These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Billy Duffing commented on Gary's post
This is where I worked since 1987 when it was Chicago Northwestern wood street yard (global 1) I'll attach some black and white photo's we have hanging in our hall tomorrow.Billy DuffingIn the movie "Hardball " with Keanu Reeves there's a scene where they're walking under the Damon viaduct that passed under the yard, and it's in a bunch of scenes from Chicago PD as the studio is across the street.
The following are the B&W photos that Billy posted as more comments on Gary's post.
Chicago & North Western Historical Society posted Did you know the CNW had giant rubber tired equipment? How about the MI-JACK crane at Global I. It almost looks like it is lightly faded Safety Yellow. Chicago IL, 10-10-1988, Joe Piersen.
Kevin Leahy: Very unique machines made specifically for Global One that were never replicated in other intermodal lift equipment.
Mel Wilson: Kevin Leahy similar have been in use all over the country.
Kevin Leahy: Structurally, yes. But the ones at Global One had a special mechanism to allow the spreader head to rotate 180 degrees. Not repeated anywhere else to my knowledge. The rotaters became obsolete within a year of Global One's opening when Conrail raised the clearances for double stacked trains on most of their main through routes.
Mel Wilson: I remember when working the switch jobs at the Argentine Yard strip tracks, the hostlers rarely parked the container chassis parallel with the intermodal cars. The head had to be rotated at an angle to load containers onto them from the rail cars.
Chip Uppling commented on the above post Loved working as a ground man for those in the 80’s. I’m in the yellow helmet.
Out-of-service: May 1979. But the bridge remained because it was carrying 20 utility lines including water, steam, gas and power lines. [PA277B]
(Update: the content concerning the Jones and Laughlin Steel mills has been moved to here.)
There are two truss bridges using shared piers. The Monongahela Connecting RR Bridge is on the upstream side and was reopened for road use in 2000. The Hot Metal Bridge was reopened for trail use in 2007. [PGHbridges] When the Mon Con was converted to street use, they removed a very wide shared truss on the north end. [Historic Bridges]
Bryan Rubican posted
The Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge and the Hot Metal Bridge, once part of the sprawling J&L Steel complex.
[The upstream side is on the right.]
These two bridges connected the Pittsburgh Works with the South Side Works of Jones and Laufphlin Steel.
In 1887, a railroad bridge was constructed to link the the two sides of the operation. The upstream side carried two tracks for the Monongahela Connecting Railroad. The downstream side carried a single track used to shuttle hot metal from the furnaces to the rolling mills. Previous to this direct connection, the metal had to be reheated before being worked....Because the bridges share piers and have similar truss designs, the pair are usually referred to simply as The Hot Metal Bridge. It is more accurate to give this name only to the downstream side. The floor of this side has metal plates lining the floor -- protecting the river traffic and the wooden ties from the molten metal and sparks spewing from the opening in the top of each ladle railroad car. [PGHbridges]
The hot metal bridge was added in 1899. [HAER]
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation began a program in 1960 to improve steel production. One of the areas was to replace the fleet of 80 ton submarine ladles with 165 ton ladles. This required considerable work on the Hot Metal Bridge in order for the Mon Con to handle the heavier and longer submarine ladles. The first phase was to reduce the dead load. This was accomplished by removing the heavy fire brick trough that made up the deck system and replacing it with a light steel plate covered with granulated slag. This was necessary to prevent any hot metal splashing into the river. This work was done under traffic by company forces. The second phrase was to strengthen the top chord truss members. This was done by drilling holes in the web of the truss members and bolting with high tensile bolts through reinforcing plates. Over 7,000 bolts were placed. The work was designed by Structural Associates of Pittsburgh and erected by company forces. [PA277C]
Kenny Hall posted " Monongahela 1947...Lawrence Gipe..oil painting
Tim Roolf commented on Kenny's post, cropped The hot metal bridge, still delivering traffic from the south side to second avenue. Motor vehicles on the left and bikes/pedestrians on the right.
She sailed with the Edmund Fitzgerald "maintaining radio and radar contact with each other on their Lake Superior transit through a forecasted storm, taking the longer route following the Canadian shore. This route afforded more protection from the winds and waves for most of the trip versus the more direct route across the lake that would expose them to the full force of the storm." Consequently, she was the last ship to have sight, radio, and radar contact with the Fitzgerald. The next day she joined several other ships to look for her. "Other than the eventual recovery of the [two] severely damaged lifeboats, the extensive search resulted in only the recovery of various pieces of floating debris from the sinking." [BoatNerd]
Because of the economy, this old (1952), oil-fired, steam-turbine ship has remained in Duluth until this (2019) Summer.
David Schauer posted
Tomorrow (Thursday, 7/25/19) should be the day the Arthur M. Anderson enters revenue service once again as she heads for Two Harbors to load. Here the venerable laker rests at Fraser on Sunday, 7/21/19. Jim Hoffman Looks like that grey stripe needs to be extended downwards and leveled out. Will be interesting to see how she looks when sailing light without cargo... Chris Mazzella It was fixed
David Schauer posted
Arthur M. Anderson loading on the west side of Dock 6 in Duluth. Minntac pellets for Great Lakes Works. 8/2/19
David Schauer posted An inside look aboard the Arthur M. Anderson looking from the bow toward the stern. Mariners often tell stories of watching the hull flex during storms when looking down this passageway. Two Harbors, MN - January 6, 2024 Gerry Tucker: When my brother was working as a welder at Bay Ship (around 1980), he said the older *rivet-hulled* ships had an advantage over the newer welded hulls. The plates had more “give” in the joints so the hull could flex more, and the welded hull plate joints were more brittle. When he helped build the Gott, they were told the ship was designed for a 10-year lifespan. But here we are, 40-plus years and still sailing… [Some comments indicate that the designed life span was 40 years.] Tim Fink: I remember reading that a crew member on the Anderson the night the Fitzgerald went down said that he was in that tunnel and he said that the door at the opposite end would rise up and disappear into the ceiling and drop back down and disappear into the floor,,
Glenn Blaszkiewicz posted (source)
Sunset at Fraser Shipyards in Superior with the freshly painted "Arthur M. Anderson". 7/19/19
Shortly after I wrapped up at the Algonac Art Fair Sunday, I was lucky enough to photograph the Arthur M Anderson (1952) as it passed by Algonac headed for Ashtabula Ohio.
The Anderson is famous for being the last ship to be in contact with SS Edmund Fitzgerald before Edmund Fitzgerald sank on 10 November 1975.
The Anderson was also the first rescue ship on the scene in a vain search for survivors of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The vessel's namesake, Arthur Marvin Anderson, was director of U.S. Steel, a member of its finance committee and vice chairman of the J. P. Morgan and Co. at the time.
Shot with Mavic 2 Pro/Hasselblad L1D-20c Camera Silver JfrBernie Cooper from Port Conneaut Ohio was captain that nite.
David Schauer posted Arthur M. Anderson arriving Duluth with limestone for C. Reiss. 10/4/2021
Mike Grulke posted two photos with the comment: "Got two views of the Anderson tonight at Calcite. It turned away from the the break wall on it's approach and went north for a while, turned around and came back to the harbor a short time later."
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David Schauer posted A different take on the Burns Harbor departing CN Duluth with UTAC production for Indiana Harbor. Arthur M. Anderson will shift forward to the shiploader. On the hillside is Duluth's Lincoln Park middle school. 11/23/2022 [As a comment pointed out, this is a great comparison between a "footer" and a previous generation of ore boat.]
David Nieuwkoop posted The SS Arthur M Anderson as she enters the Soo Locks.
Michael Konczak posted Arthur M. Anderson and Edward L. Ryerson at Fraser Shipyards, 9.17.23 Photo by Michael Konczak [The east side of the CHS grain elevator is in the background.]
1 of 6 photos posted by Andrew Dean Detroit Arthur M. Anderson unloads at Gordie Howe International Bridge - American Side. G.L. Ostrander with Barge Integrity docked ahead of them. Andrew Dean Detroit shared
[I'm lucky that the Lafarge cement terminal is next to the bridge and that old freighters carry cement because the old freighters attract boatnerds who include the bridge's construction.]
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Brian R Maghran commented on Mike's share Here is the Arthur Anderson docked there.
fred xeje She is 767'x70'x36' and will hold 25,300 tons of cargo. Looking really fine. Jack Corvette Those seas were that big...they rolled up his deck and he's got a list and the water stays up and it's gonna put his bow down underwater and then when she started down the screw just drove her to the bottom......-Captain Jesse Bernie Cooper [Cooper was the captain of the Anderson when the Fitzgerald went down.]
In the above video, she is leaving Duluth, MN, for her fist docking at Two Harbors, MN, to get a load of iron ore. I wonder if her first docking will add scrape marks to the new paint job.
In 1962 she did a couple of trips on the recently opened St. Lawrence Seaway to carry iron ore from Port Cartier, QC, to Gary, IN. A bow thruster was added in 1966 and a stern thruster was added in 1989. Her original length was 647'. In 1975 120' was added and she went from a 6x7x6 hatch configuration to a 6x12x6 configuration. The self-unloading equipment was added during the 1981/82 winter layup. Both major modifications were done at the Fraser Shipyard, Superior, WI. That shipyard also did the $4m refit starting on April 2, 2019, to return her to service. [BoatNerd]
9and10news has a video of it on the St. Mary's River for the first time in 2.5 years.
Bob Heiss: Open hatches at the start of the turn, all buttoned down by halfway through. Why the turnabout, any idea?
Kathryn Lafreniere: They seem to do that when they come downbound to work around Detroit Bulk Storage (near the bridge). They turn around well before the bridge and then back in.
Scott's Canal Captures posted eight photos with the comment:
It's always a pleasure to visit my friend Dan on his boat! Myself, Dave, and Gus visited him while the Anderson was waiting to load at Two Harbors on the north side of Dock #2 last Saturday. I'm sure Dan and many others around the lakes are excited to get some time off! (January 6th, 2024)
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Brian Caswell posted The Arthur M Anderson, Down bound in the Detroit River - Here they move under the brand new Gordie Howe Bridge from the USA to Canada, that is nearly connected between both sides / June 2 2024
Brian Caswell posted The Arthur M Anderson passes the new Gordie Howe Bridge on the way to Toledo Ohio - This wider perspective shows both of the columns on the outsides of the bridge / June 2024
David Schauer posted Arthur M. Anderson arriving Duluth with limestone for C. Reiss. 10/4/2021
A double rainbow over the Arthur M. Anderson unloading limestone at C. Reiss in West Duluth this evening. June 12, 2024
The primary rainbow in the middle is so brilliant that I almost missed the secondary rainbow on the right side.
David Schauer posted Here is a closer view of the rainbows over C. Reiss in West Duluth yesterday evening after thunderstorms rolled through. Arthur M. Anderson unloading limestone before departing empty for Two Harbors. June 12, 2024
David Schauer posted After some heavy weather moved through the Twin Ports, a beautiful rainbow appeared over the Arthur M. Anderson unloading limestone at C. Reiss in West Duluth. June 12, 2024
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