If my memory services me correctly they used a cupola (often pronounced, "cupalo") furnace before the electrics, and cooked the metal all day while making the molds, then poured in the afternoons. This furnace was fired by coke and it took all day to get the metal right for pouring. I was assigned to chip away the bricks inside of one of the electric furnaces—which was a miserable job.
Before retiring I worked for RTD and had the opportunity to visit the plant site occasionally and saw the passenger rail cars being repaired. Then everything disappeared except for some scattered machinery, and the big gantry crane sitting for all to see like a monument.
I also worked for Silver Engineering Works, which did machining and fabrication of sugar machinery. Now that place is a large business park and it’s unbelievable—their plate shop was made into offices!
Seeing your website brought back a lot of memories and is excellently done—keep up the good work.
Got a couple of stories about the company: We knew someone that worked in sales for DoALL Company and GIW requested a set of blue prints for a large band saw, since they were going to manufacture their own machine; DoALL replied: sure, we’ll give you the prints, but you’ll get them when you buy a new saw. I thought this was kind of funny and a view of how things were done back then at GIW.
When my dad first started there he was assigned to machine grooves on a drum for a winch and cut them according to their blue prints. The foreman told him: it was done wrong, don’t go by the blue prints, they’re not accurate and then explained how it should be done. My father being an old experienced machinist couldn’t believe they’d do things this way, but GIW had their own methods.
Hopefully some of this is helpful? These stories are from so many years ago, but I believe they’re accurate.
Alan Morast