http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/sale.asp? ... allery-tab

Baldwin and EMD switchers and locomotive shop being auctioned.

If there is anyone in preservation that seriously needs me to contact and investigate specific parts or condition of locomotives, shop equipment, etc., drop me an e-mail or PM. I can do it, but only for a serious shopper.

The RR lots:
SW7: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Baldwin re-engined with EMD, bent crankshaft: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Slug with mix roller and friction bearings and motors: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Slugs with rollers and traction motors: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=
http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Plasser tamper: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Kershaw tie crane: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

3 random trucks: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Side flats with leaf springs: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

EMD 567BC: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

300-ton horizontal wheel press: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

Wheel grinder: http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/lot.asp?S ... PAST_SALE=

I skipped a lot of traction motors.

I will note that the Patapsco & Back Rivers RR apparently retains control of their locomotive fleet, and that it's fairly obvious to me as a local that what's being sold is stuff that even a functioning, scavenging short line decided to abandon rather than move for safekeeping or reuse. The railroad's primary power now is a fleet of SW1500's supplemented by a couple lackluster ex-IC GP11's.

Looking over the entire auction list made me too sad.

Good night, American industry.

That said, a Kress would be handy to have around the house.

Rob

Without getting into political screeds:

The "American industry" in those photographs that you seem to lament went the way of smog-filled railroad towns, culm banks, six-man train crews, railroad station telegraph keys and sounders, milkmen, and telephone operators, and mostly for the same exact (and good) reasons.

Beth Steel Sparrows Point found itself in the same exact throes as the Rock Island or Milwaukee Road: Functionally obsolete, being outdone by its competitors, incapable for various reasons to change to a new market, etc. Like an obsolete main line that became a branch, it got sold from operator to operator, each trying to squeeze some additional life out of the carcass.

The big ore trains that used to run on the PRR, B&LE, and DM&IR? They're now running in Australia.

This essay was written by a reporter and author who wrote what is considered the definitive history of steelmaking in Maryland. Read over the bullet-points of the article and see what compares directly with the examples I cited above, the Milwaukee Road and the Rock Island, and then also the Penn Central and other Northeastern railroads. There are differences, to be sure--Beth Steel didn't have an Interstate Commerce Commission telling them to keep producing instead of shutting down facilities--but the parallels are nonetheless striking:

http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2012/05/25 ... collapsed/

Yes, folks, this is part of the railroad history you're supposed to be preserving. The railroad industry existed after steam locomotives and passenger trains, and you're obligated to be able to give a coherent and scholarly answer to the younger folks who ask "But WHY?"

RE: traction motors

I see only EMD traction motors listed. Did I miss any? Does anyone see any Westinghouse-built, Baldwin compatible motors in this auction?

Good, because I didn't mention politics. Ruetter makes some good points in the article. There are a zillion reasons why Bethlehem ended up like it did. I did start to read "Making Steel" years ago but found books from the employee's POV on Sparrow's Point more to my taste at the time.

You will also have to excuse a little bit of emotion as I remember summer days at the mill watching the Kresses trundling back and forth in between the trains, feeling the heat of freshly formed slabs. I have similar memories of Weirton and - especially - South Bethlehem.

Preservation of steel industry relics... especially steel mill railroad relics... is being undertaken by a handful of people. When you look at what has been saved already, it is quite astonishing given the tiny group of devotees doing the work (many of whom are active on RYPN). Not all of the steel mill railroad relics saved have been saved because of their steel connection, but because of previous lives or just plain old longevity until a preservation opportunity came along (thinking of Scott K's PRR SW-1 as an example, it spent many years at the coke works at Bethlehem's South Bethlehem works).

I still think I could use a Kress for landscaping...

Rob

Not coincidentally, it was also "announced" this afternoon on local news media that the associated steel mill will be completely demolished and razed in the near future. This basically puts the "Well, guess I'd better replace it, then" to the long-running "This is an DEAD PARROT!!!" sketch that has been playing out for years.

This no doubt dooms the mostly-moribund Patapsco & Back Rivers Railroad, which never got around to shoving its derelict locos into the blast furnaces as seemingly originally planned. The plant still has approximately two dozen derelict locos on site, as well as a couple operable ones (perhaps six to eight) and lots of other rolling stock.

So far as I have been made aware, only one rail-preservation party is after one particular rail item, and not for what one might suspect/expect--but that item isn't on the auction catalog/list.

That might double their value........ [rimshot]

Yes the American steel industry preservation "movement" is quite tiny, and the number of individual efforts could probably be counted on two hands. The largest by far is the Carrie Furnaces in Swissvale, PA. Two former US Steel blast furnaces, Carrie 6 and 7, owned by Allegheny County and leased to the Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation. I've been spending a great deal of time down there over the past couple of years helping them reclaim the site from nature and turn it into a steel heritage center.

Up in Youngstown we have the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, the first true "steel museum" built in the US, and the Tod Engine Heritage Park being built by my organization, the Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation.

Up in Cleveland there is a small brick building with a steel exhibit and a hot metal car in Steelyard Commons. There are also two Huletts dismantled and in storage at Whisky Island. Odds are the Huletts will never be reassembled. It seems that everyone in Cleveland has given up on them.

In Bethlehem the National Museum of Industrial History has a large collection of Bethlehem Steel artifacts and equipment. Unfortunately they do not have control of the real gem of the place, the blowing engine house. Maybe some day!

in Roebling, NJ the Roebling Steel main gate building is now a museum. There are a few large artifacts on display. There is a Steel Plant Museum in Buffalo, NY that has only small items. There is also another small steel museum out in Pueblo, CO.

Lets not forget the self proclaimed National Iron and Steel Museum in Coatesville, PA. They have the old Lukens administration building and years ago they tried to obtain the 120" plate mill but I don't think they got it.

Then there is Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, AL. While not a steel industry site per se, they have two merchant blast furnaces and a burgeoning metal arts program.

There may be a few other efforts out there, but certainly not enough considering the former size and scope of the steel industry in the United States.

I do as much as I can to save what I can, sometimes putting both my personal and organizational resources on the line to save an important piece. I will be attending the Sparrows Point auction, but will probably only be able to bring back some hand and power tools that I need at the Tod Engine. Wish I could afford a Kress carrier!

I see the railroad related lots were removed. Did I miss something, or is the auction January?

I believe the rail items, listed earlier, were to be auctioned off on December 11, so time may have already run out.

I noticed in an STB filing during the past week or so the Patapsco & Back Rivers Railroad is now being called the Baltimore Industrial Railroad. Perhaps there are already redevelopment plans in the works for the old steel mill that will require rail service. -- Ray

Out here in California, Kress was a "variety store" chain, a competitor to Woolworth, also known as "five and dime". One might call it a "fallen flag of merchandising". Sounds like a steel mill Kress is a large machine for moving large things. Could someone explain exactly what an industrial Kress is, and maybe post a photo?

Has anyone ever told you what a great name you have? ;-)

A Kress is a rubber tired vehicle used to carry slabs around the mill. Here are some pics:

http://www.stettermachinery.com/inventory.html

Rob Davis
Jersey Shore

Sure that wasn't S.S. Kresge? (not a steamship, either)