The Past and the Future

You should see the mills, or lack thereof, in Johnstown, Pa.

I hope that the new battery plant will need rail service for raw materials and finished batteries.   Car and truck batteries are very heavy.  This should make them candidates for rail shipment.  NH Joe

It's sad what we once had in this country is gone. Almost everything made over seas.

I hope this works out for your town.

I think that this is the one reason, the MAIN reason, that my layout (only one year into construction) is representing an area of industry that thrived from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s. Many of the old brick buildings have been demolished but not all of them. The industries are gone but the county government uses a building for its offices, one was recently remodeled into loft style living, and another remains empty BUT is used for events such as art festivals. Many years ago, one from a different company was converted into senior apartments. I love the old structures and all that they stood for. My boyfriend made his living at a GM plant which is long gone and leveled. I taught for 33 years in this town, first for 12 years at the first junior high east of the Mississippi which was just last week demolished and the next 21 years at a magnificently built (in 1933) high school which was demolished maybe ten years ago now and replaced by what in my opinion is a modern monstrosity. The tracks no longer haul raw materials in and products out, but the good news is that they are at least still there and used as light rail for commuters. "The World Takes" is a motto that this town and our country for the most part can no longer say and as each generation passes their skills die with them. I am glad that your North Weirton is breathing new life into the area, I wish that I could say the same for mine.

My regret is that my layout is not nearly large enough to represent even a fraction of the industry in the area, I could have fit more but it was equally important for me to model the very small historic town just down river, the town that I just moved from last year after 23 years. I will be sharing my layout soon.

Mikki

To the OP, change is constant and nothing we can do as mere humans can change that fact.  I am reminded by the always poetic lyrics of the late, great drummer Neil Peart from the song Natural Science that closes with these lines:

Wave after wave will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on as it was

How does impact my model railroading?  I sometimes wax poetic for times past that I grew up with or even times prior to that in the worlds I want to capture with my modeling, however just looking around at the environment that surrounds us, there is always a blend of the past, present, and even in some cases glimpses of the future.  I get just as excited about seeing a shining new Charger on the rails as I do a steam locomotive.  As model railroaders a large number of us mix the past, present, and future all the time with the trains we run. 

I guess I sit on the side of the fence where the future is ultimately going to be a positive one over a negative one.  The other perspective is just honestly depressing.  Change just is.  I can't say I always like the changes, but that is why I play with trains.

I went to the grand opening / dedication ceremony of the Form Energy Battery Factory in Weirton this afternoon.

In a word, uplifting.

Today, I witnessed the rebirth of industry in my hometown.  Form Energy is manufacturing a new type of battery that costs 20% that of lithium and is recyclable.  These batteries will be used to store excess power in off-peak hours that would otherwise be wasted.  That energy can then be thrown back onto the grid during peak hours.  This is the first battery of its kind and is being made in Weirton first.

I spoke with various officials (PR, state government) and actually sat at a picnic table with one of the founders of the company.  I was very impressed.  Here are some photos from the day.  I can honestly say that I walked around the factory with tears in my eyes, tears of joy. 

I'm wearing one of the hard-hats (shaped like a cowboy hat) used in some of the construction. 

There are no overhead cranes.  This is used to lift materials and finished electric cells.

Robotic assembly.

These look like testing stations (wasn't told what they are).

The future of batteries - 80% cheaper than lithium and recyclable.

West Virginia Governor (soon to be senator) Jim Justice and his pooch "Baby Dog".

One of the founders (I did not catch his name, unfortunately).  There was a lot of ambient noise.

Note the sign over the break area.  Yes, that's real.

The Weirton Steel Open Hearth's supply shed is visible outside a window in the facility lobby.  I had a pretty good laugh.  All the Form Energy folks were referring to the building as the Open Hearth.  I did set the PR lady and some others straight as to the purpose of the structure.

A montage of photos of both Weirton Steel (in black and white) and the Form Energy building (in color).

Lobby

Another photo of the lobby looking south.

On the table are jars of the iron powder used to coat sheets placed in batteries.  To the right is a battery cell mockup.

This was a timeline created by the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center as part of the lobby area.

Not to be forgotten, there were a few remnants of the mill visible - coil cars and gondolas.

Like E.T. Weir before him, the founder cited the area's access to water and rail as major reasons for choosing Weirton from nearly 500 candidate sites.  He also was attracted to Weirton's people and their can-do attitude.

It was an amazing day, a day of hope.

George

Quite impressive! I know nothing about this particular project, but the need for short-term grid storage is the next "Holy Grail" that will need to be mastered before renewable energy sources can provide a larger share of our energy needs, so it's nice to see progress in that direction.