Sunday, July 31, 2022

Niagara LaSalle Steel Bars in Hammond, IN

(Satellite)

James Torgeson posted
Still in business as Niagara LaSalle Corporation.
Andrew Stewart: I haul a lot of bars from the pier in Gloucester City,NJ to them. That place is finicky, one time you're in and out. Then the next time you'll sit there for hours. It depends on who's running the crane.
Joel Ranney: SDI engineered bar in Pittsboro, IN produces a lot of their steel.
Keith Oliver: Wasn't the main plant in Chicago Heights? [I found a plant in South Holland, but it is smaller.]
Dan Dreger: I used to haul bars into them from Timken in Canton Ohio.

Street View

Larry Partain, Oct 2016

I wonder if these are hot-rolled bars coming in or cold-drawn bars going out? I think these are raw hot-rolled bars coming in because cold-drawn steel should have more of a shine.
Theo Trucker, Apr 2021

They handle tubes as well as bars.
NiagaraLasalle

Actually, most of the photos show rods.
NL-products

America's Largest Independent Cold-Finished Steel Bar Manufacturer

  • Operates four production facilities spread throughout the continental United States.
  • Offers a complete family of steel bar products, cut and drawn to a broad range of sizes and shapes.
  • Gives you the advantages of national coverage, multiple sources of supply, and a vast reservoir of experience.
  • Unmatched production facilities offer fast and efficient methods of transportation.


Why Use Cold Finished Bars

ENERGY SAVINGS
Because cold drawn bars are strengthened by drawing process, they are sometimes used by design engineers to gain strength in parts without expensive heat treating. This, added to their easier machinability, means energy savings.

SIZE ACCURACY
The close tolerances to which cold finished steel bars are produced permit much smoother working collets. Adjustments need not be made for extreme under - and over-size variations.

These same accuracies, together with the smooth surface finish of a cold finished bar may reduce the need for all-over machining.

FINISH
A cold finished bar is bright and smooth and has a metallic luster. The surface does not need to be machined for the sake of accuracy or appearance. The finest accuracy and appearance are, of course, found in the ground and polished bars.

STRAIGHTNESS
A cold finished steel bar is straight. It feeds out easily in machining and works efficiently in the reels. Higher revolutions pre minute are practicable because of less machine vibration with cold finished steel.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Cold drawing is a cold working operation and, as such, increases both the tensile and yield strengths of steel. The yield strength is usually about doubled. Ductility is reduced somewhat while hardness is increased. It should be kept in mind that the center of a cold drawn bar, as a general rule, is cold worked to essentially the same degree as are the zones nearer the surface and consequently, these properties are changed the same amount through the bar.

Newer speciality steels included in this book provide strengths from well over 100,000 psi to above 150,000 psi tensile in-the-bar and require NO HEAT TREATMENT. These steel bars, developed exclusively by Niagara LaSalle, are uniform and machinable.

TRUE TO SHAPE
Cold finished steel bars are true to shape. They are drawn through precision dies which effectively control the shape to be produced, i.e., round, hexagons, flats and squares.

BETTER PARTS
Seams and other defects are more readily discovered in cold finished operations, thus lowering the percentage of parts rejected after machining. With cold finished bars, parts can be machined more accurately, which cuts down on extra operations such as grinding on critical diameters. This, in combination with the higher mechanical properties of cold drawn bar stock, operates to provide higher quality parts.

MACHINABILITY
The size accuracy, finish, straightness and concentricity of cold finished steel bars are important in machining - especially to the operation of automatic screw machines. Cold drawn bars are produced from Special Bar Quality of Alloy Bar Quality hot rolled bars. Internal soundness is thus being checked directly at the producing mill. Cold drawing, then, improves the inherent machinability of some steels by 15 to 25% and makes chips easier to break and dispose of, which can be important to high output NC and CNC equipment. Cold drawn bars cut easier and cleaner.

The number of parts you produce per hour, per machine, along with tool life, will normally increase when you use bars in the cold drawn condition.

LESS SCREW MACHINE MAINTENANCE
Scale, which can collect and work its way into moving segments of the machine and cause premature parts wear, has been removed in cold finishing, there is less out-of-roundness to cause strain on collets, pushers and fingers. Because tolerances are more accurate, fewer machine adjustments have to be made. These and other advantages all add up to less labor, maintenance and cost.

[NL-advantages]

Saturday, July 30, 2022

1907 Chicago & Alton 4-6-2 Pacific, World's Largest Engine

I normally don't write notes about just one locomotive. But this 1907 Pacific locomotive has to be a significant milestone in the development of steam power.

Dave Durnam posted
C&A 601, credited in this 1907 photo as the largest engine in the world, with Calvary in foreground mounted on horses. G.R. Lawrence, photographer.
Richard Fiedler: If I recall correctly this photo was taken at Brighton Park in Chicago.
Dave Durnam shared

Brian Falasz commented on Dave's post
Sans cavalry and horses.
[We can clearly see the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement for a Pacific locomotive.]



Friday, July 29, 2022

1931 Ben Williamson and 1985 Simeon Willis Bridges over Ohio River at Ashland, KY

1931: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; B&TSatellite, green, 12th Street)
1985: (Bridge Hunter; B&TSatellite, blue, 13th Street)

You can access the B&T links above for a history of each bridge.

Street View

Street View

Sep 2019 Photo by Jesse Sharkoman via BridgeHunter-1931 and -1985

3D Satellite

1 of 6 photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels
Another day, another sunset. This time, it's a view of the circa 1931 Ben Williamson Memorial Bridge and the circa 1985 Simeon Willis Bridge that carries US Route 23 Spur over the Ohio River between Ashland, Kentucky, and Ohio. Some years ago, the superstructures were painted to match the city of Ashland's colors—a lot more vibrant than the drag gray they were before!
Check out more photos at http://bridgestunnels.com/.../ben-williamson-memorial.../ and http://bridgestunnels.com/location/simeon-willis-bridge/
 
Murdock Photography posted
I love this composition with the fall 🍂 of the USS LST-325 before it set sail for Charleston, WV yesterday! Be on the lookout for several posts today, highlighting my tour of the last operational WWll Landing Ship (LST) in the world. Come join me as we get exclusive access to certain rooms off limits to the general public!
Dennis DeBruler: And a nice view of the bridges.
[I need to update my LST-325 notes and get them published.]

A lot a lattice built-up truss members.
Street View

As expected, the 1980s truss bridge has plain members and bolts instead of rivets.
Street View


Thursday, July 28, 2022

Lost/Clark Avenue Bridge over Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH

(Bridge Hunter; Satellite, just the abutments are left)

ClevelandStateUniversity via BridgeHunter

Postcard via BridgeHunter

Postcard via BridgeHunter

This is the most recent topo map in which the bridge appears. Clark Avenue is not connected with Pershing Avenue in the next topo map, 1994.
1984 Cleveland South Quad @ 24,000

Some of the footings are still standing on the west side of the river.
Satellite

The comment on this post is what caused me to look for the Clark Avenue Bridge.
Jonathan Konopka posted
Looking at the River Terminal railroad's bascule bridge across the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. Photo was taken in 1970 from the Clark Avenue Bridge - photo taken by Lamont Downs.



Wednesday, July 27, 2022

CSX/C&EI Bridge over Wabash River at Clinton, IN

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The depot and freight house in Clinton has been preserved.

2013 Photo by Brent Tindall via BridgeHunter, License: Released into public domain

2013 Photo by Brent Tindall via BridgeHunter, License: Released into public domain

It looks like the Wabash was running high in the Summer of 2018.
Street View, Jun 2018

Since there were five street view photos from the bridge, I checked the other four. They all had lower river levels than the Jun 2018 photo. This is one of the lower ones.
Street View, Oct 2008

I lucked out in that the street view camera took a photo just as it got to the tracks so I can see between trees.
Street View, Jul 2013

csxthsociety

A satellite image reminded me that the Wabash can have some serious flood plains. The bridge that we can see over the main channel is less than half of the total length of the bridge.
Satellite





Tuesday, July 26, 2022

US-68 1927 Boone Tunnel and 1871 Brooklyn Bridge over Kentucky River

Tunnel: (Bridge Hunter; B&TSatellite, 171 photos)
Bridge: (Bridge Hunter; no longer exists)

From Kentucky digital library via BridgeHunter-tunnel

Looking South towards the river.
Street View

Looking North because the guard rail is at the other end.
Jeff G, Oct 2021

1952 Wilmore Quad @ 24,000

Brooklyn was the name of the town that was here because this was the location of a ferry service.
The screenshot below shows the sharp turns in the road on the north side before the state built the tunnel.
It was the first tunnel to be built in Kentucky for state highway use. [2:28]
The current bridge serves about 2,700 vehicles a day. [3:37]
6:23 video @ 2:02 and BridgeHunter-bridge, c. 1945

It collapsed on Nov 30, 1953, and it was replaced in 1955 by the current bridge.
Photo courtesy of Anna Armstrong via BridgeHunter-bridge

BridgeHunter-bridge has an extensive description of the lost bridge and photos of the bolt that sheared.

Bridges & Tunnels with Sherman Cahal posted
The Boone Tunnel was the first highway tunnel constructed by the Kentucky State Highway Department.
As part of the designation of US Route 68 along the Lexington, Harrodsburg & Perrysville Turnpike, the Kentucky State Highway Department sought to improve the roadway in the vicinity of the crossing of the Kentucky River to remove dangerous curves. A tunnel was bored through solid limestone in 1926-27.
Its fate was aligned with the adjacent Brooklyn Bridge which was erected in 1871 and collapsed in 1953. A temporary Bailey truss structure was shipped from Toronto and hastily erected until a permanent replacement was completed in early 1956, bypassing the Bailey truss and tunnel.
Check out an extensive history of this unique tunnel at http://bridgestunnels.com/location/boone-tunnel/
[B&T says it was the only highway tunnel constructed by the state, not just the first. I can believe it was the only tunnel that did not use Federal funds.]

The replacement bridge looks like yet another UCEB (Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge). But then it occurred to me that it was built in the 1950s. A reinforced concrete box girder bridge was probably bleeding-edge technology back then. "It was the largest bridge of its design in the state." [B&T]




Monday, July 25, 2022

Two Boat Fires

A fire on a boat is a topic that tripped my "twice in two days" rule.

Chickamauga Lock posted, cropped
We had a boat fire in the lock chamber this morning. No casualties. Thank you to everybody who responded. Safety is a team effort and Chattanooga has a great team. I’m especially proud of our lock operator Chase Green for his quick actions and textbook response. The lock is open and we are locking boats.
[Some comments indicated that this boat was a home and that the owner lost his animals and  everything he owned.
Notes on the lock]
Pickwick Lock shared

Dan Lisella commented on Chickamauga's post




HL Maritime Bulletin posted four photos with the comment:
#UPDATE: this afternoon the Nova Scotia- PEI ferry "MV HOLIDAY ISLAND" caught fire and ran aground just outside the Wood Islands harbour. 
Fire breaks out on ferry between Nova Scotia and P.E.l., July 22. All passengers evacuated without any injuries reported. 
The MV HOLIDAY ISLAND ferry was evacuated Friday afternoon after a fire broke out in the engine room earlier in the day. The ferry left port in Caribou, Nova Scotia, at 10 a.m. travelling to Wood Islands, P.E.l. The fire started just after 11 a.m. According to Northumberland Ferries Limited, which operates the ferry, the ship's crew and safety systems contained the fire.
The ferry ran aground outside the harbour entrance to Wood Islands.
Passengers were evacuated from the vessel via inflatable slides to get to the rafts below. All the passengers are off the boat and have been taken ashore. The coast guard remains on the scene.
According to Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax, 182 passengers have safely
disembarked, while 18 crew members and seven local firefighters remain on board.
Janey Anderson shared
1

2

3

4

Initially I was confused because there are at least two Wood Islands Harbours. This is the first one I found. But when I followed the ferry route, I found this one. Note that this ferry route is labeled as part of the Trans-Canada Hwy. 

safe_image for P.E.I.-N.S. ferry cancelled for a 2nd day after fire aboard ship forced evacuation Friday [July 22, 2022]
Smoke was seen billowing from the N.S.-P.E.I. ferry on Friday. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

cbc
Passengers are loaded onto Myles MacDonald's fishing boat from the orange lifeboat structure deployed from the Holiday Island passenger deck. (Submitted by Brian Rogers)
"Myles MacDonald, an auxiliary Coast Guard member who also fishes crab and scallops out of Wood Islands, rushed to the scene in his boat when he heard the ferry had caught fire.
He pulled up alongside the Holiday Island as passengers hopped down an evacuation chute into a rubber dinghy. From there, they climbed onto his fishing boat.
'Everybody got along pretty good. It's a miracle,"' MacDonald said.
MacDonald made two trips to shore carrying a total of 113 of the 225 people he was told were on board.
Other rescue vessels, including the Coast Guard arrived to help transport the others. Their vehicles and luggage had to be left behind, though. "
[This article has a video taken from the ship.]

July 23, 2022: Canadian Coast Guard posted three photos with the comment: "UPDATE: Our Environmental Response continues. Several CCG vessels and officers are on site including the CCGS Cap Nord. We are working with our partners to ensure appropriate response to any potential release of pollution. So far there is no pollution reported from the vessel. Safety remains our priority."
Michael Gallant: The ship has no power. And by the looks of it, it’s developing a list. In order to get the vehicles off the ship needs power. To move ballast as the vehicles come off. So she doesn’t flip over. Until the fires out, they won’t move her. She could still flip over from the water used to put out the fire. It happens all the time in these situations. And ship fires have been known to last days.
[Michael added comments a day later indicating that the ferry was docked and that vehicles were being unloaded.]
Janey Anderson shared
1, cropped

2

3

Access to and from the island is still possible because of the Confederation Bridge.

An engine room fire gives a literal meaning to smokestack. Hopefully the smoke whet up the stack and stayed away from the vehicles and people's belongings. Some comments indicate that many of the passengers would have been families on vacation. They use the bridge for one leg of the trip and the ferry for the other leg. I wonder what happened to the pets.


A 9:14 video with some commentary  I was surprised that no other boats arrived during the video to be ready to relieve the lobster boat for carrying passengers.



Sunday, July 24, 2022

CN and CP Bridges over Fraser River south of Lytton, BC

CN: (Satellite)
CP: (Satellite)
CN Pedestrian: (Satellite)

The CN bridge is the deck arch and the CP bridge is the through truss.
Steven J. Brown posted
Canadian Pacific coal eastbound across the Fraser River at Cisco, British Columbia - July 21, 2002.

Not only the water turbulence, but the water level on the piers shows that the river was much higher in this photo than in Steven's photo.
Canyon Overland, Jul 2020

There are so many photos with the same view because there is an access road and Viewpoint for the bridges.
Michael Markl, Jun 2023


When I looked at Lytton on a map, I recognized that as the location of some severe flood damage in Nov 2021. I see today (Jul 24, 2022) that a wildfire alert is marked on the map.
Road Map

Cisco Bridges has many more photos and the following description:
The Cisco Bridges are a pair of railroad bridges at Siska (historically known as Cisco) near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway both follow the route of the Fraser River, one on each side, and the routes exchange sides at this point. The easier CPR route was laid first; when the CNR arrived later they needed to follow the more difficult route. The area is popular with railfans due to the proximity of the two bridges (which allows both bridges to be taken in one photograph, sometimes with a CPR and CNR train on each bridge simultaneously), and the easy access to the area (the Trans-Canada Highway (BC Hwy 1)) is parallel to both bridges down the east bank of the river. Directional running in the Fraser Canyon means that both CPR and CNR trains may be seen on both bridges.
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National bridge is a truss arch bridge, long and high. The north-west end of the bridge abuts into a near-vertical rock face. The south-east end of the bridge crosses the CPR tracks about north of the CPR bridge.
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific bridge is a 3-span, -long truss bridge. There are two short Pratt truss spans at each end of the longer Parker truss main span. The south end of the bridge (on the west bank of the river) enters directly into the Cantilever Bar Tunnel, in the side of the Cisco Bluff.

Guess Guesser, Nov 2021

Here we can see that the arch ribs are inclined towards the center. 
Guess Guesser, Nov 2021


We can see a snow shed between the bridge and the Cantilever Bar Tunnel
Jonathan H, Sep 2021

I highlighted the tunnel in yellow.
Satellite plus Paint

The snow shed has yet to be built.
Samuel J. Jarvis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

0:30 video by BXCRGNR
CN & CP freight trains cross one another at the spectacular Cisco Bridges near Lytton. This was my first time visiting the Fraser Canyon and I was absolutely spellbound by the scenery and engineering marvels of both railways.

This fire on the CN bridge was in 2011.
I Love Trains posted
Creosote railroad ties and sparks are never a good combination.
Click link to see video https://trainfanatics.com/cnr-cisco-bridge-fire/
[Or just go to YouTube.]
"Amazingly enough, by using pre-assembled sections of track and ties, CNR was able to get the repairs done quickly and the bridge was back in service in only 3 days!"

The drone video of the fire provides some new views of the CN bridge.
10:53 video @ 0:44

6:19

I presume that is a Canadian Pacific truss.
9:44

The yellow bucket is hanging from a helicopter.
5:34 video @ 2:15

Look at the big kinks in the rail. Kinks will form in the summer because they rails expand when they get hot. When they get really hot because of a fire, the kinks become big.
4:45

cbc (Joelle Harvey)
"Railway ties were on fire on the entire stretch of a CN Rail bridge south of Lytton, B.C., Thursday."




I discovered the "Pedestrian Bridge while looking for the CN Cisco Bridge. I wonder if they added the cage because of suicides or bungee jumpers or an abundance of caution.
John Pothier, Jun 2021

Cameron Tymstra, Jul 2019

This is not a tourist attraction.
John Pothier, Jun 2021