Bucyrus Erie 1150B dragline, Leeds - Visited by Ojay & Stepping Lightly.
Having returned from the holiday from hell, and a recent shoulder & eye injury Stepping Lightly rolled up at mine late one night, both blind and disabled.
"Nothing too heavy, and nothing underground, as I can't see and I'm gonna struggle to climb" LOL.
Fast forward a couple of hours and he is free climbing a 215ft Jib in the dark to grab some people shots of me having climbed up the other side of the dragline...
Some History:
Built 1948 by the Bucyrus Erie in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the USA. This 'beast' of a dragline nicknamed "Oddball" is now located at the old St Aidans open cast mine just outside Leeds.
There were originally 2 Bucyrus Erie 1150B walking draglines used at St Aidans, which has been an opencast mine since the 1940's, with the area of land extensively mined since the 1800's.
Extended in 1981, it was expected to yield 6 million tonnes of coal over 10 years, however in March 1988 mining halted as a 70m deep excavation wall failed allowing the River Aire to flood the site. After extensive repair work, by 1995 mining resumed and the remaining coal was removed.
Having started out life in Winconsin in 1948, where it worked for 4 years, it was then dismatled and moved to the UK. It has since been dismantled and moved a further 4 times, as it worked in Pontyprid, South Wales & Cannock and Staffordshire before it was finally moved to the St Aidans in 1972 where it worked until 1983.
With a top speed of 0.2 mph it weighs in at 1200 tons and is equal in size to 60 double decker buses, with a bucket capacity of 20 cubic yds and a 215ft jib.
Sadly it now remains one of only four dragline excavators still in existence.
In your Coal boards.......
Having spent a good hour climbing all over it and taking piccy's we then decided to hit it high and get some people shots.
(Apologies for the quality, as it was windy as hell up there and I struggled to keep the camera steady).
Stepping Lightly
Ojay
Thanks for looking
Having returned from the holiday from hell, and a recent shoulder & eye injury Stepping Lightly rolled up at mine late one night, both blind and disabled.
"Nothing too heavy, and nothing underground, as I can't see and I'm gonna struggle to climb" LOL.
Fast forward a couple of hours and he is free climbing a 215ft Jib in the dark to grab some people shots of me having climbed up the other side of the dragline...
Some History:
Built 1948 by the Bucyrus Erie in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the USA. This 'beast' of a dragline nicknamed "Oddball" is now located at the old St Aidans open cast mine just outside Leeds.
There were originally 2 Bucyrus Erie 1150B walking draglines used at St Aidans, which has been an opencast mine since the 1940's, with the area of land extensively mined since the 1800's.
Extended in 1981, it was expected to yield 6 million tonnes of coal over 10 years, however in March 1988 mining halted as a 70m deep excavation wall failed allowing the River Aire to flood the site. After extensive repair work, by 1995 mining resumed and the remaining coal was removed.
Having started out life in Winconsin in 1948, where it worked for 4 years, it was then dismatled and moved to the UK. It has since been dismantled and moved a further 4 times, as it worked in Pontyprid, South Wales & Cannock and Staffordshire before it was finally moved to the St Aidans in 1972 where it worked until 1983.
With a top speed of 0.2 mph it weighs in at 1200 tons and is equal in size to 60 double decker buses, with a bucket capacity of 20 cubic yds and a 215ft jib.
Sadly it now remains one of only four dragline excavators still in existence.
In your Coal boards.......
Having spent a good hour climbing all over it and taking piccy's we then decided to hit it high and get some people shots.
(Apologies for the quality, as it was windy as hell up there and I struggled to keep the camera steady).
Stepping Lightly
Ojay
Thanks for looking
