|
The Broadway Street Lead Site (Site) is located in Lenoir City, Tennessee approximately 25 miles southwest of Knoxville along the banks of the Tennessee River. The Site consists of residential, commercial and public properties located in the vicinity of the former Lenoir Car Works (LCW) facility. Many of the residential properties are located within a few hundred feet of the old foundries.
The LCW began operation some time before 1893 as the Bass Foundry and Machine Shops producing wheels for the railroad. By 1907 the operation had been purchased by Southern Railway and produced hopper cars, initially employing over 500 people. The facility occupied approximately 100 acres and included a machine and blacksmith shop, a wood shop, an erecting shop, and a boiler and engine house. The engine house powered the complex and supplied electricity to parts of Lenoir City. In the mid-1920s wooden freight cars were declared unsafe, and orders decreased, although the steel foundry, the iron foundry, and the old brass foundry continued to produce four to five hundred wheels per day. During World War II the machine shop was converted to a second steel foundry and produced various castings for oceangoing freighters and other craft.
After World War II diesel engines made the old steam engines obsolete, and the iron foundry closed in 1957. Steel and wrought-iron wheels replaced iron wheels and led to the closing of the steel foundry in 1963. The last area to close was a newer, more modernized brass foundry, where journal bearings and insulated glued rail joints were produced. This is likely the only facility at LCW to have had air pollution control devices. These are thought to have been installed in the 1970’s according to State records. Prior to this, fumes were vented through the windows of the facilities.
As part of the LCW operation slag and foundry sand were disposed of on site. It is estimated that the property has 180,000 cubic yards of foundry sand on it. The property is now owned by Southern Region Industrial Reality, Inc and is being addressed by the Remediation Division of the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation (TDEC). The close proximity of the LCW operations to residential properties in the city prompted an off- site investigation by the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH). At the request of TDH, TDEC conducted sampling in the area. The investigation revealed potential lead and arsenic contamination on residential properties adjacent to the LCW property. TDEC referred the Site to EPA for further delineation.
|