the slag dump. I never was able to connect with the slag dumping operation on video. but fortunately someone else did and posted it on TH-cam. Much of the buildings that form the backdrop for this footage are now gone, with the exception of "Blast Furnace Row".
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ความคิดเห็น • 53

  • @paulpagel300
    @paulpagel300 10 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    I worked on that railroad for 42 years.

    • @nancymizur7034
      @nancymizur7034 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      My Uncle, Harold Weaver from Steel City, worked on the PBNE. They called him Buster. Did you know him? I don't know what his job was, but I remember one time he fell off a train and broke his arm.

  • @lorumipsum1129
    @lorumipsum1129 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    For anyone wondering, the shutter diesels in this video are still operating in the city with Norfolk souther in a railway junction nearby as well as these tracks still. At least two of them are operating alongside new locomotives, while other ones are used for parts or spare engines

  • @ModelingSteelinHO
    @ModelingSteelinHO 11 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    What a treat. Most folks have never seen nor heard the goings on of a big industrial Steel Mill. Great video,excellent sound !

    • @kelvintorrence5994
      @kelvintorrence5994 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      And they never will. I haul steel on my big rig so I have seen the inner workings at a couple steel mills.

  • @alexandergrube6437
    @alexandergrube6437 6 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Thanks for posting this! My grandparents and my parents worked there. so sad that it's all gone now.

  • @1940limited
    @1940limited 8 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Thank you so much for posting this. I remember when this mill was operating. I knew a few people who worked there. I was always fascinated by the operation and its railroad.

  • @1940limited
    @1940limited 9 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    It's a tragedy what happened to Bethlehem steel. It's another example of the decline of America.

  • @bradh7472
    @bradh7472 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What a massive, mean, old looking facility!! Love Industrial history.

  • @JeffD63
    @JeffD63 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Brings me back to my childhood. Most of my family, on my dad's side, worked for some part of it. Dad & Granddad, #2. Step Grandad had that funny striped blue hat. Even though it was highly against policy and union rules being in the control cab. I got to sound the horn (well my grandfather held my finger and did the pushing.) Miss them days. Even the jet engine used to clear the tracks in winter. I went on to later in life getting my journeyman machinist papers because of them.

  • @brianzyburabrian8227
    @brianzyburabrian8227 10 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    To dualactionsurgilator, I fully agree with you. Up here in Canada in the mid Sixties when I was starting high school, I found that the majority of the students had no worthwhile interests. I used to tell them about advances being made in agricultural engineering for example and a lot of them looked at me like I came from another planet. Little did I realize I was dealing with that hippy counterculture attitude back at the time. To me, attitudes like that is one of the causes of loss of industrial strength. Brian from close to Toronto, Canada.

    • @graham2631
      @graham2631 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ya,l noticed how much better our food has gotten and the drop in price now that big business has taken over

  • @Metalrails
    @Metalrails 7 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Good stuff. Not much footage like this out there. That was a steel mill switcher horn if I've ever heard one!

  • @w.rustylane5650
    @w.rustylane5650 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I thought that SW-1500 was MU'd to a slug. Didn't really know the difference between a "calf" and a "slug". Thanks for the clarification between the two. I always enjoy watching switching operations at a steel mill. Cheers from eastern TN

  • @hdtraincam
    @hdtraincam 10 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    thank god for railfans with cameras -there is very little video of this anywhere on yt-great work keep it up

    • @blueaardvark1717
      @blueaardvark1717 10 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      the yellow engines are now used in bethintermodel taking rail cars in and out of the intermodel yard if you want vid of them let me know i drive out of that yard everyday i see them all the time

    • @hdtraincam
      @hdtraincam 10 ปีที่แล้ว

      Brendan Stanczyk sure would be nice to see more of them

    • @lorumipsum1129
      @lorumipsum1129 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Brendan Stanczyk the engines are owned by Norfolk southern now I believe. thier where 8 or more of them, but only 4 are in operation. the others are used for parts now.

    • @s.hannibal6565
      @s.hannibal6565 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Actually the majority of PBNE's engines are now owned by Lehigh Valley Rail Management.. In fact engine #90 in this video is still operational today, used almost daily. Engine's number 7, 19, 20, 43, and 90 are still running. The remaining engines we bought from PBNE are used for parts.

  • @njRRtrainer
    @njRRtrainer 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Great video, lived in the area and always enjoyed watching their movements, lot's great modeling info.. Thanks again for sharing

  • @neilpuckett359
    @neilpuckett359 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    All those workers loosing their pension and benefits was an abomination.

  • @fmnut
    @fmnut  5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The unit behind the switcher is known as a "slug". It has traction motors but no diesel/generator, instead drawing current from the switcher for extra tractive effort at low speeds, generally less than 10mph. Not to be confused with a "calf" which is simply a standard switcher with no cab running in MU with the cabbed unit. See my Belt Railway of Chicago video for views of cow/calf sets. The spotting difference is calves have exhaust stacks, slugs don't.

  • @jjosephm7539
    @jjosephm7539 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    William F. Horvath worked in the Bethlehem Plant from 1935 to 1976 he finished at 12 and 18 inch mill.

  • @supertouring
    @supertouring 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    I remember that mill very well. Always stopped by on my way to Sand Patch or anywhere west.

  • @aceadman
    @aceadman 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you. More great stuff. 😊👍👍

  • @fmnut
    @fmnut  9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    No, the tracks along the plant in the video are former Lehigh Valley. This is the Bethlehem Steel plant at Bethlehem, PA. The P&LE ran in the Pittsburgh area. Fogg did a series of paintings for the P&LE showing various facilities along their right of way, including J&L at Aliquippa and South Pittsburgh, US Steel at Edgar Thompson and Carrie Furnaces, and Republic and YS&T at Youngstown. I'm not sure which one is the one you are referring to, but it is probably one of these. I admit that the area has the same flavor as the Fogg paintings did.

  • @ChizAfterHours
    @ChizAfterHours 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    I see that PBNE Every week pulling freight trains in Bethlehem

  • @artvandelay0073
    @artvandelay0073 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Awesome video! Thanks for posting. Did PBNE or READING power haul the iron ore trains from Grace Mines in Morgantown, PA up to the Bethlehem Steel main plant? Also, do you know what make & model diesel locomotives were used? Thanx for the history lesson!

    • @fmnut
      @fmnut  5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Reading power was used on the Grace Mine trains. After an unsuccessful attempt to use F-M Train Masters (they derailed on the W&N Branch's tight curves) RDG settled on Alco RS-3's from the 444 to 450 series. These units had hump control that facilitated loading at the mine. In January 1974 they were replaced with new GP40-2's in the 3671 to 75 series. These powered the ore trains until the mine closed in 1977, except for a brief period in 1976 when Conrail tried to replace them with ex-PC GP30's. The poor condition of the PC units led to several road failures so Bethlehem exerted pressure on CR to return the 40's. to the ore trains.

    • @artvandelay0073
      @artvandelay0073 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@fmnut // Thanks again for that info. Much appreciated!

  • @coldwar1952
    @coldwar1952 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm rusty, pun intended. Isn't this the old P&LE passing by? Isn't this one of the Howard Fogg painting sites, thinking of 'Along The Right of Way'? I thought I recalled the four BF's in one painting.

  • @1978garfield
    @1978garfield 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great footage.
    I am surprised security didn't chase you off.
    I wonder if there are any steel mills left in the US.
    Im talking old school start out with iron ore wind up with steel types.
    Not the Nucor mini mills that just melt scrap and reform it.
    I think Armco I mean AK Steel still makes steel in Middletown, OH but I am not sure.

    • @redrobbo1896
      @redrobbo1896 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      They are called integrated steel mills. Edgar Thomson Works outside Pittsburgh, U.S. Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, MI, U.S. Steel Gary Works in Indiana, U.S. Steel Granite City Works in Illinois and ArcellorMittal Burns Harbor in Indiana.

    • @markkaminski2416
      @markkaminski2416 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I believe the former Bethlehem Burns Harbor Indiana plant is still in operation. It was being operated by Mittal or Acelor.

    • @joeruiz4010
      @joeruiz4010 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@markkaminski2416 That Steel Works is Cleveland Cliffs now.

    • @markkaminski2416
      @markkaminski2416 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@joeruiz4010Is it still a complete operation, Blast Furnace,BOF, Caster and finished products? Did they produce shapes,plate and sheet? Thanks for the info.

    • @joeruiz4010
      @joeruiz4010 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@markkaminski2416 Yes. It's a complete operation.

  • @JAMplusPAW
    @JAMplusPAW 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The steel, and textile industries got sold out.

    • @neilpuckett359
      @neilpuckett359 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Bethlehem executives steadfastly refused to invest or modernize many of them born at the turn of the 20th century.

  • @hoscalereadingrailroadhobb6314
    @hoscalereadingrailroadhobb6314 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What year was this video taken?

    • @fmnut
      @fmnut  หลายเดือนก่อน

      1992

  • @wehrwolf8006
    @wehrwolf8006 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I miss America...it's gone now

  • @TheSchizoTrollinator
    @TheSchizoTrollinator 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    If I earned enough money I would try and reopen all the Bethlehem steel plants in Pennsylvania then I will reopen all of the plants

  • @WhiteCamry
    @WhiteCamry 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    When was this?

    • @fmnut
      @fmnut  หลายเดือนก่อน

      1992

  • @johnstafford4304
    @johnstafford4304 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    it would be a better video if we didn't have to look at the switcher all of the time

    • @martineden1165
      @martineden1165 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      That is the point of the video, he was filming switching activity.