Steam shovel

A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil.

[citation needed] Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads and the Panama Canal.

The shovel arm and driving engines were mounted at one end of the chassis, which accounts for the limited swing.

Temporary rail tracks were laid by workers where the shovel was expected to work, and repositioned as required.

Originally configured with chain hoists, the advent of steel cable in the 1870s allowed for easier rigging to the winches.

The booming cities in North America used shovels to dig foundations and basements for the early skyscrapers.

Thousands of miles of State Highways were built in this era, together with factories and many docks, ports, buildings, and grain elevators.

When digging at a rock face, the operator simultaneously raises and extends the dipper stick to fill the bucket with material.

The operator lowers the dipper stick, the bucket mouth self-closes, the pin relocks automatically and the process repeats.

The world's largest intact steam shovel is a Marion machine, dating from either 1906 or 1911, located in Le Roy, New York.

Ruston & Hornsby expert Ray Hooley heard of its existence, and organised the difficult task of rescuing it from the water-filled pit.

In 2011, Ray Hooley donated the machine to the Vintage Excavator Trust at Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum in Cumbria.

In the early 1950s, it was transported to Rollinsville by Roy and Russell Durand, who operated it at the Lump Gulch Placer, six miles south of Nederland, Colorado, until 1978.

Roots of Motive Power in Willits, CA has also acquired a 50-B and operates it for the public once a year at their Steam Festival in early September.