In this episode, we're rescuing an Erie Type-B steam shovel from its grave. Not only rescue, but we'll attempt to get the engines running, and drive it under its own power, in a single day.
In Nederland, Colorado there is a steam shovel that is up for sale. The history on that machine is that it was a maintenance shovel used in the construction of the Panama Canal. The very last survivor. This shovel was shipped up the west coast and then shipped to Nederland to work in a silver strip mine. Abandoned for years it was rescued by locals and driven out under compressed air.
The Ball Engine Company was founded, by F. H. Ball and W. H. Nicholson, in Erie in 1883 to manufacture stationary industrial steam engines. Recognizing that the market for such engines was maturing it began manufacturing steam shovels in 1914. This diversification took place following a conversation between Ball’s vice president Fred McBrier and A.C. Vicary, a salesman for Thew Shovel. Vicary had some forward-thinking ideas about improving the design, manufacture and marketing of steam shovels, and Ball hired him and applied his ideas. Ball used the name of its hometown as the trade name for its shovel line, as did Thew with its Lorain machines. Ball initially produced only two models, the 1/2-yard model A and the 3/4-yard B. The thinking behind this was to minimize costs by simplifying and streamlining manufacturing and service through the use of standardized, mass-produced parts that were interchangeable between the two models. Oddly, the Erie B’s introduction predated that of the A by about a year. The A and B could both be mounted on crawlers or steel traction wheels, and the B was also available with railroad wheels. The B could be set up as a shovel with various combinations of booms and dipper sticks for general, overburden, railroad ditching, or open-trench excavation. It could also be outfitted as a crane or dragline, although it had limitations as a dragline due to the low line pull typical of steam excavators. The Erie A and B were aggressively promoted, and their design concepts proved so successful that Ball dominated the small-excavator market. Ball Engine spun off its stationary steam engine lines in 1920 and became Erie Steam Shovel in 1922. The Erie B was replaced in 1925 by the B-2 Dreadnaught, a 7/8-yard excavator that was intended to be a transitional machine into the internal combustion excavators that were rendering steam obsolete. Bucyrus of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had also achieved considerable success with steam excavators, but had only a small share of the market for small machines such as the Erie A and B. To rectify this, Bucyrus merged with Erie to form Bucyrus-Erie in 1927, following Erie’s reorganization the year before under a new board that included two members of the Bucyrus board of directors. All production of Bucyrus-Erie small excavators was consolidated into the Erie plant, which remained open until 1984, when it was closed and sold as part of Bucyrus-Erie’s restructuring into a manufacturer solely of surface mining machinery consequent to the recession of the early 1980s. Bucyrus-Erie was renamed Bucyrus International in 1996; in 2011, Bucyrus was acquired by Caterpillar and became Caterpillar Global Mining. Source: eriehistory.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-ball-engine-company.html
Up coming videos will have that done. They were soaked later that day. Part 2 and 3 are still to come. I did hit the tracks with oil the week before this was filmed.
I'm here because I'm a model railroader, modeling steam logging era. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6QkeIhVVcRg.html We re-did a caboose. You guys went over the top! Looking forward to progress videos!
@@mattjmcguire00 This certainly does bring back childhood memories. Mike Mulligan was my favorite book as a child. I got it for my grand kids but it had no impact on them. I think you either like this stuff or you don't from a very young age.
Slap a fresh coat o' paint on 'er, she'll be alright for another hundred years! Crackin' job, fellas! Seriously though... It's damn near miraculous what you guys managed to achieve with a bit of heat, grease, persuasion and persiverence! Just looking at her, I didn't think she'd ever move again.
Now this is a real restoration project for you guys. Please make sure this restoration is well covered on this channel. This will build up this channel 👍
Great to see younger people saving a piece of history.I read mike mulligans steam shovel as a kid. Then had to buy the book for my grandson who's name is Mike mulligan.
Its always amazing how much help shows up when old iron is being Rescued Steam shovel-- old truck . Tractors etc ... old timers always Offer great advice and want to see it saved and see when restored .. my grandfather wants to see this running restored before he is buzzard food ( his own words ) he is watching this ... great video thanks
Well I hope we can achieve that for him, it's going to take us a few years for sure. I've collected antique tractors since I was a kid, and always loved talking to the great generation that would tell me how they cut their teeth on them when they were boys. Most of my tractors are from the 20s, so that generation is now gone, sadly.
I live in Erie pa and drive past the old bucyrus erie plant every day and it's cool to see the equipment that was made there 100 years ago... Good work guys
Very cool! Glad it was Saved! There was a 1907 or 1902 Steam Crane-Shovel here in MI rescued a few months back & Had been found in a lake! sitting since the 1940s or so. It was taken out and now awaiting a FULL Restoration! I hope the same for Erie.
Check out "exploring abandoned mines" channel here on RU-vid. Just a week or so back he posted a video of one of these abandoned waaaaay out in the Yukon. It's fully intact and still has tools in the cabin. It's in remarkably good shape. Maybe it was in BC. Anyway thought may be interested in seeing it.
Is rusty rescues one group of people or is it a bunch of different people uploading on the same channel? Also there is a spot in my town where there are a bunch of old heavy duty construction vehicles rotting away including a 1919 Mac truck, some very old cranes, and many other misc vehicles. Let me know if you’d be interested in checking them out. I don’t own them but I think i know the company that owns all of the vehicles
As Kip said, it's just us. I run this channel, and the shovels featured here belong to Nick and I. We're all gluttons for punishment and enjoy spending our free time helping each other with rescuing and preserving what history we can. I had been asked for years to start filming some of the stuff I drag out of the woods, so I finally started doing so with the Bucyrus Erie shovel rescue. Cheers and thanks for watching!
That's awesome and good to know, we'd love to find a shovel front for it, and would also be good do verify cable routing on a clam as that's our current intention.
Subscribed! I like the way you folks tried to preserve the beast as much as possible. The confidence of making something this heavy move under it's own power after 60 years outside in the Northeast is the definition of audacity! I'm anxious to see where you go with this project.
@@baycitynick697 Interesting.. There were two bridges that were built around that timeframe in Forestport.. There is one on Woodhull road that was built in 1948 and there's one on Rt28 that was built in the 30s and reworked in 1967. Good stuff! I drove by where you guys yanked that Erie out today.. Did you see the old Thew up in BC, Canada? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nrM_YuA1Rcg.html
I was going to comment on what a kick ass rescue this was, and give Jonathan W a shout out, but he beat me in the comments... Both of you folks do some great videos. I love to see our history saved in such ways. Thanks to all those who care enough to work that hard for history.
I do wish RU-vid would highlight these types of vids more often. History, like you guys are exposing, is a long lost treat in America. What our forefathers must have been like to produce and run these types of machines. Real men, for sure. Hopefully you will take the time to do a complete restoration like Squatch253 does with his equipment. Would be great to see how every single nut and bolt is restored. Please keep filming this restoration, it sure is fun to watch. Much love from the Mid-west.
I had the chance to resurrect and maintain (2) Smithco air compressors one was a 302 the other was a 460 ford engine..they were set up as one bank was the compressor and the other bank was the engine..I will tell you now that 460 would run circles around the IR p-175 we had and it was smaller and lighter to boot to the point our bobcat could pick it up and move it around the site with a simple chain..the owner of the company thought I was a God 😏
Yes, this machine will be under steam again. It will take several years as we all work full time and this is just a hobby; this one will be labor intensive, and expensive.
Great video and thanks for rescuing a great piece of history! Please share the back story on how you found a steam crane in the woods. I'm amazed it sat there all these years and was not rescued or scrapped.
I'm sure we can figure out a way while protecting the former owners privacy. I can tell you that the credit for it surviving this long goes to Pat (in video) and his late brother for keeping it from the torch. Some of its newer cousins weren't so lucky here.
@@baycitynick697 I look forward to hearing the story. Some of us only dream of finding these things in the woods or barn. Glad you guys are putting forth the time, energy, and expense to restore. Is there a local steam show where you plan on exhibiting when restored to operation? I recommend the book Erie Shovel Photo Archive by Donald Frantz www.amazon.com/Erie-Shovel-Photo-Archive/dp/1882256697 . The book has several pictures of type B in the crane configuration. No SN breakout in the book but lists the Type B manufactured from 1915 to 1924.
Gentlemen, this was a great watch! This machine is a testament to American ingenuity from a time when the country was growing at great speed. The men that designed, built and ran those machines are smiling down for sure. I hope she is reassembled and put on display for all to see.
Just found your channel. Subbed. Nice shovel. Don't see them in this good of shape out in the wild. You guys are doing a great job. Have to watch and see where you go with this! You guys have all the luck. Found some antique coal. Doesn't get any better than that
yea, I sadly gave up on oak island a few seasons ago. can't stand the way they produce it, and the constant repeated useless information they give, just empty guesses. this video though, amazing work. I'd love to see that thing in person.
Hi guys I'm Col Donnamarie Fuentes Dumont Lavallee and I am a retired army air corp special ops pilot and I am a retired heavy equipment operator and lowbed transporter and I 💕 love more than anything else in this world is all of yesterday's vintage cable crains and shovels and cable hoes and drag lines I have run a few steam machines and I owned a koring crane 304-1-A combination crane clam shell cable hoe and front shovel she had my favorite engine a D-318 -6- cyl caterpillar with gas pony start she ran so perfect outstanding machines I also had a bucyrus erie 88-B and a north Weston diesel electric shovel and I love 💕 my vintage machines their nothing anywhere else that has such outstanding and gorgeous history as the vintage shovels And I am a proud owner of my own vintage fighter bomber air craft that I keep on base I so 💕 love my and all vintage air craft I want to thank you all for the very hard work involved in the making of your extremely cool and outstanding videos I would love to live out were you all love that's my type and cherish of living life I also love all your other really cool and outstanding equipment I want to say thanks to pat for your extremely professional and outstanding operator skills When I see you guys having fun with your machines it brings me right back to the operators seat and that feels good thank you so much I hope you and your family are doing well and healthy and stay safe My ❤️ to you all COL Donnamarie Fuentes Dumont Lavallee
That was some amazing work, and for just one day! What's your plan for the boiler? Is it in good enough condition to restore and run? I've got a couple cable shovels myself and in our local heritage museum we have a steam engine and quite a few other pieces of old machinery, but here in Sweden there aren't many steam shovels so my oldest one is a 1941 diesel. Anyways amazing video and I'm looking forward to seeing more of this adventure!
Our plan is to have a boiler sonogram done to gauge its condition. The bottom of the boiler is rotted, but not uncommon around the coal grate area. Some research has been done on the cost of a replacement welded seam boiler, so it'll boil down to (no pun intended) what is the most economical route.
So basically nick is trying to say that 2 middle cylinders run the compressor it’s self and the other 2 run the engine your welcome I know every thing and I’m only 11
We did use an online air lubricator. I think the piston rings are stuck on one cylinder of swing engine. Bad blowby which is a real problem in a double acting cylinder!
Hi from the UK,great job getting the old girl moving again,hope to see the restoration progress,would this machine originally have two people running it? I'm assuming a driver and a stoker.
Often a three man crew. Engineer/operator, fireman/stoker, and a pit man or oiler to get water, engine the travel locks and steering, etc. This can't be done from the cab on these machines.
Man I’d love to join you guys on some of these rescues, love going to the pageant of steam (when it’s actually happening and not canceled due to covid).
These are the kinda vids I like , I`m old school too it`s know wonder people worked forever on these systems they moved so slow ,You wouldn`t want to get thrown around in one of these you`d be finished , I ran an old American & a link belt Mag crane and grapple they were bad enough greasing it while it was warming up Ya this ol boy is crying for lube them babbits are turning in spot LOL Good luck I`ll be watching .
Nick and I are very historically minded and always do our best to get as much of the story as possible related to anything rescued. To me, this is equally as important as the machine itself. In this case, if I recall correctly, the previous owners were the second owners, so most of its history is traceable with a little homework. I will try to talk about this in upcoming videos.
@@RustyRescues awesome. I wonder if the last guy who parked it ever thought it would sit so long, and that it would ever move again if it did. I love talking to old timers out in the sticks, they just contain tid bits of info that’s interesting. Like old buildings, equipment, old roads no longer used, etc..
QUESTION???? Why did they build a wooden house around the Operator? Was it original or added? For weather, I guess. Also, RU-vid!!! WTF??? Why have I been denied suggestions to these Guys all this time??? Since 2009 RU-vid has NEGLECTED to "suggest" this channel! WTFreak!!! NO! I do not care about iwannaweld.... Get a grip RU-vid!!!!!
Love seeing the old girl move again. Unfortunately, riveted boilers just can't get certification anymore. As a project, possibly but it is generally cost prohibitive. Looking forward to see the progress on the type B
Very cool. There is about a dozen old steam locomotives sitting on a siding rusting in Snoqualmie, WA. I'm an old mechanic. Every time I drive that way, I stop and walk among them and imagine what it would be like to take one into a big shed someplace, tear it down and begin restoring it. I can imagine that just restoring one would be a prohibitively expensive undertaking. Maybe that's why they all sit there rusting.
PLEASE tell us that this old sweetheart is going to be restored and made fully operational again - not as a workhorse - but as a living history for people to see and marvel over.
What kind of pressure were you using there? By my math which was meant as worst possible conditions at only 60psi you were putting more than 40 thousand pound feet of torque to the drive sprocket. Crazy to think that that wasn’t enough to break those tracks free! Awesome video! Edit: at 15 psi that would be more than 11,000 foot pounds.
