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If you are afraid of heights, you might NOT want to see this! But if you've ever wondered what one of these metal-melting monsters looks like close-up, then join me and a few fellow members of the Railroad Industries SIG as we tour an iron-smelting facilty at the former McClouth Steel Corporation of Trenton, Michigan, in early April of 2003.
As a precondition for the privilege to visit, each of us had to sign a legal waiver promising that our estate would NOT SUE in the event of an accident.
1) #2 Furnace looms before us as we approach
2) Here is where the iron ore, coke, and limestone were dumped from railcars
3) Closeup of stoves and piping
4) Full view of the topworks on #2 Furnace
5) A raw materials transfer car on the highline
6) The stoves
7) Dust collector
8) A view of the 'bell' platform (referring to the conical, bell-shaped top of the furnace body)
9) One of the 4 gas uptakes, with manhole cover removed
10) A flat 'goggle' valve on the pipe leading from the dust collector
11) Top-down view of the stoves of #1 furnace
12) The gang, following me up to the top platform. [The gentleman in the red jacket is none other than Mike Rabbitt, purveyor of the largest selection of HO-scale blueprints of prototype industrial structures/machinery for model railroaders.]
16) Looking down the skip hoist at the highline
17) Another view of the highline tracks, looking North, with the Detroit River and sykline in the background
18) #1 Furnace in her entirety, looking South
19) Various mill structures (note the large, cowl-type vents on the roof of the black building)
COOL photos! What is it about a blast furnace that elicits such interest? I'm still trying to figure that out... Anyone know a good shrink that specializes in industrial/historical mental issues?
I'd love to get unrestricted access to shoot that site! That looks like something you pulled off. Great work and thanks for sharing with us!
Thanks GrandeMan for bringing this thread to the front. Somehow, I missed it too!
Great shots Ken and thanks for the post. I would bet that was an interesting tour.
Oh, do you also mountain climb? repel?
Great pictures! What a thrill it must have been to go to the top of a blast furnace without having to wear an air pack! I never got to go up to the top of the furnaces in Gadsden. Didn't have any business up there and too many rules!
It is interesting that different mills call the same thing by different names. What you called the "highline" was called the "stockhouse" in Gadsden.
Credit for that goes to Brendan Brosnan. You may recognize his name from the Yahoo STEEL list, he's a frequent participant over there. Anyhoo, Brendan has a talent for charming facility managers into giving tours and otherwise allowing access to places like this - succeeding where the rest of us usually fail.
Sorry Eric, those furnaces were dynamited in early 2005 - they're but a memory now! I'm not quite sure about their op dates, but I think the hot end may have been shut down in the early 1990's; somebody across the street could probably give you a better answer.
Glenn, I'm sure you realize why they didn't want people up there. In a worst-case scenario, anybody on that platform during a blow-off could be toast - literally! Check out this U-tube video of a European blast furnace venting off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt01mgyvtSc&feature=related
But if you've ever wondered what one of these metal-melting monsters looks like close-up, then join me and a few fellow members of the Railroad Industries SIG as we tour an iron-smelting facilty at the former McClouth Steel Corporation of Trenton, Michigan, in early April of 2003. 
Anyone know a good shrink that specializes in industrial/historical mental issues?
I'm not quite sure about their op dates, but I think the hot end may have been shut down in the early 1990's; somebody across the street could probably give you a better answer.