This was a steel plant. Armco had a coke plant on the other side of Ashland.
Alvin has posted other photos in Armco, AK Steel, Coke Plant, Obituaries and Memories. Unfortuantely, I don't have the time to copy them. Fortunately, the group is public.
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| Richard Allison commented on a Indiana Harbor West related post Armco Amanda and Bellefonte furnaces at Ashland with Davy McKee furnace tops. |
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| Larry Evans posted Armco- Ashland KY |
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| Bradford Gill posted Ashland Kentucky Clayton Lewis: Amanda furnace |
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| Richard Allison posted For what it is worth, I borrowed this photo from another site and Cliffs is in the process of pulling down the Amanda Furnace at Ashland Works. The BOF and caster are almost gone and they are making quick work preparing to pull down Amanda. I would not be too comfortable working at a blast furnace at Cliffs because they are all being scrutinizing the operating costs of each one. Amanda could not compete so she goes. I keep hearing the former AK furnaces are low cost but I hear that from every operating furnaces. I wonder the true operating costs of No.3 Middletown, Dearborn and Cleveland. I think the three are vulnerable with the Middletown the most vulnerable due to transportation costs for raw materials. I believe the finishing mills at Middletown are among the best at Cliffs. Michael Hines: I worked at #3 they melt a lot of HBI. Richard Allison: Michael Hines HBI is not cheap to melt in a blast furnace. Richard Allison: At one time in the 1960s-1990s, Amanda Furnace was a star for AK Steel. Cliffs never saw any value in the Ashland Works plant. I am open for discussion on this... Ross Patterson: Id like to think Clevelands C5 and C6 will be around for a while with the reline in the near future. Richard Allison: I think there is a recently relined furnace at Zug Island. I don't think relines are any indication. Unfortunately, the steel industry is going through some major changes just as I seen back in the 80s when open hearths were being changed to BOFs and blooming mills and soaking pits being replaced by casters. I am a blast furnace guy that is retired and it puts a pit in my stomach everytime I see a BF pulled down. Ultimately, all blast furnaces will be replaced by EAFs but there are no firm dates in the US when this will happen. In Europe they hope to replace them well before 2050 with most of them gone by 2030. The US is not in that time table but I am not so sure Canada is planning to close them not too far from now..... |
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| Phillip R Dowdy Sr. posted Amanda Blast Furnace , ARMCO AK Steel Ashland Kentucky It was when first built, 1963. |
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| Grady Slade posted AK Steel, Ashland KY. Amanda Furnace. 2015..... Ron Wechsler: Loved running the Ore Bridge Grady Slade posted again |
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| Grady Slade posted Ashland's Amanda Furnace. Sorry about the glare. |
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| Richard Allison commented on Grady's post I took this picture of Amanda and Bellefonte in 1977. There are few pictures of Bellefonte but here it is.... I used to take Bill Snyder, BF Supt. and Bill Moore, Asst. BF Supt to lunch from time to time. Sometimes lunch was cut short if the bleeders went on and stayed on.... These guys were some of the best blast furnace guys I worked with along with some around Birmingham. Amanda was a 32 ft furnace and Bellefonte was a 28 ft but was a workhorse. Andrew Medinger: Bill Martin told me an interesting story about that picture. There were never two ore cranes at Ashland Works, he said they had to take multiple exposures and put them together and that was one of the goofs. Still a great picture nonetheless. Jamie Donald: Andrew Medinger.i worked at that blast furnace for years ..Ant they had two ore bridge cranes ..one of them blow over when a wind storm can thru I guessing the late 70 or early 80. Andrew Medinger: Jamie Donald You're right Jamie, I should have said when this picture was taken there weren't two ore cranes. Richard Allison: I guess no one noticed that in this photo, No.2 casthouse was missing. It was added in the 50s or 60s. In this picture, Amanda only had one taphole. Before she was shutdown, she was making more than 6,000 tons per day with some big skipcars that were as big as boxcars. |
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| Jason Keeney commented on Grady's post Amanda furnace miss this place |
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| Grady Slade posted Amanda Furnace Ron N Kay Brewer: I heard No.3 furnace in Middletown is about 1/3 that size. Is that true? Grady Slade: Same size. James Mcclure: Like the picture, looks like Furnace on backdraft. |
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| Michael Jones posted Ashland, KY |
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| Mark Kollin posted Amanda. Ben Larson: The one that did the first straight charge of taconite in 1962 an proved pellets were the way to go when they ran straight red ore production was only 2000 a day with taconite 4000 a day before the test the mixed pellets with red ore. Alan Stacy: Worked at Amanda and Bellefonte BF in the 80's. Both were the first BF's in the world to have coal injection. There was also a Dwight Loyd Sinter plant that was used to recycle pellet fines, BOF dust, and coke breeze as part of the burden. Bellefonte is long gone, and Amanda will not be far behind. Very sad, but those BF's fed many families over their years. |
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| Mark commented on his post, cropped This was in reply to the comment: Ron Wechsler: Walked up through that Cast House Door many times, heading to the Ore Bridge, loved working there. |
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| Joshua Leander Napier commented on Mark's post |
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| Joshua Leander Napier commented on Mark's post Unfortunately there's a lot missing but this was back this summer |
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| The Rust Jungle posted The idled blast furnace at AK Steel Ashland works, as seen from our breakfast table on the Amtrak Cardinal Limited. In the 50s, when it was still an Armco mill, they employed 7,500 people here. The furnace hasn't produced iron since 2015. They say it ain't coming back. |
Given the strength of our current (2017) economy in terms of construction, I'm surprised it made it to 2015 if it is too obsolete to run now. Or maybe they have installed an electric arc furnace to replace it. The blast furnace looks like a small part of a big complex. (Update: they may have closed it because it might have been the major source of pollution in the Ohio river.)
Update: A video of an AK Steel ore train taken July 25, 2015 as it heads west past the Amtrak station.
UPDATED: AK Steel to close Ashland Works (source) Lukas Irons They are screwed. Ak put the final screw in the Ashland works coffin. damn that sucks
A video of a slag hauler dumping
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| Wendell Quillen posted I used to work here in the eighties. Armco (AK Steel) Ashland, Ky. Just took this shot 12/12/2020 Richard Allison: It is completely shutdown and will likely never to restart unless CC changes their mind and wants to make pig which won't restart the BOF or caster. I am very familiar with the Amanda furnace and visited the casthouse frequently supplying taphole clay and I am concerned she has been shut down for a long time and corrosion and everything else might make it cost prohibitive to restart. I have no idea on the condition of the brick in the furnace whether it would need a reline or not. Usually the bosh is the first part to go and then up into the stack. I know if the bosh and mantle were okay, Armco would ask us to install the floating scaffold and we would do a mini reline and do a stack gunning instead of brick. I am thinking of all the electric motors, switchgears, pumps and etc that would have to be replaced because of all the corrosion while the furnace has been cold for so many years. That is why it might not be economical to restart it. Even tin off the south casthouse has blown off. Blast furnaces corrode very fast. I know USS don't let their furnaces be cold for very long or they will just tear them down. |
UPDATED: AK Steel to close Ashland Works (source) Lukas Irons They are screwed. Ak put the final screw in the Ashland works coffin. damn that sucks
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| Screenshot of drone video by Wendell Quillen AMANDA -- A Blast From The Past I managed to make a long time wish of mine come true, by flying over the once great furnace that pumped the life blood into the many thousands that once kept her going! What a shame, greed shut her down. [I used the cable-stayed bridge in the background to confirm that Amanda was here.] |
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| Tracy Kouns posted Ashland ,ky Aksteel last heat Dec 17 2015 a great running place with a 4 story single strand caster that could run 70... some wide at 65-70 inches a minute (not for sure the exact number ) Rip the poor place shut down. it wasn’t because it didn’t run good it was a bad ass money maker it shut down just because could of corpate greed (not my picture ) ..my family has been involved since 1956 I’m keeping it going but in Ohio at Middletown. [Some comments discussing the possibility of it opening again indicate that steel prices are near an all time high and that 1st quarter 2021 should have amazing profits.] Randy Evans: Armco liked high production options. That Ashland plant had held the world record for longest cast of carbon steel. And the Mansfield plant I work at set the 409 stainless steel world record cast. Mansfield also had done the first tundish fly on stainless steel production. It was a lot fun in the 90s! Being young enough. Balls enough! And enjoying your job enough! We had changed the record books for a while. To bad AK got greedy and stupid. The caster that once was setting world records for tundish fly they use as a 4 heat batch caster! Or a 12 heat when we can producer. Maybe cliffs will listen just a little to the ones of us that’s left? 2 union guys left that’s did the tundish fly at the caster now. I work in the grinding facility now. So 3 guys left in the plant that’s done it. AK management style was a lot different. Armco was sold at a profit. AK was bought by cliffs at scrap price. Still time to get the race horse outa the barn. Instead of using it as a plow horse. It’s sure been a bumpy ride these 33 yrs. A lot of fun at times. And the worst times of my life. Wouldn’t change much if I could. I’ve been blessed to work at a steel mill. It’s really all I ever truly wanted to do. The lords blessed me so far. There’s only been one set of footprints in the sand for a while now behind me. I pray he doesn’t get as tired as I am. 🙏 Getting closer to giving us both a good rest. Rick Briner: Randy Evans when I was told at the LMF, I'm educated and your not. I was pretty much done. So much they don't understand. I'll walk out of that plant with knowledge others will never had. My education was from all the people that had time on me. I was taught by some really good operators. |
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| Brian Port shared a Ron Wechsler photo Tracy Kouns: I just heard yesterday from the union president of Ashland that he was told that it will be tore down in the near future. Rip Ashland works. |
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| Josh Friend posted 2013 Ak Steel Ashland, Ky. We had 10 bottles dumped into the 2 beech iron pits that night. A hot night of pit digging. Ryan Gowland: I work at LEW Stelco and we just built a pig castor. pending on how much iron we have on track or if the BOF is down will pig iron and sell the ingots. |
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| safe_image for Plans confirmed to demolish AK Steel site |
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| Richard Allison commented on a post This was south of the main gate in 1978. The furnace in front is Amanda and the other was Bellefonte. I spent almost a year between there and Empire-Detroit Steel in Portsmouth, Ohio. |
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| Michael Jones posted AK Steel in Ashland, KY. The furnace was active on this day (sometime around 2012-2013), I still remember seeing the skip hoists working. Found a bluff above the river to get this shot. Pat McCon |
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| Raymond Roothe posted Armco Steel Corporation-Bellefonte Blast Furnace-Ashland, Kentucky, 1943 (Dr. Raymond Boothe collection). |
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| Alvin Blanton posted Remembering these great Warriors on this Memorial Day. "Always in our thoughts and in our prayers that they could have stayed with us a little longer." These Ole' Ladies contributed so much throughout the years toward keeping our Country and our men and women of all the Branches of Service out of harm's way. Kim Robinson Neal: The Amanda and the Bellefonte. William Crace: Many people around Ashland do not know that the process for rolling steel into sheets was first done at our mill here. John Titus and many dedicated American Rolling Mill people pioneered the continuous rolling of steel at Ashland. That innovation changed the steel business world wide and it all started here in our little town. If you can get a copy of True Steel, it tells in detail the story of Armco and the mill at Ashland that changed the steel business. It was a book that Armco gave to new employees. Should be a copy in the library. The Ashland Library has a lot of info about Armco. I donated several pamphlets that my father had to the library several years ago. Interesting reading for history buffs. Gregory Felty shared |
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| Richard Allison posted This is going to be a tough one to guess. I would like to see someone guess this mill. The only hint right now is that these furnaces are not in Alabama or around the Great Lakes region. John Groves  Another sad departure from the list of famous integrated plants. Armco Steel Corp. Ashland, KY. BF ironmaking began 1869, OH steelmaking 1917. 1960 plant lineup: No.1 BF 13'9" hearth, 500 tpd Norton BF 14'6", 700 tpd Bellefonte BF 27'3", 2000 tpd No.1 built 1869, rebuilt 1905 & 1938, closed early-1960s. Norton built 1888, rebuilt 1905, new furnace 1927, rebuilt 1939, closed late-1960s. Bellefonte built 1942 (25'9", 1250 tpd), enlarged 1949 (27', 1350 tpd). 8 OH x 172t 1.038 Mtpa, built 1917. 80" HSM 1.183 Mtpa (Ashland had the world's first continuous HSM in 1924. This was replaced in 1953 by the 80" HSM, remodeled 1965). Products - hot & cold rolled strip, tinplate, galv. Post-1960 changes: 1981 Bellafonte BF enlarged to 28'9", 2,900 tpd. Closed 1996. 1963 Amanda new BF 30'6", 3350tpd, enlarged 1968 to 33'5", producing 4,500 to 6,000 tpd in 2006 to 2015. 1963 2 x LD x 180t 2.1 Mtpa replaced OHs, bloom CC installed 1983, rebuilt to slab CC 1991, 2 Mtpa. HSM (1.7Mtpa) closed 1992, then feeding up to 2 Mtpa slabs to Middletown (130 miles away). Iron and steelmaking idled from 2015, entire plant permanently closed 2019. |
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| Viktor's link Richard Allison: Viktor Mácha I have been all over their mills as a visitor, inside contractor and vendor in mostly the hot ends and one blast furnace/BOF looks the same as any other company. I am surprised I never was required to sign an agreement not to discuss their processes but I never seen anything unique that they did. I am sure the behind the scenes of the metallurgy labs had proprietary information but a camera would never capture it. Officially the USS reason for no cameras is that images could be used against them in OSHA or injury civil cases. Photos at a later time in court could reveal problems against The Corporation. They won't let you photograph anything even if their lawyers would check them over. Maybe they might change but I doubt it. |
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| Gregory Sites posted 4 am this mourning [Jan 19, 2022] I heard structure collapsing on AMANDA Furnace, was told that demolition has begun on AK steel (Armco, Ashland Works..sad day for me. |
Collin McLaughlin II: This was the last new build at the plant , the “Continuous Caster “. The men took many concessions in their contract to get this built , and it was among the first parts of the plant shutdown.
Sherman Cahal
I wish Ani would credit the photographer (me) instead of posting them without attribution. I'll be sharing a full set in the coming day.
The BO is about half gone. Work on the blast furnaces is starting now. Will be dropping in about 2 months from what I heard. Crews there 24/7.
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| Doren Pelfrey commented |
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| Doren Pelfrey commented 1,851 Consecutive Heats |
Marilyne Hamstra: 84” Hot Strip currently coming down at Indiana Harbor West too.
67 photos, many of them show the guts of Amanda
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| The Beauty of Steel project posted Today is the day, when lady Amanda from Ashland left us and made it to steel heaven. Rust in Peace. |
I've seen three videos of the demolition of Amanda. This was the best.
A 4:34 drone video, skip to 2:18
Fortunately, Bob Ciminel shared Abandoned's post of the drone video because Facebook makes it very hard to access the comments posted with the video. The comments are:
The Amanda Furnace and BOF at the former Armco/AK Steel Ashland Works were simultaneously imploded at 8:30 AM this morning. Steelmaking operations were idled on December 15, 2015, and the plant was closed for good by November 2019.The Hanging Rock Iron Region in southern Ohio, northeastern Kentucky, and western West Virginia produced iron between 1818 and 1916, which helped build armaments for the Civil War, hulls for the Monitor and Merrimac ships, kettles and pots, tools, and wagon wheels. It was predicted that iron ore in the Hanging Rock Iron Region would last for 2,700 years but most of the iron seams had been depleted by the 1900s.Traditional blast furnaces, a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce pig iron, continued to be built until 1963 when the Amanda opened at Armco's Ashland Works. The crown jewel of the steelmaking industry, it was the largest of its type in the world.Ashland Works at its peak was the second-largest facility by Armco. It boasted the world’s first continuous sheet rolling mill, which was later replaced with a hot-strip mill in 1953. A cold reduction mill, strip pickler, light gauge Zincgrip line, and a heavy gauge Zincgrip line were completed in 1954. Armco had developed the Zincgrip process in 1936 by offering the first zinc-coated (and later aluminum-coated) coils that were far superior to older processes. The open-hearth furnaces were shut down in 1969, which coincided with the start-up of the basic oxygen furnace complex (BOF).But the massive $65 million project to reline the Amanda Furnace in 1984 was one of the last major capital projects Armco put into the plant. There was a desire to consolidate Ashland Works with Middletown, Ohio’s facilities in an effort to reduce steelmaking costs. Armco - and its successor, AK Steel, was one of the worst performers for steel production during a recession in the 1990s, losing $40 to $50 per ton while most other integrated steel mills were losing only $20 per ton. Ashland Works required 6½ man-hours to produce one ton of steel, compared with three to four hours at a similarly integrated mill and less than one hour at a mill equipped with an electric arc furnace.The hot strip mill was shut down in 1992 which was replaced by a slab caster that provided steel slabs for refinement in Middletown. Ingot production was soon retired as being too costly. The sinter plant, cold strip mill, temper mills, pickling lines, annealing lines, and machine shop were idled in 1995, followed by the Bellefonte Furnace in 1996. By 1997, the Amanda Furnace, two basic oxygen furnace vessels, desulfurization facilities, a six-strand bloom caster, a single strand continuous caster, and a hot-dip galvanized coating line were all that was left of Ashland Works.The slab caster was modified and the vacuum degassing unit was added in 2004, the only major capital improvement to come to Ashland Works in decades. It was to improve the facility's cost structure and to improve steel quality exported for Toyota, which exacted and demanded rigorous standards.Amanda Furnace was idled because of excess imported steel that had flooded the domestic market on December 15, 2015. The hot-dip galvanizing line that primarily served automotive customers (Toyota) remained open until November 2019, when the last light at Ashland Works was turned off.Cleveland-Cliffs acquired AK Steel at the end of the year, and demolition was started of Ashland Works's steelmaking facilities began soon after. Scrap steel from demolition is being recycled at other Cliff facilities, and the ground will be prepared for redevelopment.2:21 Amanda Furnace Implosion3:52 Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) FlyoverCheck out more from Ashland Works at https://abandonedonline.net/.../armco-steel-ashland-works/and more from the Hanging Rock Iron Region at https://abandonedonline.net/location/pig-iron-furnaces/
Once again, I need to save some satellite images because they are going to be disappearing.
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| Justin Michael Roth posted Currently working on modeling the production facilities that were at AK Ashland. I'm wondering if anyone could share some info. In the picture there are two places (numbered in the photo) where railroad tracks enter the building. I am wondering which was used for what? It's my understanding that after the hot strip mill was torn down, the coils weren't made here rather they came from Middleton. Let's say there was a strip mill, the slabs from the BOF would go there and then the rolled steel would enter this facility at the far end. What products were then shipped out from here? Thanks for any info, have a good Saturday! Tony Cox: This may be too much detail but here goes. First , the long skinny building along the river is bldg 758(the actual processing line called #3 CGL ( coating,galvanizing line),but we will get back to that. The train hauling “raw”, unfinished coils(sent from other locations because we didn’t roll coils on this property any longer)would back in the little shed(directly under your #2) built on the side of bldg 759. This track extended up in the building a short way. Coils were taken off and stored in this bldg until called up to be finished(annealing/galvanized mostly but some got specialized process called bonderite to make paint stick to it better). They would be pulled from their assigned spot on the floor by crane and loaded on coil buggies pulled by a tractor similar to the tugs on an airfield,up through 759 and around and across the long perpendicular bldg to building 513 (the 2 rooflines tan and dark brown beside the river, where they were put in line to be put on a large chain/conveyor(resembled a gigantic roller coaster) that went down under the long perpendicular bldg to the “entry end” of the processing line.which is bldg 758 the skinny buildg with the elevated section (which allowed for a long loop car and annealing Furnace). The coil was de-coiled and sent through #3 line till it was taken off the line and loaded onto buggies in the same location it came off the train but this time the tractor pulled buggies of finished coils up through 759 again and through a runway through an abandoned bldg( the one at the top left corner of bldg 770(your#1). And taken off the buggies and wrapped and stored in 770 until shipping orders came to load on rail or truck(you can see truck exit door on left and train entry/exit door on the right, real close to your #1. These were then sent directly to the customer. . Sorry so in depth and there’s a LOT of detail left out but that’s the jest of it from near 20 yrs in maintenance . Someone needs to get you a map of all the building numbers. I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere. Every roofline had a different building number because it had a different real estate tax. Justin Michael Roth: Tony Cox thanks for the info! I actually got ahold of a property map with building numbers. It helps a great deal. |
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| Tom Griffiths commented on Justin's post I don't know if this would help you in your endeavors but, I could post a larger picture of this map. It was accurate as of 2015. |
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| Alvin Blanton posted This is the mighty Bellefonte Blast Furnace, one of three at the Ashland Works of Armco Steel. In this furnace, one of the world's largest and most modern, the three basic ingredients of the steel industry, iron ore, coke, and limestone, are fed in at the top, heated by a tremendous blast of hot air, and comes out at the base as molten pig iron and slag, or waste. This furnace produces about 1,300 tons of iron each day. The iron, about 94% pure, is cast at a temperature of 2650 degrees---2750 degrees Fahrenheit. Eighty-six railroad cars of raw material are required every 24 hours to feed this ever-hungry furnace. March 01, 1956 Phil Stemmer: Then came Amanda in 1963, the largest blast furnace in the free world! |
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| Alvin Blanton posted The giant railroad car dumper at the Ashland Works of Armco Steel rotates the ore-laden railroad cars upside down to empty them. The ore is stockpiled in a huge ore field, for a year's supply must be brought in during the warmer months when the Great Lakes are not frozen. Limestone is received from nearby quarries and the local Solvay plant furnishes the coke. |
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| Alvin Blanton posted After the molds are stripped from the ingot of steel, the ingots are moved to the "Soaking Pits" (Pictured). These pits are actually a type of furnace in which the steel ingots are literally "soaked" in 2200 degrees Fahrenheit heat until they reach a uniform temperature necessary for rolling into a slab. Crane operators, in air-conditioned crane cabs high above the furnaces, operate the furnace covers as they carefully place the ingots into the furnace and then remove them when they reach the required temperature. The hot ingots are then placed on an "ingot buggy" which carries them to the rolling mill where they will be rolled into a thick slab. Stay tuned for the next photo: "The Slab Mill" |
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| Alvin Blanton posted After going through the "Slabbing Mill" and a short reheating in the "Slab Furnaces" the slab re-enters onto a series of rolls that begins its almost a quarter of a mile journey through the "Continuous Hot Strip Mill" ~~ which consists of a "Roughing Mill" (No photo available) and on through the "Six Stands of Finishing Mills" and rolls. These rolls are perfectly synchronized to make the slab longer and thinner. It travels faster and faster and emerges as a long, thin steel ribbon. The strip skims out of the last stand of rolls at speeds up to 2,000 feet a minute. The steel's thickness is constantly checked with an X-ray gauge. This photo shows most of the "Six Stand Finishing Mill." (The next part of the steel-making process will be the "Coiler" where this strip of steel is rolled into a coil.) Circa; 1956 ab |
Alvin has posted other photos in Armco, AK Steel, Coke Plant, Obituaries and Memories. Unfortuantely, I don't have the time to copy them. Fortunately, the group is public.
11 photos11 photos of the coking operation
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