HOT METAL: An intimate look inside the fence of a Chicago-area steel mill. The tour starts at the coke works to witness a fiery push of incandescent coke out of an oven and the spectacular steam clouds as the hot coke is cooled down. The next stop is at the blast furnace to watch 3,000-degree molten iron tapped from the furnace on the casthouse floor, with its incredible heat and flying sparks. Hot metal cars are moved into position to be filled underneath the casthouse floor. On the Highline trestle in front of the furnaces, raw materials are brought in and the scale car underneath brings them to the skip hoists. The molten slag flows out of the furnace into a pit for cooling. Other sights in the works include a pig iron caster, the two blast furnaces (one with a brick casthouse), an old hot metal car, SW-1001 locomotives and myriad other details inside the plant.

The DVD includes a self-starting CD that is like looking at a book on a computer, which works in PCs (WIN 2000/XP/Vista/7) or Macs, with 375 photos, and some steel mill documents and publications. Images on the CD can be printed out. (DVD - 98 minutes) $21.95 + $4.20 shipping (in the United States only)

UNION RAILROAD - UNITED STATES STEEL'S PITTSBURGH LIFELINE:The Union Railroad, owned by United States Steel, funnels materials used to make steel to its parent's plants along the Monongahela River. While essentially an industrial switching and transfer operation, the tonnages are immense. In addition to bringing in bulk material and shipping out finished products, it moves products produced at one plant to another one.

The video footage was shot between 1996 and 2001 by Scott Schaller and includes spectacular scenes of hot metal car action at the Edgar Thomson Works and historic photos.. The DVD video is 80 minutes long. $21.95 + $4.20 shipping (in the United States only)

ON THE GREAT LAKES: A tour of the Great Lakes looking at the freighters, ferries, passenger liners, ports and docks, following the transportation of iron ore, grain, coal and passengers. The scenes span the period from the 1890s to 2007 and cover Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie, and the ports of Duluth, Superior, Ashland, Two Harbors, Silver Bay, Taconite Harbor, Port Arthur, Houghton, Marquette, and lower lake ports of Escanaba, Milwaukee, Chicago, Gary, Burns Harbor, Detroit, Toledo, Lorain, Cleveland, Ashtabula, Conneaut and Erie. The Soo Locks are also visited. Includes video of the "Charles M. Beeghly," "Adam E. Cornelius," "John J. Boland," "Roger Blough," "Stewart J. Cort," "Edward L. Ryerson," "Paul R. Tregurtha," "Canadian Enterprise," "Canadian Transport," "American Spirit" and "Indiana Harbor" in Duluth, Superior, Two Harbors and Taconite Harbor.

The 77-minute video contains 623 photos, 26 minutes of video & 8 MM film and narration. The video is on the DVD and photos are on a self-starting CD that plays like a book on a computer, which works on PCs (WIN 2000/XP/Vista/7) or Macs. Images can be printed out. $19.95 + $4.20 shipping (in the United States only)

TACONITE RAILROAD & PLANTS ON MINNESOTA'S MESABI IRON RANGE: The focus of the video is on moving taconite, either as pellets or raw rock, by rail from the mines and processing plants to the docks on Lake Superior at Duluth, Superior, Silver Bay and Taconite Harbor.

The final taconite hauler is Erie Mining/LTV Steel Mining. The tour starts in the mine, on to the mine-to-plant Alco-powered trains, following the pellet trains from the plant on the 72-mile mainline and then out onto the dock at Taconite Harbor. The Taconite Harbor powerplant that supplied electricity to the taconite plant and mines is toured. The mainline trains feature EMD F-9s and later power at the end of operations (includes footage of Erie Mining). [DVD Two Hours] $21.95 + $4.20 shipping (in the United States only)

LAKE SUPERIOR IRON: A trip back to the iron ore & copper mines of the Lake Superior region through postcards, photos, video & film. The video spans the period from the late 1800s to the 1970s and tours the Vermilion, Mesabi and Cuyuna Ranges in Minnesota, the Gogebic and Menominee Ranges in Wisconsin/Michigan, the Marquette Range in Michigan and the Michipicoten and Atikokan Ranges in Ontario. Also shown are beneficiation plants, draglines, loading shovels, mining railroads and underground mining scenes (including a video trip down into one).

The video contains 566 images, video and 8 MM film, comprehensive narration on the mines, table of contents and is 52 minutes long. The video is on DVD and the original photos (with statistics on each mine) are on a self-starting CD that is like looking through a book on a computer which works in PCs (WIN 2000/XP/Vista/7) or Macs. The images can be printed out. $19.95 + $4.20 shipping (in the United States only)