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  • Whats the capacity of the bucket? looks like it could scoop up a double decker bus no problemo! Shame we wont see anything like that anymore, too mutch cost-effective minds going about nowadays! Virtualy eveyones going for the smaller rope shovels with 110 ton buckets or for the hydraulic excavator/ face shovel for harder grounds.

  • @judderman37 105 yds on this one, since it was a high front. The Gem, which was mechanically identical, but with a shorter stick, had a much bigger bucket. Big draglines are supposedly more cost effective, but it seems there is a lot of rehandling required, where a shovel just keeps moving the material over and moving in.

    The cab, some gears + other parts, and the lower half of the bucket are at the coal park for you to walk in. I should post a photo gallery...

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  • @sneezabonk In this case, it's more like having to put down your favorite dog.

  • Wish I could work with things like this.The modren machines are gought

  • If these shovel strippers were reintroduced in the future, they could possibly mine ore materials from other planets like Mars, Jupiter and so on. Shippin Cost?????

  • I bet the operator cried when his hour was up. poor bastard

  • What junk yard are the remains of it in

  • @sneezabonk Expect it's all been melted by now. There was many tons of what the scrap industry calls "heavy melting" steel.

  • machines like that are the true builders way before modern machines they dug the true foundation there a lot more impressive then today's machines like old cars they had a personality thanks for shareing

  • I operate a P&H 4100 shovel. I find the crowd machinery to be interesting on this unit. At 77yrds that bucket looks small compared to the rest of the shovel. Seems all the really big ones have passed on. Thanks for the vid, really enjoyed it.

  • my mom has pictures standing next to it, i live like 20 mins from where it dug

  • That's really an awesome machine. I'm sure she earned her retirement through years of faithful service. RIP, Silver Spade.

  • Cool video. Even better sice there is a drill crew drilling in the back ground.

  • Wouldn't it be better and more effecient to just have a conveyor system with shovels feeding it on a track system It could be a constant feed if the conveyor and track and shovel were all incorporated onto a single machine. This looks like it takes to long for each movement. Even better than shovel loading the conveyor. You could have augers loading the conveyor. Multi boring augers. Or small wheel buckets feeding conveyor even multiwheel feeding multi conveyors into one conveyor.Efficient

  • That's awesome. Where does the operator sit? Is it electrical powered?

  • The Spade was electrically powered and the operator sat in the small cabin on the lower front of the revolving house that you can see when the machine is in profile.

    The machine in the background is the blast hole drill. I got to see the Spade up close when it was digging the first pit after it crossed 519.

  • The silver spade actually had a larger bucket than the Liberty dragline.. The Silver spade had a 105 cubic yard bucket where as the Liberty's bucket is 77 cubic yards

  • holy shit that thing is huge!

  • Thats just it the almighty doller talks. even so they could have saved more of it. The giant shovels are rare in fact that might be the last one retired, most of them now are draglines and they are faster and have fewer moveing parts.

    That aside thats how people in power do things they say they will save it then when you turn your back they destroy it anyway like they did with big muskie, Daily with meggs field in chicago, and other historical buildings even when you show an injunction.

  • @manga12 Big Muskie was destroyed thanks to the environmentalists, not because the company wanted to scrap it.

  • IT was sad to see her go.

  • Thats a beautiful piece of machinery. A shame they are becomming so rare.

  • It's a shame these Grand machines are disapearing. I hauled rock to coal mines in Warrick Co. Indiana; late 80's, early 90's and loved seeing the shovels and draglines work and the size of those things. Some people never have seen these let alone know they exist! I try to take my kids by a couple that are left here just so they can say they have seen them in person. Mining around here has gotten away from stripping w/ these monsters. What a shame!!! Ayshire had biggest dragline 2nd to Big Muskee

  • What ever happened to the Gem of Egypt? I saw it working for Consol near New Athens over 25 years ago but can't find much history on the internet. While we were watching it a small tornado blew through but the GEM never missed a beat. Probably scrap now. Sad.

  • According to the Harrison County Historical Society site, the GEM was scrapped out some time before the silver spade. Some of the parts were recycled into the spade, as they were sisters. The GEM was damaged when a wall at the dig site collapsed on it, resulting in the scrapping, from my understanding.

  • Was at the Harrison Coal and Steam show about 5 years ago and bought a shirt Of the silver spade to try and save her and donated money I guess the shirt is a keep sake now

  • We take pride in the park. Im a member and joined two years ago and just missed her. I didnt even know she was that close to the park. didnt know anyone and missed out on going down into the pit and atleast seein her tore up, that would have been even to much to handel. not rite, we had the money and time to do any needed work on her to get her into a meuseum with our other machines around her. rest in peace girl, we all miss ya. GIT-R-DUG

  • It reminds me of something, oh ya, big muskie.

  • We have been in the area several times since we took the videos that day, but we have avoided going there. Too sad.

    We will probably go to the museum later this summer, just to get up next to the cab.

  • thats a shame i saw that thing run all the time now its in pieces i mean y would they scrap it

  • theres just something about the way these machines move (with the right operator)...its just elegant.

  • just one question why did they scrap the silver spade?

  • because them basterds at console coal comp. wanted to, there was an attempt to save her made by the HCRHP (I am a member there)we had the $900,000 to buy it and the uped it up to 2 mill. for reclmation. we then met that had they deemed it hazerdus because when they propeld her out of the pit the roller casing broke fusing the uper and lower revolving frmes together, they could have finished.

  • Thanks for this and other historic pieces you record and post

  • Thanks for posting. Its a shame its no more.

  • i belong to the HCRHP the ''save the spade'' group and we are glad you got to see for i was to late to even see parts of it. one year to late. we have the cab, hoist cable, crawler shoes, and a half a dozen lights donated by the scrape comp. we hope to see you at our sept 6-7 show. The HCRHP grounds is located along Ohio 519, between US 22 & Rt. 9, about a mile west of the Village of New Athens .

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