Rob, by providing us with this post, you've created an intriguing, somewhat mysterious, puzzle to me, even enhanced by your apt way of colorization. Think to see some steam boilers in a factory, but I'm still guessing for its purpose. Hope however that our friend 'Nik' can give us the solution, because he's a specialist in that matter, and may know the 'background' of the story.
We'll wait and see, my friend. 'Patience' is the keyword now, ☺ .

Oh I agree with Mr. C. this is very intriguing, I like rays of light shinning in for a good interesting post, done very well by you.
tigs=^..^=

This capture with your colorizations is very dramatic. The light is mesmerizing, this scene really works incredibly well with your added touch. Almost feel like it belongs in a stage play, or theatre, or a dramatic movie with suspense. This is a favorite for me, a stunning piece of art.

The eerie light bulbs and the glowing furnace - really this is so full of atmosphere. Maybe in an old steel plant ?
Comparing this enhanced version with the original this one is so much more 'alive'

Your posts are a real blast from the past and very intriguing. Thank you.

You really know how to pick 'em, Rob...what would have been a dark, dismal environment, were it not for the sun's rays shining in and your perfect coloration.

I need to think on this one for a while...

-Nik

The "killed" designation of this image had to have been earned because it is such a rough capture, very hard to discern, so I pulled a copy and monkeyed around with it a bit in Photoshop to bring a little light into the shadows and allow for a little better definition. These two large objects on the right are definitely large cylinders of some sort, and the device atop the one in the back has the shape of the upper part of a bessemer furnace, used in steel making, but bessemers were built like giant buckets; once the steel was molten the suspended bucket was tipped, pouring the steel into molds. There is nothing above these units to suggest suspension, in fact, there's not much up there except thin paired cables or pipes and hanging light bulbs. The one in front appears to have something like a ladder leading to the round face of the cylinder, but the one in back does not, so as we are seeing them, they do not appear to be fixed in place, as bessemer furnaces would be. When I was a boy I had opportunity to crawl around the railroad roundhouse in my town, the largest roundhouse in North Dakota (we were not so cautious about kids and political correctness 55 years ago... and many of us survived anyway :). It was nearly deserted because it was being phased out, and completely demolished within a couple years. I recall the walls were of vertical boards that would, under certain circumstances, allow sunlight to filter in between the boards, shrunk for many years' exposure to the elements. Engine's would be pulled in on short lengths of rails and worked on. There is a possibility that these may be a different type of bessemer than I can find an image of in any archive, but the front of these big cylinders look a lot like those on older model locomotives, so I have to consider that as a definite possibility. This image was produced around 1944 and our roundhouse was torn down in the early 1060s. It's a thought, anyway.

-Nik