Steam & Excursion > Spang's First Century - 1926 film (P&WV, PRR and MP interest)

Spang's First Century is a vintage silent film that offers a fascinating look at the factories of the Spang Chalfant Company, a manufacturer of steel pipe in the Pittsburgh area.  The company was named for two of its founders.  Spang Chalfant had this film made to mark the centennial anniversary of the company, one of Pittsburgh's oldest manufacturers, founded in 1828. The film was released in 1926, and it captures the essence of the industrial atmosphere of the Pittsburgh area in the 1920s.  It was made as a silent film, but has a contempary soundtrack added by local musicians.  The film was produced inside Spang Chalfant's plants at Etna, PA and Ambridge, PA.  The film showcases the processes of steel making, including open hearth production, the rolling of ingots into skelp, the bending of skelp into the shape of a tube, and the many finishing processes that go into the production of various types of finished pipe and tube.  Especially interesting are the scenes that show working conditions inside a 1920s era steel mill.  Some of those scenes, like working around molten metal without protective gear or clothing, or the laborers working around vats of sulphuric acid, would cause a modern-day OSHA inspector to go into a fit of apoplexy.  Length of the film is one hour and twelve minutes, and it has been posted on YouTube with the title "Spang's First Century".  Spang Chalfant prospered in the 1920s but experienced financial and labor troubles during the Great Depression.  There was a violent strike at the Ambridge facility in 1933-34 that was long remembered by many local residents.  The company sold off its pipe making operations later in the 1930s, and it no longer exists today.  However, Tenaris S.A., a company based in Luxembourg, continues to produce pipe and tube today at the Ambridge site.  

The film was presumably shown by Spang Chalfant after it was made, but it was soon forgotten.  The seven reels that made up the film were stored in a shipping crate in a building in downtown Pittsburgh for many years.  The film's re-discovery in 2019 is a story in itself, available through a Google search.  I've written this post because of the railroad scenes included in the film, which might be of interest to some on this forum.  Here are the scenes of railroad or transportation interest:

6:10 to 6:35 - A panoramic view of Pittsburgh from Mount Washington, from the Point to the Smithfield Street Bridge.  Especially interesting was the view from almost directly above the Wabash Terminal cantilever bridge (removed in 1948) over the Monongahela River, showing the layout of the Wabash Terminal trainshed and the adjoining freight station.  The Wabash Terminal was part of the Pittsburgh & West Virginia at the time the film was made.  

24:45 - A great and amazingly sharp scene of Spang Chalfant 0-6-0 #8 pulling a string of PRR gondolas loaded with pipe at the Etna plant.  That locomotive has been preserved at Steamtown, with part of the locomotive and tender cut away to show the internal workings of a steam locomotive. 

1:03:30 - Loading a barge on the Ohio River at Ambridge, showing the "log rolling" method of handling pipe.  Another apoplexy-inducing scene for the modern day OSHA inspector.  Barges carried pipe to a storage yard in Memphis.  

1:06:00 - The company had a storage yard in Memphis, from which pipe was distributed to the southwestern oil and gas fields.  That yard was apparently served by Missouri Pacific, as there are several segments showing an MP 0-6-0 switching gondola cars. 

1:07:25 to 1:09:30 - Interesting segment showing transfer of pipe from PRR gondolas to an ocean-going vessel.  It begins with a PRR switcher handling a cut of loaded gondolas, then transfer of pipe to a lighter which is moved by a PRR tug boat to an ocean-going vessel.  Pipe is transferred from the lighter to the vessel.  Somewhere in New York harbor.  

The quality and sharpness of this old film is simply amazing.  To view the film on YouTube, search on "Spang's First Century".  I hope that some here will find it interesting.  

Steve Salamon
Valley City, OH  

  


    

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/26 19:20 by cr7998.