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Delaware-Lackawanna (DL) C420 locomotive 414 is seen on display at Steamtown National Historic Site during the 2025 Railfest event. The unit sports a Lehigh Valley (LV) heritage scheme, and was coupled to LV business car 353 during the event.

The forgotten fiesta by SEB online

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Watercolor of Beehive Coke Ovens by Ed

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The Redstone Coke Oven Historic District is located outside Redstone, Colorado. It consists of the remaining coke ovens built at the end of the 19th century by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

Two hundred were built, because the coal in the surrounding mountains was ideal for refining into coke. At their peak, they were producing almost 6 million tons a year. They were the largest at the time in Colorado.

Within ten years of their construction the ovens fell into disuse when the mines closed. Their support steel was removed during the scrap metal drives of World War II, and later they were used as living space by hippies who moved into Redstone.

Coke is a fuel with a high carbon content and few impurities, made by heating coal in the absence of air. In 1589, a patent was granted to Thomas Proctor and William Peterson for making iron and steel and melting lead with "earth-coal, sea-coal, turf, and peat". The patent contains a distinct allusion to the preparation of coal by "cooking". In 1590, a patent was granted to the Dean of York to "purify pit-coal and free it from its offensive Sulfurous smell". In 1627, a patent was granted to Sir John Hacket and Octavius de Strada for a method of rendering sea-coal and pit-coal as useful as charcoal for burning in houses, without offense by smell or smoke.

In 1603, Hugh Plat suggested that coal might be charred in a manner analogous to the way charcoal is produced from wood. This process was not employed until 1642, when coke was used for roasting malt in Derbyshire; previously, brewers had used wood, as uncoked coal cannot be used in brewing because its sulfurous fumes would impart a foul taste to the beer. It was considered an improvement in quality, and brought about an "alteration which all England admired"—the coke process allowed for a lighter roast of the malt, leading to the creation of what by the end of the 17th century was called pale ale.[4]

In 1709, Abraham Darby I established a coke-fired blast furnace to produce cast iron. Coke's superior crushing strength allowed blast furnaces to become taller and larger. The ensuing availability of inexpensive iron was one of the factors leading to the Industrial Revolution.

Coke was NOT used to make Coca Cola whose name refers to the initial addition of Cocaine!

AMERICAN FLAGS ONLY by akahawkeyefan

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Mankato, Kansas

Seems that sometimes we worry more about a used and faded piece of cloth than we do about a person in the same condition.

Big British Cat of 1938 (On an SS-100) by Ed

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By this time SS cars had recognized that their iconic symbol, SS, happened to use similar graphic design lettering to the notorious Nazi SS, so the company which had started with manufacturing Swallow side cars for motorcycles, and subsequently made sporty bodies for Austins and Morris small sedans, became Jaguar. The 3 and 1/2 liter straight 6 engine introduced in 1938 would actually get the SS 100 up to that speed.

Since the chassis and engine were supplied by Sir John Black's Standard auto company, he claimed that SS stood for Standard Swallow, though Sir William Lyon of SS Jaguar later stated that it stood for Super Swallow. 'Important' and useless details.................but interesting to a few of us weirdos.

Nice kitty kitty

Saluting the Flag by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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In honor of July 4th, here is an image of Astronaut David R. Scott, commander, giving a military salute while standing beside the deployed United States flag during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The flag was deployed toward the end of EVA-2. The Lunar Module (LM), "Falcon," is partially visible on the right. Hadley Delta in the background rises approximately 4,000 meters (about 13,124 feet) above the plain. The base of the mountain is approximately 5 kilometers (about three statue miles) away. This photograph was taken by astronaut James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Scott and Irwin descended in the LM to explore the moon, astronaut Alfred M. Worden, command module pilot, remained in lunar orbit in the Command and Service Modules (CSM).

Image credit: NASA

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