Western Railroad Discussion > Our last look at NS's hot bottle (molten iron) train

It was May 10, 2024, and Mrs. Sasquatch, me and some Midwestern friends were at Dolton, IL on Chicagoland's south side, railfanning in the hopes of catching a hot bottle (molten iron) train.  It did not take long for the morning train to arrive. While I was shooting stills, my wonderful wife scored this I-phone video; which in all honesty is much better than any videos I got that day.

The train is curving north towards the Riverdale steel mill (former Acme Steel plant, then Arcelor Mittal, and now the idled Cleveland Cliffs mill) just a couple miles ahead after the train crosses the Little Calumet River. We were joined by a couple Dolton Police Officers--great gents, one a former serviceman--who launched their police drone and then shared with us the aerial views of the movement in both standard visual format and in the infrared mode...glowing hot bottle cars! Talk about great community outreach, these guys were super friendly pros who enjoyed sharing their extensive Dolton area train knowledge with us, and really made our day--thanks guys!  

Please enjoy Maureen's video of a currently suspended operation through Dolton, IL.

• Tom / Seattle area



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/26 16:05 by Sasquatch.

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When much more interesting things rolled along the rails!
Did the hot bottle cars have brakes? I'm not sure how they could get the air from one end of a car to the other.
Gonut

Two Things: The sound of that non turbo Geep is AWESOME and I bet you could feel the heat off those bottles. 

Gonut1 Wrote:
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> When much more interesting things rolled along the
> rails!
> Did the hot bottle cars have brakes?

Of course.

I'm not sure
> how they could get the air from one end of a car
> to the other.

The air piping was underneath, just like every other freight car. Remember, heat rises, and those "bottles" were very well insulated.

> Gonut

Two questions, 
1 How long before molten steel starts to solidify?

2. what is the plakard on those cars?

Make that 3 questions,

3 How far do they have togo?

Thanks.

Sam 

Trainhand Wrote:
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> Two questions, 
> 1 How long before molten steel starts to
> solidify?

Molten iron (not steel) can stay usable in bottle cars up to 48 hours if cast directly from the blast furnace into the bottle (2,800-3,000 degrees).

> 3 How far do they have togo?

Acme's bottles only went about 3-4 miles, and most bottle trips at mills travel much less.

JG

gandydancer4 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Two Things: The sound of that non turbo Geep is
> AWESOME and I bet you could feel the heat off
> those bottles. 

Actually, although I've heard from others that under the right conditions this can be experienced at Dolton, we had a light breeze at our backs so we neither felt the heat nor smelled the hot bottle cars.

• Tom / Seattle area

jgilmore wrote:
> Molten iron (not steel) can stay usable in bottle
> cars up to 48 hours if cast directly from the
> blast furnace into the bottle...
> JG


Does that mean those hot bottle cars transport molten iron, not steel? I'm pretty new to the steelmaking process.

And where do the loads originate?

• Tom / Seattle area

gandydancer4 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>I bet you could feel the heat off
> those bottles. 

Not so much at Dolton, but at a couple of other places. That is, formerly. For instance, one could stand as close to the tracks as they wanted on Belanger Park Dr in River Rouge, MI, when bottle trains went by at Great Lakes Steel (no longer making iron/steel). I did this several times and it's quite disconcerting, so after awhile I decided to quit standing so close, imagining the horror of a sudden derailment. 

Here's a pic from a more sensible distance, but sill feeling the heat as it went by...

JG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/26 22:22 by jgilmore.

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Sasquatch Wrote:
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> Does that mean those hot bottle cars transport
> molten iron, not steel? I'm pretty new to the
> steelmaking process.

Exactly, blast furnaces only produce molten iron, which is transported to steel furnaces in bottles for further refining. After the steel is made in an oxygen furnace (BOF) it's transported completely within the mill buildings and never seen by outsiders, where it's cast into various shapes for finishing.

> And where do the loads originate?

Acme blast furnaces were at 10730 Burley Ave in south Chicago, while the steel furnaces were over in Riverdale, 3.7 miles away. Here's an older aerial of the blast furnaces along the Calumet River (Acme in the middle of the pic), with Wisconsin Steel across the river.
JG

http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/iiif/2/pshs02:270/full/full/0/default.jpg



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/26 22:25 by jgilmore.

Here are a couple of shots with the Arcelor Mittal steel plant in the background.  The plant is in East Chicago IN.  The bottle trains would be parked in Lake Front Yard (briefly) before NS picked them up for a trip on the Indiana Harbor Belt.

1. Just out of Lake Front Yard the molten iron train crosses the NS Chicago Line at CP502.  8/14/18
2. The molten iron train has just crossed the NS and is on the IHB at CP100.  12/26/18 
This shot was taken from the Cline Avenue Bridge during it's reconstruction.  I was the bridge construction inspector at the time.

Tom Paris         St. Augustine  FL

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/26 12:53 by ICG.

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HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gonut1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > When much more interesting things rolled along
> the
> > rails!
> > Did the hot bottle cars have brakes?
>
> Of course.
>
> I'm not sure
> > how they could get the air from one end of a
> car
> > to the other.
>
> The air piping was underneath, just like every
> other freight car. Remember, heat rises, and those
> "bottles" were very well insulated.

Please explain exactly how that worked, since the entire premise of the car is that the body rotates to dump. It seems like if there were any piping, rigging, or such underneath, "just like any other freight car", it would be quickly destroyed during the "dump" maneuver. 

Sasquatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And where do the loads originate?
>
> • Tom / Seattle area

Also forgot to add, as noted by poster ICG, that in later years after Acme shut down their last blast furnace the iron moved primarily from ArcelorMittal (formerly Inland) in East Chicago, IN, or alternately from the west side at Indiana Harbor (ex-LTV) and occasionally from Burns Harbor (ex-Bethlehem Steel). These were longer trips to Riverdale, roughly 12-15 miles or so...

JG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/26 07:55 by jgilmore.

longliveSP Wrote:

> Please explain exactly how that worked, since the
> entire premise of the car is that the body rotates
> to dump. It seems like if there were any piping,
> rigging, or such underneath, "just like any other
> freight car", it would be quickly destroyed
> during the "dump" maneuver. 

The air lines appear to be offset to one side of the car, and not affixed to the bottle body.  I would assume they simply dump the bottle by rotating it in the direction away from the air lines.

Thank you JG, ICG, etc. for all your great info; I sure appreciate it! I always enjoy new learning.

• Tom / Seattle area

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/26 10:31 by Sasquatch.

longliveSP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Please explain exactly how that worked, since the
> entire premise of the car is that the body rotates
> to dump. It seems like if there were any piping,
> rigging, or such underneath, "just like any other
> freight car", it would be quickly destroyed
> during the "dump" maneuver. 

Clearly they must have figured this out. Here are three bottle cars from 3/21/2025 that show the brake rigging.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/26 18:42 by kevink.

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---

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BoostedFridge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> longliveSP Wrote:
>
> > Please explain exactly how that worked, since
> the
> > entire premise of the car is that the body
> rotates
> > to dump. It seems like if there were any
> piping,
> > rigging, or such underneath, "just like any
> other
> > freight car", it would be quickly destroyed
> > during the "dump" maneuver. 
>
> The air lines appear to be offset to one side of
> the car, and not affixed to the bottle body.  I
> would assume they simply dump the bottle by
> rotating it in the direction away from the air
> lines.

It would be nearly impossible to have a hanging air line across "open air" without some sort of structure to hold it up and in place.

kevink Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> longliveSP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Please explain exactly how that worked, since
> the
> > entire premise of the car is that the body
> rotates
> > to dump. It seems like if there were any
> piping,
> > rigging, or such underneath, "just like any
> other
> > freight car", it would be quickly destroyed
> > during the "dump" maneuver. 
>
> Clearly they must have figured this out. Here are
> three bottle cars from 3/21/2025 that show the
> brake rigging.

Interesting. Thanks for those pictures. So then they mounted the airline on the bottle itself, and then used some mechanism or a long hose at each rotation point to connect the airline mounted on the bottle to the airline on the rest of the car, allowing the bottle to be rotated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/26 07:17 by longliveSP.

Superior bottle shots Kevin! You could have a field day weathering model train bottle cars with these great photos; thanks for posting them.

• Tom / Seattle area

 

So how did they dump the molten iron?
Some sort of elevated structure to pour load into a slice way? Did they poured directly into a BOP furnace.