Yep, more reports from Redcar. Here's my take on the blast furnace.....
Visited with @SpiderMonkey and Jamie_P
Still need to have a look around Lackenby Works.
Have a look at the power station if you haven't already
1. The Blast Furnace
Starting at the beginning...
2. Welcome!
3. Base of the blast furnace
4. Close up
5. The brain
6. The brain
7. Surgery
8. Venturing inside
9. Walkways and pipes
10. Taphole area
11. Taphole area control booth
12. Wider view
Heading upwards.....
13. View up the chimneys
14. Up the blast furnace
15. Spider
16. Silos
17. View over the blast furnace
18. Looking down
And finally into the offices and control room
19. Signing-in room
20. Office corridor
21. These offices were still in use
22. As close to the control room as we could manage
Visited with @SpiderMonkey and Jamie_P
Still need to have a look around Lackenby Works.
Have a look at the power station if you haven't already
1. The Blast Furnace
History
Following the Second World War industries such as steel making were being nationalised under the Labour Party, and as such Teesside Steel was incorporated into British Steel Corporation. This remained until 1988 when Margaret Thatcher privatised the industry to form British Steel PLC.
The British government invested £1,000 Million into British Steel to establish an integrated plant at Redcar capable of producing 12 million tonnes of steel annually. Opening in 1979, the blast furnace was the largest in the UK and the second largest in Europe. It is capable of producing 10,000 tonnes of steel per day.
In 1999 the company merged with the Dutch firm Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group. Corus was subsequently bought by Tata Steel in 2007 but only managed two years of production before mothballing the site following the termination of a large contract.
Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) purchased the dormant steelworks in 2011 and reopened the site the following year. By 2015 international market conditions forced the closure of the site once again, and SSI went into liquidation. The coke ovens were extinguished, essentially spelling the end of steel production at the site, 98 years after the works were founded.
Starting at the beginning...
2. Welcome!
3. Base of the blast furnace
4. Close up
5. The brain
6. The brain
7. Surgery
8. Venturing inside
9. Walkways and pipes
10. Taphole area
11. Taphole area control booth
12. Wider view
Heading upwards.....
13. View up the chimneys
14. Up the blast furnace
15. Spider
16. Silos
17. View over the blast furnace
18. Looking down
And finally into the offices and control room
19. Signing-in room
20. Office corridor
21. These offices were still in use
22. As close to the control room as we could manage