Thursday

Bucyrus Erie Drag Line, St. Aidans Open Cast Mine


The Bucyrus Erie Drag Line, aka the Odd Ball, is a 1200 tonne dragline excavator which was built in 1948 in america. After four years of operation it was moved to the UK where it got relocated another four times, until it was finally decomissioned in 1983 at the St. Aidans Open Cast Mine.


The machine, built by Bucyrus Erie, was called Odd Ball as it was a US built Electric powered machine and had to have a special rotary converter for its power supply to Transform UK power to the US std power required to operate the machine in Britain. Its maximum speed is 0.2 miles per hour and has a bucket capacity of 20 cubic yards.


 
Over the last years the open cast mine has been transformed into a park. However, it has not been opened to the public yet due to issues with the flood defence. The excavator has been a victim of many metal thefts over the last years. The future of the excavator is not certains as there are plans to sell it as scrap metal.

1 comment:

  1. Built right here in Erie Pa. BTW BucyrusErie is a great place to explore thats where this beast was originally built

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