----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 19:28
Subject: [IllianaRR] IH plant
>
> Hello,
> I am trying to understand all of this GREAT info about Acme steel and
> Wisconsin steel.
> In the late 70s, I often took extended lunches in the Hammond area. I
> tried to hit Chrome Crankshaft and Yard Center during this time.
> Sometimes I would go up by Rail to Water transfer. I can remember long
> strings of MoPac SD-40s at Wi. steel. I also remember a couple of
> strings of Reading 3-bay covered hoppers.( no pix )
> One thing that really stands out is a HUGE steel mill and foundry that
> had a sign near it that said International Harvester. I remember being
> in awe the first time I saw it. And shocked a few years later when I
> saw an empty lot where it once was.
> Are folks saying that, that was not IH? It was Wi. steel ? Could
> someone cover this again, a little bit slower for us non region
> types???? Mark
Wisconsin Steel was owned by International Harvestor. From what I was told,
they did a "lease option arrangement with Envirodyne and IH was the
mortgager. During IH ownership of Wis Steel, they had the big "IH" on the
tops of several of the buildings there. They also had the Wisconsin Steel
Works name in big red letters if I recall correctly on the sides of several
buildings there as well. When IH got into big financial trouble, they called
in the note that Envirodyne had on the place. Being horribly under
capitalized Envirodyne defaulted, IH foreclosed and shut the place down
after the 1st shift one afternoon. It never reopened and equipment was sold
off or scrapped and the eventually, much of the complex razed. Small
portions of it remainthough no longer for the business of making steel.
As for the MoPac power sitting there for years, these were units leased
through West Pullman Leasing for 14 years. When the leases expired, MoPac
passed on renewing them or purchasing the units outright from WPL. They were
returned to the lessor, WPL and went into storage. They sat there for years
languising away until conditions in the economy improved and the lease and
rebuild market began to develop, bringing them back to life. Years of
storage took its toll on them and they all needed major work just to be
returned to service.
Tuch
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