Thanks for the video. I remember seeing the Gem of Egypt, Mountaineer, and Silver Spade in operation as well as the crossing of Interstate 70 as I grew up in the area. Amazing pieces of equipment. I saw Big Muskie in operation also.
You are lucky. I just got to see a few truck mounted draglines, and a couple of tracked small ones. I did get to see a stripping, walking, dragline at about a mile off, about 4 years ago. It was probably about 40, or 50 yards, not real big, but not small. I never saw a shovel, except the hand kind, in my life. Seen plenty of them, and used them, many times.
What a stunningly impressive beast! Didn’t realise the sheer size until you pulled out and the dozers came into shot. Thank you so much for what must be hard and exacting work.
our family followed this beast from day one.we got to go in it on first day of fire up.used to have picnics watching the gal getting put together. train loads of stuff in staging area.
That must take some real high voltage in order to keep the power cord weight and size down. I used to get into these kind of machines when I was a little kid. I never studied this one in particular, but remember it being a real special gem in its time. I think it was the largest track shovel of its kind. It still may be.
If anyone doesn’t think dinosaurs roamed the earth during our lifetime, they have never seen these marvels of engineering. I am a miner & have been for over 19 years, I am very proud of everyone who has & still does help build our country.
I am always amazed at the engineering and actual production wonders of manufacturing and assembling the parts for such a huge, mobile, excavating machine as this and others. It is mind boggling, to say the least. It is difficult to tell, but this looks like the walls of the cut might have caved around the tracks of the Spade and the dozers are clearing it away.
The dozers were digging a huge ramp to move the shovel down from one coal seam down to the next one below. In many areas, coal is in several strata with rock layers in between. At one point while ramping down, they hit an old underground mine, and had to fill part of it in to move the shovel across. The shovel is so heavy that ordinary soil won't support it, they use huge timber mats to spread out the weight. They have just enough mats for the tracks to sit on, and the shovel picks up mats from behind an places them in front to travel. When on the coal, the coal is hard enough to support the machine. The Spade was bigger in person. Look at the tiny operator's cab. It still exists, and is big enough to live in.
@@SteamCrane Thanks. That is interesting to know. I was just guessing. I was also considering how careful they had to be to move The Spade to another area, with its weight and its high center of gravity. I am curious as to whether the track's gearing had more than one drive speed. It was sure slow here, which I am sure was highly necessary, gear ratio wise, at times. The machine was most impressive, and I am sorry it is gone and that I didn't get to see it in real life.
@@Leatherface123. That's right my man! Is105 cubic yard capacity that bucket. Imagine being the operator of the D11, and you see that bucket coming at ya! Run for your life!
Makes you wonder if it ever paid for itself over the years. Just the everyday costs of running it must have been high. Many millions of dollars just to build it. the cost of moving it from mfg to the site to assemble. The mount of people , maintenance, electricity consumed, break downs. time to relocate to another seem etc etc.
Big Muskie was only 25 million back in the late 60s so it paid for itself quite a few times over and Silver Spade operated longer than Muskie so I'm sure it paid for itself 10 times over or more
Bucket capacity is limited by working radius. In this case 195 feet dumping radius. Bucket was 105 yards on the 1950-B Spade (high front), but the nearly identical 1950-B GEM had a shorter boom and stick, and smaller working envelope, and swung a bigger 130 yd bucket. Turned out the GEM's reach was too short for the coal seams in the area, and it was scrapped much earlier than the Spade. All of these machines were used for ripping rock, not just loose soil. 105 cu yards on a ~1 minute cycle at 200 hundred foot radius while ripping on every pass is a lot of tough material per day.
Massive wooden mats or "floats". Coal is hard enough to drive on, but dirt isn't. Thus when not on the coal, the mats spread the load, similar to those used at many liftcrane jobs, but these mats were much bigger.
The Silver Spade's bucket was 105 Cu Yd. The Spade was a near-twin of the Gem Of Egypt, but with a longer boom. Since the Gem operated at a shorter radius, it had a 130 yd bucket. Due to the depth of the coal seams, the Gem's digging depth + dump height turned out to be too short, and it was scrapped well before the Spade.
@@SteamCrane I know nothing about diggers or buckets i was only saying what i seen . I just like to watch big diggers and things .. But im still none wiser ! but still love the vid
It's hard to get a sense of its size, until you realize those are D11 cats working around it. Amazing
Thanks for the video. I remember seeing the Gem of Egypt, Mountaineer, and Silver Spade in operation as well as the crossing of Interstate 70 as I grew up in the area. Amazing pieces of equipment. I saw Big Muskie in operation also.
You are lucky. I just got to see a few truck mounted draglines, and a couple of tracked small ones. I did get to see a stripping, walking, dragline at about a mile off, about 4 years ago. It was probably about 40, or 50 yards, not real big, but not small. I never saw a shovel, except the hand kind, in my life. Seen plenty of them, and used them, many times.
What a stunningly impressive beast! Didn’t realise the sheer size until you pulled out and the dozers came into shot.
Thank you so much for what must be hard and exacting work.
our family followed this beast from day one.we got to go in it on first day of fire up.used to have picnics watching the gal getting put together. train loads of stuff in staging area.
bob humberston bo
Thank you for this. History both of the machine and the format used to record the images and sound.... thanks again.
That must take some real high voltage in order to keep the power cord weight and size down. I used to get into these kind of machines when I was a little kid. I never studied this one in particular, but remember it being a real special gem in its time. I think it was the largest track shovel of its kind. It still may be.
There's was a bigger one made by Marion but the silver spade out lived it due to a hydraulic fire.
beautiful video, poor Silver Spade!
If anyone doesn’t think dinosaurs roamed the earth during our lifetime, they have never seen these marvels of engineering. I am a miner & have been for over 19 years, I am very proud of everyone who has & still does help build our country.
Those are larger than life machines and are quit eterrifying to see thems in real lifes. Thanls YOUS!
I am always amazed at the engineering and actual production wonders of manufacturing and assembling the parts for such a huge, mobile, excavating machine as this and others. It is mind boggling, to say the least.
It is difficult to tell, but this looks like the walls of the cut might have caved around the tracks of the Spade and the dozers are clearing it away.
The dozers were digging a huge ramp to move the shovel down from one coal seam down to the next one below. In many areas, coal is in several strata with rock layers in between. At one point while ramping down, they hit an old underground mine, and had to fill part of it in to move the shovel across. The shovel is so heavy that ordinary soil won't support it, they use huge timber mats to spread out the weight. They have just enough mats for the tracks to sit on, and the shovel picks up mats from behind an places them in front to travel. When on the coal, the coal is hard enough to support the machine. The Spade was bigger in person. Look at the tiny operator's cab. It still exists, and is big enough to live in.
@@SteamCrane Thanks. That is interesting to know. I was just guessing. I was also considering how careful they had to be to move The Spade to another area, with its weight and its high center of gravity. I am curious as to whether the track's gearing had more than one drive speed. It was sure slow here, which I am sure was highly necessary, gear ratio wise, at times. The machine was most impressive, and I am sorry it is gone and that I didn't get to see it in real life.
Thank you for the video
Csodalatosak ezek a giga gepek ,en mint nehezgepszerelo ,imadomoket
Koszonet a fantaztikus videokert!
been over 20 years, i can't recall exactly, Will try find it
What exactly are they doing?
Moving downhill to a lower coal seam.
Man, that thing is huge! It could reach down and flip one of those cats over like a child’s toy.
It will carry it
@@Leatherface123. with no effort...
@@levisalvini4110 it would be like it’s not even there
@@Leatherface123.
That's right my man!
Is105 cubic yard capacity that bucket.
Imagine being the operator of the D11, and you see that bucket coming at ya!
Run for your life!
moving the giant shovel called the Bullwinkle, after it cross the highway it tipped over, they had to scrap it , sad,
Where was that
Wonder why they called it the silver spade when it's orange and yellow
1965 was 25th anniversary of Hanna Coal Co.
@@robertestep7017 thanks
With those models, double exhaust stacks == D11.
Makes you wonder if it ever paid for itself over the years. Just the everyday costs of running it must have been high.
Many millions of dollars just to build it. the cost of moving it from mfg to the site to assemble.
The mount of people , maintenance, electricity consumed, break downs. time to relocate to another seem etc etc.
Yes. I've wondered.
They were quite efficient, compared to the alternatives of the day. Economy of scale means a lot more when basic engineering is cruder.
Yep, they were. Unless a major catastrophe happened.
Big Muskie was only 25 million back in the late 60s so it paid for itself quite a few times over and Silver Spade operated longer than Muskie so I'm sure it paid for itself 10 times over or more
A lot of machinery for such a little bucket by todays standards . Hardly efficient whatever anyone says. .
Bucket capacity is limited by working radius. In this case 195 feet dumping radius. Bucket was 105 yards on the 1950-B Spade (high front), but the nearly identical 1950-B GEM had a shorter boom and stick, and smaller working envelope, and swung a bigger 130 yd bucket. Turned out the GEM's reach was too short for the coal seams in the area, and it was scrapped much earlier than the Spade.
All of these machines were used for ripping rock, not just loose soil.
105 cu yards on a ~1 minute cycle at 200 hundred foot radius while ripping on every pass is a lot of tough material per day.
Great Vid - cheers
Is this twins with the captain?
The Captain was quite a bit bigger. The GEM was almost this machines twin.
No-the captain was MUCH BIGGER!!
Captain was twice the size
Was that a huge jaw crusher die it was swinging around?
Massive wooden mats or "floats". Coal is hard enough to drive on, but dirt isn't. Thus when not on the coal, the mats spread the load, similar to those used at many liftcrane jobs, but these mats were much bigger.
fekin huge .... but the bucket looks so small
The Silver Spade's bucket was 105 Cu Yd. The Spade was a near-twin of the Gem Of Egypt, but with a longer boom. Since the Gem operated at a shorter radius, it had a 130 yd bucket.
Due to the depth of the coal seams, the Gem's digging depth + dump height turned out to be too short, and it was scrapped well before the Spade.
@@SteamCrane I know nothing about diggers or buckets i was only saying what i seen . I just like to watch big diggers and things .. But im still none wiser ! but still love the vid
O
alat tidak sesuai.besar pasak dri pda tiang
Requierimos 200 deragalinia Caterpillar en Colombia d c👏👏👏👏👏👏🇨🇴🇺🇲🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴