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Blacksmith shop in Johnstown to reopen as school

New York State is out of the picture on this one. The shop is located in Johnstown, PENNSYLVANIA. The group who wants to move an artist/blacksmith type of school to the Johnstown shop is currently located in NY State. That group is NOT part of NY State government nor an agency of state or local government. From the sounds of it, the artist/blacksmith school wants to relocate the old forge shop at Johnstown, PA and use the forging hammers in the shop. From the article, one of the biggest holdups will be the Smithsonian. They apparently own or have some control over one hammer, and getting thru that is forecast to take a few years. It's been my own experience that museum/conservation types do not mix well with people who want to put old historic machinery or similar back to work. Where the people who want to put some old machinery back to work have more than a healthy respect for it and often more knowledge than the conservation or curator types, the conservation or curator types often have no clue as to how the machinery was used or what it would have looked like in use. An example: a group of us were running the steam plant at Hanford Mills in the last couple of years. One of my buddies was assigned to look after a smaller vertical steam engine in the lower part of the mill. This engine was belted to some lineshafting, and my buddy was there to keep an eye on it, make sure the lubricators had oil, and give explanations to visitors. With no place to sit, my buddy sat down on a large 3 phase motor that was shoved against a wall. The motor was not original to the mill, not was it mounted nor belted up nor connected to the wiring. A "conservator" type with a degree in it saw my buddy sitting on this big old electric motor and berated him, telling him "not to sit on a historic artifact" or somesuch. My buddy could have told the conservator type what to go and do, but held his tongue. We all had a good laugh as it was apparent this conservator type had no clue about much of anything. Later, I was told by the management that guys like us made the mill run, and they knew that if they pissed us off, they'd have a "static exhibit" instead of a running mill. I suggested they keep this conservator type the hell away from our crew and things would go just fine.

The Smithsonian people take this sort of thing to a whole higher galaxy. I've been in one place which shared space with some of their exhibits. They are insane and unrealistic with what they expect everyone else to do, acting like old machinery needs a "clean room" environment.

With the forge shop in Johnstown, I wish the blacksmith school group luck. Beth Steel, who had the shop, had a boiler plant to make steam to run those big forging hammers. Without a boiler plant to make steam, it is going to take one hellaciously large air compressor and storage receivers to supply those hammers. The rest of the story that is likely to bite these people is the simple fact that engines or steam hammers which ran on steam are often an anemic proposition on compressed air. Steam with its condensation and heavy cylinder oil and hot temperatures tends to "tighten up" or "seal in" worn engines and similar. When these same are run on compressed air, they can barely pull their own parts, let alone any real load. Beth Steel probably had a shut-down schedule for the works in Johnstown, and with that schedule fixed, they probably did not do any major repairs or maintenance to anything. It was a band-aid fix, keep it running until shutdown date approach. Between worn parts that worked OK on steam and the "band aid fix" approach, I'd say the group wanting to run those steam hammers again has another guess coming. It will take some serious money to overhaul those hammers -unlike the person quoted who said that it was a question of "machinery that has been sitting for some time needs some work" or words to that effect. This is no simple matter of taking things halfway apart, inspecting and cleaning, then putting back together with fresh rod packings and new gaskets. This may be a case of reboring cylinders, building up worn pistons and putting in new rings on some of those hammers to get them to run on compressed air. It is also a case of probably putting in some electrically driven compressors capable of producing a couple of thousand cfm with equally large air receivers to run those hammers.

The problem cascades, as even if an "angel" or two kicked in money for the overhauls of the hammers and the compressor plant, there is still the matter of getting the electricity to run the compressors. Beth Steel may well have had in-plant power generation, and likely the old substations and switchgear for heavy power distribution are long gone. It will likely mean running a new feeder into the property, installing transformers, switchgear and similar to power the new compressor plant. Paying the electric bill is another unanswered question. A school for artist blacksmiths is hardly a working forge shop bringing in the kind of revenue to meet the overhead costs of a shop like the old Beth Steel forge shop in Johnstown. My take on this that it is "pie in the sky" and "starry eyed dreamers" who have little or no sense of reality nor experience with heavy industrial machinery and overhaul work or plant design. Good luck to them. Chances are the final result will be a few gas-fired small forges and a few self-contained pneumatic hammers along with anvils, vises and similar smithing tools in a small portion of the available space in that old forge shop building. At best, the smallest of the old steam hammers might be run on air, but the big ones will likely remain static displays. Getting furnaces to heat work large enough to justify using those big hammers is another proposition that likely will limit the work this shop does as an artist-blacksmith shop. Beth Steel probably had large heating furnaces, fired on fuel oil or coke oven gas, and being a working mill, could justify the fuel costs and remain profitable. Without some serious revenue coming in, a forge shop like this one would break the bank to restart and keep going. I am guessing a grossly-downscaled forge shop will occupy the forge shop space, with smaller equipment geared to artist blacksmiths rather than industrial forging operations. No real long term jobs nor large number of those jobs will result from this project. Nice to think of re-starting an old shop, but I am realistic enough to know that this article is a "puff piece" and the people behind this project may well be starry eyed dreamers rather than people with serious industrial experience. New York State is the least of it, not even having the proverbial dog in this fight. It is the people starting this project who may well have overplayed their hand before they even got into the game.
 
As Joe says- there are no politicians, no sweetheart jobs, and no NY State money involved.

I have actually visited this shop, which has been in mothballs since the late 80s.

And Joe is right- this is a huge industrial scaled shop, but, curiously enough, one designed to make relatively small parts- which is one reason why it was never used after Bethelem shut it down. It is perfect for making 400 pound crane hooks that are 3' long. But completely unsuited for large scale industrial forging needs today, or large scale ornamental work, either. There are no overhead cranes beyond a few swinging jib cranes. The shop was built so long ago, well over 100 years , that there is no forklift access to speak of either.
Its a weird white elephant of a shop. Everybody who visits it is in awe of the hammers- the smallest one is something like a 600lb ram- but its just not practical for much of anything but the support job it was designed for in the late 1800s.
So, to a degree, Joe is right- there is no chance it will be a serious industrial shop again- its just not usable for that.

and, there never were much in the way of small tools there- there was, in an adjoining room, a 200 or 300 lb hammer, but that was sold off long ago, as it was relatively usable and saleable.
What it does have, beyond the big hammers, is a very rare collection of original tooling made for these hammers. Anyone who has read the JW Lillico books, will recognize the kinds of tools that are preserved in this shop. These will make for great teaching and study pieces.
The school guys are not "starry eyed dreamers" they are seasoned pros who have been making a metalworking school exist on a shoestring for a while now, and they will be just fine. The shop will never be utilized the way it was in 1910- but it will be an appropriate and inspiring location for the smaller tools they will bring in and teach with.
Hopefully, someday, some of the bigger hammers will run again.

Joe is also correct that Cambria had a boiler shop that supplied steam to the entire mile long mill, including this building, which had at least 6" steam lines coming. But many blacksmiths in the USA have been running 500lb and bigger hammers with modern rotary compressors, some fixed, some diesel powered trailer mounted, which are not that expensive used. It does take some valve modification from steam to air, but that is a known process. Some, but not all, of these hammers were already converted to compressed air in 85 by bethelehem. Those just need plumbing in to a compressor. I believe one of the hammers is a self contained electric motor driven hammer, either a chambersburg or a nazel, cant recall. That one, also, is a relatively straightforward job to get running again.

And the power is not an issue- much of the old mill buildings that remain have industry in them, and there is electricity, including to this building.

The forges for this shop were big, but not enormous- I believe they were liquid fuel run, but modern propane and induction forge technology will easily take care of any needs this shop has, cheaper, cleaner, and easier than those old fuel oil forges were.

There actually are commercial ornamental shops that are bigger than this- more square footage, more and a wider variety of equipment, just not as many truly huge hammers. Paley's shop in NY can actually produce larger, more complex work than Johnstown can, and is more versatile. I know a couple others as well- Mike Bondi, in the Bay Area, has a range of big hammers and, again, a more versatile, modern shop that can outproduce this one for things that will actually sell.

The process to save this shop, and the looking at alternatives for getting it used again, has gone on for probably 20 years now, a lot of very smart and dedicated people have been involved. Its not "overplayed"- its been a cautious slow process of stabilizing the structure, and keeping the tools together, while looking for the right group to manage this odd but special shop. I think these guys have a pretty fair chance at success, but, no, they wont be running the bridge hammer 2 shifts making 2 ton industrial forgings.
That kind of work is done in places like Scot Forge these days, using enormous hydraulic presses, rolls, upsetters, and only the occasional hammer, using forklifts with manipulators, forges so big you can drive a forklift in, and gigantic overhead cranes- none of which does this shop have, nor does it have the room for- you would have to tear down the building to fit a 2000 ton press in there.

there are great pictures of this shop on the HAER site- the industrial photographer Jet Lowe was in the shop in its last days, and documented it for the Library of Congress. And if you look at them, you see the unique and quaint way the building is built, making it all but impossible to do industrial work in it today.
GENERAL INTERIOR VIEW OF OCTAGON SHOWING TWO 3,- POUND STEAM HAMMERS ON EITHER SIDE OF CAST-IRON SUPPORT COLUMN. SEE A-12 AND A-13 FOR DETAIL. - Cambria Iron Company, Blacksmith Shop, Lower Works, Johnstown, Cambria County, PA

Search Results: "cambria iron works blacksmith" -
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress)
 
Greg - Your goal of keeping threads on target is very much appreciated. Many wandering threads drift way too far afield. However, sometimes discussions that appear to be side issues are actually quite relevant to the thrust of the OP. In fact, I find that most of Joe Michael's posts, every one of which I value and appreciate, are in this category. To me, this present thread is an example of what I am talking about. It is true that the discussion is getting away from the specific shop reopening described in the thread starter, but it is a discussion that ought to be read and considered by every enterprise that envisions opening a "school" in a historic industrial site. This thread is one that I see as being important in the context of practical historical preservation, something well beyond the narrower scope of the specific blacksmithing school, although that is, admittedly, interesting in and of itself. In any event, I would like to express my view that comments such as Joe's and Ries's in this particular discussion ought to be allowed to continue. That said, I should add that I would have no problem at all with whatever you in your role as moderator decide -- this forum has always been one of my favorites on PM.

-Marty-
 
Greg:

I will take a "Mea Culpa" (I am culpable, or guilty) for the repeated veering towards political of social comment in my posts. I tend to wax a bit sentimental or philosophic, and look at the "bigger picture", beyond the technical window. In so doing, I inadvertently drift into a policital or social commentary interwoven with the thread at times. So, Mea Culpa. Thank you for putting up with this old dinosaur who tends to ramble long and take threads off on tangents.

I will say I know my faults, but reading posts on this 'board and writing posts is something between therapeutic and a drug for me.

Ries:
Thank you for the detailed and well written post about that Johnstown forge shop. I'd been thru Beth steel in high school, so assumed that the shop at Cambria was a similar large capacity forge shop. Admittedly, I saw the youtube and the types of hammers in the Cambria shop. However, I did not know nor take the time to get the rest of the story. From your post, it sounds like the New York group is an excellent fit for the Cambria forge shop. From your post as well, it sounds like this was no recently hatched plan, but something that has been moving along with a solid foundation for each step and every chance of success. I am glad to read your post as it shows every likelihood of the Cambria forge shop being re-purposed for a "real usage" in line with its original purpose.

I would think that once this shop is up and running in its new incarnation, I will find reason for a road trip- preferably on the old Airhead motorcycle with a buddy (or two).

I have seen a few youtubes about artist blacksmiths who have put steam forging hammers in their shops. These artists do use diesel driven rotary screw compressors to make the compressed air to run their hammers. With intermittent use, the costs of running a diesel driven compressor probably are affordable. A modern portable diesel driven compressor in an acoustically insulated enclosure could probably be picked up used for less money than putting in an electric service to run an equivalent electrically driven compressor and have a lower operating cost (given demand charges, and similar for the electric power). I did not think in terms of induction heating or other modern means of heating large work. I'd been in industrial forge shops where the old oil fired furnaces were going, and that was where my mind went. As I said, I am a dinosaur and sometimes out of step with current times.

BTW: I am familar with Scot Forge. We've used them as a sub on a couple of jobs when I was at the Power Authority. Another shop I used was Queen City Forge in Cincinnati. We had a large open end slugging wrench ( maybe 6" between the jaws) which kept spreading its jaws or breaking in service due to initial design. In those days we used a lot of slugging wrenches to maintain the 250 Mw pump-turbines and generators. Some of the nuts were in impossible places, and with the units delivered in 1972, slugging wrenches were what was then commonly used- and furnished by the OEM with the unit. Over the years, this one open end slugging wrench (talk about nuts in an impossible place) kept failing. New wrenches from the turbine builder had the same design. We are talking of using 16 lb or 25 lb sledges to beat on these wrenches, often using a piece of Sch 80 pipe with solid end plugs and guides as a "pool cue" to allow someone outside the tight confines where the wrench was being applied to use the sledge where there was space to do so. I saw the problem with the original open end wrench design, and made another design, moving some metal around and adding some radius's. Over the years, the crew tended to grind the wrench head a bit to get it in where it needed to go. This did not help matters.

I found Queen City Forge on-line. I spoke to them and they agreed to look at my drawing and have a metallurgist make a recommendation for steel and heat treat. The metallurgist confirmed my choice of steel, and we gave them a purchase order to make two wrenches. We had to wait until their blacksmith came back from several weeks off on a fishing vacation. He returned, forged the wrenches using a very large power hammer with open dies. The wrenches were heat treated, NDT'd by ultrasonic inspection, and given Rockwell Hardness tests. Those wrenches survived the worst the mechanics in the plant could dish out. We finally got around to using hydraulic wrench systems, which eliminated much of the slugging. In an upgrade of the units, we also found the "Supernut" system and did away with the nuts that required those open end wrenches- which were in a place that the hydraulic wrenches could not fit.

Having a good handle on forge work and access to good forging shops is something I enjoyed during my "regular employment". Scot Forge has come through for us on forging blanks for different jobs, also by open die forging. My problem is my mindset is at least 50 years behind the times in some areas. Coming out of a working powerplant where I spent 24 years, I often was on the equivalent of a ship at sea for long periods of time, removed from the everyday developments in the manufacturing industries.

Marty:
Thanks for the endorsement and compliment.
 
Joe, the term "artist blacksmith" can sometimes be deceiving. There are, for sure, thousands of part time hobby blacksmiths in the US today, and a fair amount of them ARE artists, in terms of skill and creativity.
But in the last 20 to 30 years, we have seen a resurgence of small, 1-5 man ornamental iron shops that specialize in forging- and, while they are often "artists" too, they are also businesses, which sink or swim on their ability to make a profit.
I know a lot of men and women (more and more women these days) who have real forging shops, with big hammers, who produce, full time, and, if not profitably, at least "break even-ably" forged metalwork in steel, bronze, and copper alloys for residences, public buildings, and commercial projects.

I know a few who are running Kaeser and similar rotary compressors, electrically powered, to supply air to 200lb to 500lb Utility hammers which were originally built as steam hammers. Its a tried and true solution, and for a full time shop, its more efficient, quieter, and cheaper than a diesel powered compressor.

The people of Johnstown, and a lot of volunteers, have been working to preserve this shop for a long time. They managed to get a federal brownfields waste cleanup grant in 2004, which besides removing pollutants, they used to rebuild the roof and make the structure sound again. And, ever since then, they have been trying to find the right use for the building, considering other educational institutions, commercial shops, and non-profit musuem type uses- but the fact is, that part of PA is still pretty poor, and there isnt a lot of money available for restoration, much less running a musuem or historic site. The building itself, and the equipment, was saved, but it will require at the least a self supporting tenant- hence the idea of the existing school, which has been around long enough to have a reputation and clientele that can survive the move- most people who take the classes at their present location are not locals, instead they draw students nationally and internationally. They have been running since 2003, and both of the main instructors have Graduate degrees in Blacksmithing and Metalsmithing from Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale, which is, as far as I know, the only graduate program in forging in the USA. I know a lot of graduates from their, as well as professors, and it is a top notch program- these guys are pros, and if anybody can make it work, they can.
 
I found Queen City Forge on-line. I spoke to them and they agreed to look at my drawing and have a metallurgist make a recommendation for steel and heat treat. The metallurgist confirmed my choice of steel, and we gave them a purchase order to make two wrenches. We had to wait until their blacksmith came back from several weeks off on a fishing vacation. He returned, forged the wrenches using a very large power hammer with open dies. The wrenches were heat treated, NDT'd by ultrasonic inspection, and given Rockwell Hardness tests. Those wrenches survived the worst the mechanics in the plant could dish out. We finally got around to using hydraulic wrench systems, which eliminated much of the slugging.

Joe:

Do you recall the alloy or other metallurgical details?
 
gbent:

I seem to recall the steel was either 4140 or 4340. The steel was obtained with "mill certs" as to what it was in terms of chemical analysis & mechanical properties for that heat- we got copies of that information. After forging, the forged wrench was cleaned up and normalized. It was then given a magnetic particle inspection. This would detect "surface indications" such as overlap or cracking. Having passed the mag particle inspection, the forged wrench had it jaws and other surfaces machined. It then went to heat treatment. This consisted of heating to a specified temperature with a holding time, given how thick the heavier sections of that wrench were. Something like 2 hours in the furnace to get up to temperature. It was then oil quenched. The temper was drawn to give a Rockwell C hardness on the head of the wrench somewhere up around Rockwell 40-45 C. The striking faces were locally annealed to a dead soft condition (or nearly so). The indents from the Rockwell hardness tests were left visible on the faces of the wrench head and on the striking faces.

I had taken a look at the design of the open-end slugging wrenches which had spread in service or simply cracked in service. I also took some measurements inside the bearing adjustment area where that wrench had to be used. These measurements were taken during a repair/maintenance outage. By playing with the design of the existing wrench, looking at where and how it failed, and how much space was available to work the wrench in, I had a starting point. Nothing remotely scientific. I traced a repaired wrench on a piece of paper, and played with different designs to add some steel where it seemed to be needed but still fit into the given working space.

I was able to add some steel in the head of the wrench, beefing up the jaws where they met the rest of the head of the wrench, and added some steel to the transition from the head of the wrench to the shank. Queen City Forge's blacksmith did a fine job. I was sure to design easy transitions from one section of the wrench to the next- generous tapers rather than shoulders, large radius's. The Smith gave me what I designed.

We never had another of those wrenches fail after that. I remember at the onset of the wrench project, I offhandedly said I'd order the wrench to be forged from "good chrome moly or chrome-nickel, medium carbon steel..." My boss said I was probably correct, but asked that I contract for the forge shop to have a metallurgist weigh in. It was money well spent.

Ries: I have seen youtubes of some of the work "artist blacksmiths" are doing. Some of it is as heavy as what would be found in a shipyard of railroad steam locomotive backshop smith shop. There is one youtube of a smith who has a Chambersburg "utility" steam hammer in his shop. It is an ex US Army Corps of Engineers hammer, and was designed to run on steam. This smith runs it off a diesel driven compressor. A friend who is a full time blacksmith, doing a lot of architectural commissions for hardware and furnishings, got rid of his power hammers in favor of a Kuhn pneumatic hammer. A couple of years ago, I volunteered to make a set of handrails for the entry steps to our synagogue, which dates to 1920. I designed a set of forged handrails, to be forged from 1/2" thick x 2" flat bar, ends drawn to nice tapers, then forged into spirals. Drawing down 1/2" x 2" flatbar by myself using my coal fired forge and 200 lb anvil did not seem like a good idea. I called my friend and he said to come to his shop and we'd work the job together. He has a variety of propane fired forges as well as two large coal hearths. We heated the four pieces of 2" x 1/2" flatbar in the propane forge,and we textured each piece (about 8 ft long) by pulling it thru the Kuhn power hammer. We then reheated and drew the ends down, again, with that Kuhn Hammer. I had never run anything like that Kuhn pneumatic hammer and caught on quickly. It was a great tool, and made short work of my job. We heated the drawn down ends for the spiral curves in the propane forge and got a curl started on each piece. We then reheated and "pulled the spirals" around a jig my friend had. It took the two of us to do it. The posts were made from 1 1/4" A-36 square bar. Again, I pulled them thru the Kuhn hammer to break the corners and texture the bars. We heated a center area for a hot twist. I go 190 lbs, and my friend the blacksmith is in the same weight class. Not much fat on either of us. We had all we could do to put the hot twists into the 1 1/4" square bar. We did do some reheating on the handrail spirals in the coal hearth, since once a spiral was started, it would no longer fit thru the opening into the propane forge. My friend has a travelling hoist beam with trolley, and quite an assortment of tools and equipment.

I did some of the forge work in my own shop. I cheated here and there and used stick welding to put things together, then blended the welds by a combination of careful blending with a flap wheel, and some forging.

My friend used to have a power hammer, but he said the pneumatic Kuhn hammer is all he needs and is quite a step up from the old power hammer. I was more than impressed with the Kuhn hammer, with the degree of control and the available energy it could put into the work. As part of my handrail job, my friend asked me to make a set of dies for the Kuhn hammer to put a uniform radius on the top corners of the handrail stock. I made a set of dies in my shop, which worked quite well and was part payment to my friend for his services. The dies were nothing special, so I made them out of some heavy A-36 hot rolled 3" square bar I had on hand.

From what my friend- whom I consider a master blacksmith- tells me, the self contained pneumatic hammers have taken hold and are preferred by many smiths over the old power hammers. The Kuhn hammer was imported from Germany, but is no longer available. A variety of pneumatic hammers of similar design, some made in Turkey, are readily available. To be a competitive smith doing real forge work such as architectural blacksmithing, a shop pretty much has to have one of the pneumatic hammers and a mess of dies for it. My experience with the Kuhn hammer impressed me to no end. I'd have worn myself out swinging my 6 lb hammer with one hand while holding the work with the other, and probably taken countless heats to get the job done. My wife, ever the wise woman that she is, said I ought to call my friend and ask about working the job in his shop with him. It was great advice. Wife has worked at the forge with me on "light work" for our own house, and took a beginning blacksmith course a few years back. She knew the job had heavier steel than I could reasonably handle. I imagine the Cambria works forge shop, with the heavier steam hammers, will really be able to turn out some amazing work when this new group gets it going. I had never given a thought to induction heating, but I looked it up on line. Makes perfect sense. As I said, my mind and knowledge are often a good 50 years or more behind the curve.
 
Those sound like nice railings.

A bit of nitpicking- any powered hammer is a "power hammer".

There are three main types-
Mechanical, the most common of which are the old Little Giants, but which include much older, and much bigger and more industrial machines, in a variety of designs, going back to the water powered hammers of the 1400s. Some are called "trip hammers", but, in reality, there are several different mechanical designs, and trip, or helve, hammers are only one style of many.

Then there are two styles of steam/air hammers-
"Utility" Hammers which require a separate steam or compressed air supply
and
Self Contained Hammers which use an overhead shaft or an electric motor to compress air in one cylinder, which is used to drive the ram.

All are power hammers.
All are great.

The hammers in the Cambria Ironworks shop are both "Utility" hammers, originally steam powered, but mostly converted to air powered in 1985, and Self Contained. There is at least one big Self Contained hammer there, and at least one was removed.

Self contained hammer design dates back to the early 1900s. Beche, in Germany, was making them at least as early as the teens. They were made between the two world wars in France, England, Italy, and eastern europe, as well as by Nazel, Chambersburg, and Erie here in the states. I know many people with pre second world war self contained hammers.
The Kuhn is a relatively recent, probalby late 60s, which attempted to make a cheaper hammer by fabricating it from plate, rather than using cast iron for the body. Kuhns are still made, but, like most things german, are quite pricey- nowadays, in the 18,000 to 20,000 euros range- and there has not been a US distributor for some time because we are too cheap. Instead we buy the Turkish copies,which are still over 12 grand or so, but with shipping and customs, often half the cost of an equivalent German hammer.
Personally, I prefer a cast iron self contained over a fabricated Kuhn style, but thats in many ways a very personal decison, both work quite well.
There have been no US made cast iron self contained for close to 40 years now- as Chambersburg and Nazel prices for new machines crept over $200,000 in the mid 80s, demand slumped, to say the least.
Nowadays, the Chinese own the market- Anyang is currently the largest global builder of forging hammers and presses, with models up to 4000lbs for hammers, and well over 40,000lbs for presses.
Any shop that wants a big hammer today will either buy and rebuild an older american hammer, or buy new chinese. Since many of the available american machines are over 75 years old, the Chinese are selling a lot of hammers globaly.
 
Here is an update on the Cambria Iron Works of Johnstown, PA rebirth as the Center for Metal Arts.

Their website: History – Center for metal arts

Look at the video of a blacksmithing class making a "deadman" to get a good idea of the way a class is run. The video tour of the building is beautifully done. It does show the Chambersburg self contained hammer is still there.

Here is a history of Cambria. Note the footnotes link to the collection of old photos of them in operation. Cambria Iron Company - Wikipedia

If I ever get to Johnstown, I will check out the inclined plane, one of Cambria's contributions to the city's engineering heritage. And seniors get to ride free.
History - Johnstown Inclined Plane Johnstown Inclined Plane - Wikipedia

Larry
 








 
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