Eastern Railroad Discussion > East Chicago, IN steel mills, refineries & railroads

The other day I was briefly in East Chicago and got photos of the two steel plants that are being idled/closed and the railroads around them. There is hardly a train in these pictures, but I think the subjects are of interest.

1. A yard between BP's Whiting Refinery and the US Steel tin plant that is slated to be idled in March. There was a savage switcher in the yard. Note the uncommon three-way switch.

2. The coke cars in the last shot I'm guessing are for the byproduct waste pet coke that comes from the refinery of the Canadian Tar Sands crude. In this shot of the refinery, you can barely see a string of coke hoppers leading towards the covered building on the less where I would guess they are loaded. Correct any of this if it is wrong. Does anyone know how the tar sands oil gets to the refinery?

3. Looking the other direction from shot #1 Tracks are everywhere, and I'm not sure whose are whose.

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That's an interesting diamond at the bottom of Shot #3. ;)

Doesn't look like that route gets used too often, and I presume there was simply no interest in removing it when the rest of the track there was modified in some way.

4. US Steel's Tin Plant, which will be idled in March, laying off 369 workers.

5. A view to the right of the last one. More empty coke cars are stored across the street in the upper right. Last time I was by here IHB Canadian bulkhead flats were there.

6. Across the Indiana Harbor canal, an ArcelorMittal engine is switching at their Long Carbon plant.

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7. Now on the other side of the canal, an IHB switcher is paused

8. A collection of uncommon covered hoppers.

9. ArcelorMittal's Long Carbon plant. It is slated to be idled and closed in march, with the loss of over 300 jobs, but ArcelorMittal claims they will be transferred to other areas in the plant.

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Interesting stuff..!!! Thanks for sharing. Keep us updated.

10. ex-KCS plant gon.

11. Really pile the scrap high...

12. Again, correct if this is wrong, but the electric arc furnace is being idled here and I'm guessing the gons are carrying the scrap that is put into it.

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13. Look up the canal to NS's bridge, but I didn't have time to linger for a train.

14. Last image - South Chicago and Indiana Harbor's yard with Lake Michigan in the distance.

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Shot #1 is of two separate yards, in the foreground is the IHB yard. The yard farther back is the ex EJ&E Whiting yard. Savage is the contract in plant switcher for BP, this is where they interchange with CN & IHB.

Shot#2
The branch across the drawbridge is operated as joint IHB/CN(EJ&E) trackage. The tower on the other side of the canal used to have an EJ&E logo on it. Not sure if it's still there.

Shot#7. The track that IHB SW-1500 is on is called the "Cast Armor lead"

Ryan

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 19:55 by Nictd1000.

Thanks for taking alot of interesting photos that I never got around to getting myself when living in the area. What bridge were 1 and 3 taken from? As info in photo 13, the two story gray building to the right of the NS bridge was known as HC Tower in the NYC and PC days, and as Hick during Conrail. Closer, where the crane is working is the former location of the PRR bridge over the canal. Wonder what is going on there now, with that oil spill containment loop.

Rich

Nictd1000 Wrote:
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>
> Shot#2
> The branch across the drawbridge is operated as
> joint IHB/CN(EJ&E) trackage. The tower on the
> other side of the canal used to have an EJ&E logo
> on it. Not sure if it's still there.

Ryan, did you mean shot #3?

I believe shot #3 is of the CN/EJE Whiting Branch, and as of a few months ago at least, the tower was still there. The branch passes thru Calumet Jct and alongside IHB's Michigan Ave Yard. IHB has trackage rights from there to the refinery area.

Thanks much for posting these photos. Here's a shot of the tower:

http://dhke.com/ihbarchive/images/ejewhiting2.jpg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 08:58 by calumet.

Photo #5: The track that is next to the cement wall appears to be the track CSX used to take cars to/from the LTV (?) tin mill.

Not long ago, I spotted a few of those scrap gons that still had "friction" bearings. I don't know if any are still around.

CSX_ENG Wrote:
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> Photo #5: The track that is next to the cement
> wall appears to be the track CSX used to take cars
> to/from the LTV (?) tin mill.

I had the same thought about that track. Had the good fortune to ride Y125 in 1999 with Doc and Ray Foley down that track to LTV. Top secret satellite photos now show that line cut off by the Corps of Engineers canal dredging project containment berm built next to the B&OCT Whiting Branch.

Rich

Seventyfive Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CSX_ENG Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Photo #5: The track that is next to the cement
> > wall appears to be the track CSX used to take
> cars
> > to/from the LTV (?) tin mill.
>
> I had the same thought about that track. Had the
> good fortune to ride Y125 in 1999 with Doc and Ray
> Foley down that track to LTV. Top secret
> satellite photos now show that line cut off by the
> Corps of Engineers canal dredging project
> containment berm built next to the B&OCT Whiting
> Branch.
>
> Rich

This photo is from a little farther up that street; the track crosses it and there are coke hoppers stored in the yard tracks. But on that side, it's ArcelorMittal's stuff, not US Steel's tin plant. But, that isn't too say they didn't use to be the same facility.

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Yes, at one time this was all Youngstown Sheet & Tube..

Ryan

Posted from iPhone

inCHI Wrote:

> This photo is from a little farther up that
> street; the track crosses it and there are coke
> hoppers stored in the yard tracks. But on that
> side, it's ArcelorMittal's stuff, not US Steel's
> tin plant. But, that isn't too say they didn't use
> to be the same facility.

That's the "tin mill"! We'd bring empty covered coil cars and shove them to a yard in photo #4 (where the four gons are). Then we'd cross the street (Dickey Rd.??) and enter the yard in your photo. There's about 5 tracks there---we'd tie on to the "Pennsy Track" and then pull 20 or so loads back to our East Chicago Yard.

CSX_ENG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> inCHI Wrote:
>
> > This photo is from a little farther up that
> > street; the track crosses it and there are coke
> > hoppers stored in the yard tracks. But on that
> > side, it's ArcelorMittal's stuff, not US
> Steel's
> > tin plant. But, that isn't too say they didn't
> use
> > to be the same facility.
>
> That's the "tin mill"! We'd bring empty covered
> coil cars and shove them to a yard in photo #4
> (where the four gons are). Then we'd cross the
> street (Dickey Rd.??) and enter the yard in your
> photo. There's about 5 tracks there---we'd tie on
> to the "Pennsy Track" and then pull 20 or so loads
> back to our East Chicago Yard.

That's not the tin mill in inCHI's photo. That would be on the other side of the street (Riley Road), off to the left. It's a USS plant now, formerly YST No. 2 Tin Mill. I worked there when it was still YST, 1969-1970. I don't recall what the facility in the photo was --possibly galvanize line and/or hot roll. I only worked the tin mills.

colehour Wrote:

> That's not the tin mill in inCHI's photo. That
> would be on the other side of the street (Riley
> Road), off to the left. It's a USS plant now,
> formerly YST No. 2 Tin Mill. I worked there when
> it was still YST, 1969-1970. I don't recall what
> the facility in the photo was --possibly galvanize
> line and/or hot roll. I only worked the tin mills.

Thanks for the clarification! On the railroad (CSX) it was called the "tin mill" but in reality we never knew what was under the hoods of the covered coil cars....