Long Molten Metal Train! (With Drone Footage) 

I used to be a supervisor that did construction/maintenance work in steel mills around the US and Canada. I worked in most of them but most of my work was along the Ohio River from Portsmouth, Ohio, Weirton, Wheeling, Marietta, Stubenville to Pittsburgh but my home base was working at U.S. Steel in Birmingham, Alabama. We did many things in the mills but one thing we did do was to reline these torpedo ladles. In Birmingham, they had two sizes, 150 and 250 ton Pollock or Treadwell ladles. Almost all ladles were used inside plants because they were not usually road worthy to be on a Class I railroad and the requirements for being outside the plant were very tough and many could not pass the inspection. I remember Armco Steel in Hamilton, Ohio sent torpedo ladles via either CSX or Norfolk Southern to it's Middletown, Ohio plant and they did this everyday. Usually these ladles had a insulating brick back up lining, 8 inches with a 70% alumina hardbrick, super-duty brick that was 13 inches thick on the middle band where they poured the metal into the ladle from the blast furnace. Before casting into a ladle, the turn foreman on the casthouse floor would make sure the ladle was preheated to keep from thermo shocking the refractory brick. The foreman would also look to see if there was a pothole in the ladle to see that it was not too deep as not to burn through the brick lining. Sometimes torpedo ladles were used on opposite pouring spouts so that the iron stream did not always hit the same spot on every cast. Every day, each ladles went through the Ladle House for inspection to make sure all the mechanical parts were not broken, empty ladles still glowing hot were visually inspected by turning them down and in the up position, an infrared gun would be manually scanned to look for hot spots in which would indicate brick being thin. If there were hot spots, the ladle would be taken out of service for repair of the lining or brick replacement. Many times we would do hot gunning where we would gun refractory in a shotcrete gun and fill in the hot spot or impact spot. These hot repairs would sometimes last a few weeks and save money to the mill. Sometimes the ladles would be allowed to cool and rather than to rebrick, we would shotcrete a 70% alumina castable in the entire ladle and we would put about 22 tons of castable in a ladle lining. We could gun a ladle several times before rebricking. A gun repair would take one shift and one or two shits to cure and then the castable had to dry with no water after having a gas lance slowly driving the water out. If the water was not dried out completely, the water could turn to steam and explode like a bomb in which this is called Explosive Spalling. Rebricking was a last resort but lasted a long time but it took nearly a week of a crew of brickmasons to tear out the old brick, rebricking and drying and preheating the ladle before going back on the line. I think gondolas between torpedoes was only to redistribute weight going over weight restricted bridges and the average weight of a hopper car was around 100 tons but torpedos could be either 150 ton, 250 ton and some mills had 300 ton ladles. If any torpedo ladles were to be put on the road to another mill, they would have been scanned carefully for hot spots and all the mechanical parts were inspected before leaving the plant. Within the plant, only hot spots were the biggest concern. I saw one foreman get into a lot of trouble for not inspecting a ladle under the blast furnace because it was dark and sometimes if ladles were tight, they were not always preheated but this particular ladle had no brick in it because it was to be rebricked and when the furnace was cast, the stream of molten iron poured into the ladle and straight through the steel plate and onto the ground and railroad tracks. I remember the mill trying to pull the ladles out before they welded themselves to the track and they only got one out of three ladles out. The others had to cool down and dragged out and with a crane, they were lifted onto new trucks but they were still badly damaged. Sometimes ladles were lost on the track somewhere by the yardmaster and the ladle would sit somewhere and after 24 hours, the entire load would have solidified. It is a long process at the ladle house for a man to have a long lance burning out the solidified iron so the ladle could be sacrificed. This took many days. They would start with acetylene and oxygen and when it got hot enough, they would switch to straight oxygen. Eventually they could get an excavator with a pneumatic hammer to get the rest out so that the ladle could be eventually lined. One note is that intra mill locomotives used a short cat between the engine and the first torpedo ladle with no buffer cars after that. I shared about everything we did back then and I have not been involved with these integrated mills since 1995 and I still remember quite a bit. My information is first hand from me how it was done.

Magnificent! Over 36 years ago, I took a tour of (I believe) the now-defunct Edgar Thompson Works in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Back in the day, the plants that engaged in the various stages of steel production were in relatively close proximity. Torpedo cars like these were brought to the Edgar Thompson Works directly from the blast furnaces - multi-car trainloads of molten pig iron. The trains climbed inside the plant to a height of about three stories, then disgorged the molten iron contents of each torpedo car into a gigantic crane-operated ladle that waited below. The heat was palpable from 50 yards away. During this process, superheated vapors rose to the top of the enclosed structure, then rained down on me (and my fellow medical students) in a torrent of black snow - every flake of which was a perfect 2-D graphite hexagon, 0.2 mm on a side. I was amazed! The true story of American greatness includes "The Eastern" a least as much as "The Western." (Precisely why I love "The Gangs of New York.")

You should really see that train at night. The top of those bottle train cars glow bright yellow/orange.

When I first I heard about drones and being able to use them for photography I knew they would be an indispensable tool, especially for photographing moving things like........trains! This is absolutely beautiful footage. Also thanks for the track layout at the start.

I work for NS that's the bh 14 (bh 28 at night) and it serves the arcelor mittal steel mills in Riverdale,il and east chicago,in respectively. They also serve the one in burns barbor,in but that's the 34g. Being close to those cars are danger enough and thankfully the switching is not all that hard,most of our time is waiting for signals seeing that we use csx and ihb tracks. But this was an awesome video,good work.

Drone coverage is awesome! Puts an unusual train into perspective.

I loved the video. The map/diagram near the beginning was very helpful. I like the geometry and symmetry of tracks and enjoyed viewing them from above on your video. I have liked and subscribed. Keep up the good work.

when I used to deliver chemicals into the mills I got to see them load them at the blast furnace line at the old J-L/ LTV plant and Inland , Bethlehem burns harbor ( NOW A-M metals ) , they use them in plant as well at USS , you could feel the heat radiating off them when they brought them back empty and watching them get filled it s a sight to see . never got the chance to see them unload . I know in the plant they use remote controlled engines with sheilds all over them to keep the molten metal from damaging them

Interesting rotation here between one car and the next.

Excellent drone footage!

Thanks for posting this. Great drone work.

Now there's something you don't see every day ! Excellent.

beautiful work ...very cool from a U.S. rail nut fan living in Australia , The drone makes it look like a giant model railway actually which I'm also an enthusiast of . Building a room size BNSF/ATSF one myself.. The old loco , GP 38 maybe , sounded amazing as she worked hard to do the job..THANKS..

Wow! that's some complex looking railroad tracks you have there,all those different railroad companies converging there like they do!,very interesting,thank you for the fly over.

There are actually no NS tracks at that interlocking. NS is currently running that train due to an agreement that was made as part of the CSX/NS split of Conrail.

Beautiful video from start to finish!!!! #lovethevideo

Super Video. Niemals habe ich so eine Kreuzung gesehen ! Nice Video. I have never seen a crossing like this !

This train is the most metal train ever. It deserves a background score of the Iron Maiden, Rammstein and Slayer.

very cool. awesome catch.

THANK YOU...for sharing.

Nice. I've seen these trains and wondered what they carried. Now I know.

VERY NICELY DONE

Molten iron is pretty heavy stuff. I'm guessing the gondolas are there due to weight resrrictions on bridges. Bottle cars are used to haul molten Iron from the blast furnace to the steel making furnace.

The historic Pennsylvania RR Tower was torn down the summer of 2017. Dolton is due south of Chicago 142nd. thru 154th. Streets.

one site I grew up with, Used to live out there back in 70's

Wow!!! Great train.

Wow ! Too good !!

Be very careful around these torpedo cars. For some reason Sasquatch are drawn to these cars and they are aggressively seeking food. You can see 2 male Sasquatches at 5:50 top center, about 150 yards apart...standing very still

Great catch! Thumbs Up Greetings from Romania Andrew

cool shot

Man, I am truly missing out not having a drone cam like you! This was a very slick production. Keep up the good work, buddy. Who doesn't like watching trains passing through?

Well done, I like the intricate track layout being filmed from the sky. Sadly I can't see this type of trains in my area anymore, Arcelor Mittal closed the blast furnaces in Liege, Belgium now almost 10 years ago, but there bottle trains used the national network between furnaces and steel mills as well. Must have some old footage of these.

Really well done. The map at the start and the drone footage really improve the video.

Nice catch!

very nice!!!

10 degrees! That's pretty dang cold!

I wish you had caught the train after being filled. In any case, I remember seeing that old looking building as well as this rail intersection when I would take the Amtrak to milwaukee from St. Louis.

"COMING THRU COMING THRU, HOT SOUP HOT SOUP!"

Wow! Never knew trains carried molten metal. What's the story here? What kind? What distance? Purpose, etc.? The drone was, frankly, awesome! A great way to capture train video footage!

You should have 1M subs

very cool....I have the model wagons..

Pretty nuts you can see the heat coming off the slag cars

bottle cars carry molten iron from the blast furnaces to the various steel making furnaces

What a great drone! Rock steady, high res.. What is it?

Ferroeq: Why the alternating bottle cars and gondolas in this consist? I used to watch hot metal trains cross the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, from J&L's blast furnaces on one shore to their open hearth shops on the south side. These consists were 100% bottle cars. They ran on a dedicated bridge called (surprise!) the Hot Metal Bridge. The mills went cold in the late 1970s or thereabouts. The bridge is now a combination auto / bicycle / pedestrian route.

I was just commenting about this on another video about steel mills, did a search for it and I'll be damned... you're talking about the same trains I've seen with my own eyes... multiple times in Dolton/Riverdale. I'm partially involved in the big railroad project about to be underway at that CSX/UPRR/NS/IHB diamond right there. EDIT: I was recently on the mentioned job, that baseball diamond is gone now, all that land looks a bit different now, preparing for the new configuration.

Jan. and no snow?

Come from Washington, pa. And mon valley. Which is Monessen Monongahela Belle Vernon, etc.. When I was a kid, they were still using the very old and cook ovens in Bentleyville.. What intrigues me about this train? Is that they separate each torpedo car? With a gondola. . I assume that it is a way to keep the heat buildup under control.

why is there cars between each as I've heard them called football cars for? the ones near me don't ever have cars in between them

He’s pulling the guts out of that 38

How do they keep the steel in a molten state and not cool down?

I always thought that bottle cars were used just inside a steel mill. I never knew that they'd travel any distance. A bottle car is lined with thick fire brick, so I guess it'll stay molten for a long time. Long enough apparently !

That's a lot of hot metal. The gondolas are loaded for braking because the bottle cars are disproportionately heavy and hav insufficient braking when loaded.

Nice video, I like the use of ground camera and drone camera intermixed. Is that park a decent place to railfan?

Great video, I never knew they transported molten steel like this. How do they keep it molten during transit, and why do they separate each bottle with a flat car?

Luved the video / drone footage. But the first 5 minutes could easily have been eliminated. Do you encounter any hassle getting that close to the junction area ?

How often does something go horribly wrong?

EMD GP38-2

What’s the ID of it

I quote the engineer from tf2 : " *Heavy metal coming through!* "

Is it dangerous?

WOW! was that boring

whats the bowling pin for?

Locomotive engine needs a re-build.

I chassed this train part way cross town too!! with video

I've been watching and wondering how they empty them and what they're making with the material? Great videos with a drone.

Hah, you began videoing yourselves at 6:35!

half way throught the video and still no drone footage what the heck man

Thanks for the video. What's the bowling pin about?

This may have all ready been asked, but how does the metal stay molten if it has to be transferred a long distance?

What is train’s origin and destination?

A UK steel cmpany tried this bottle car idea some years ago when British industry was being ruined by socialist government and th bottle cars were seen as a way of keeping two plants running. I don't know the economics of moving molten steel about but the UK operation was 60 mile distance between steel mill and rolling mill. www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2494455

in mill they r called piulater cars or submarine cars

lol the harbor belt crosses 47th street in lagrange

Do you have an idea why the combination of gondola bottle gondola bottle.... is used? Are the continents of the bottles waste products from the milling process? Very nice view from your drone.

Or called Pugh ladles

What a great vid. I've never seen a carriage like that before. Why are they separated by the empty car?

P5 ❤❤❤❤❤

Why the arrangement of each bullet car separated by a gondola ?

What is the benefit of transporting metal in molten state? Furnace availability? I didn't know this was even possible

So how long can the liquid metal stay in the bottle cars before it needs to be emptied?

way cool.

Why are the cars in between the bottle cars empty?? I guess they are called coal cars, but I'm not sure. Cool video, Thanks for sharing it.

5:46 Nice #bird 👏👏👏 00:02:31

Why the empty cars between the bottle cars?

Where is this place? England,USA, Ireland or Canada?

Are those cars that hold the Molten steel insulated? If you walk up to one are they hot on the outside?

And yet despite this, Clemson continues to dominate Ohio St.

Cut to the chase 5:40

Which country is this ,

Too much obstructed footage and useless B-roll that could be culled. Nice to see that they're using proper buffers though. I just watched the Mat Gun video of a ohio mill just coupling them straight.

such hard labor to produce all ppl still cant learn how to maintain And value their steel and metal products and respect steel industry ignorance is worst than rust

Lava trains,

NS locomotives are always in the worst condition. Every time I see them they are having issues.

Allot of mills factories and plants are protected from videoing and posting pictures online by national security laws you best check and make sure it's ok for you to post this

Every one of these hot metal videos never shows the metal being loaded or unloaded! Click bait.