Lorain Cable Shovel Saved from the Scrap Yard! (Worth the trouble?) 

Apparently Lorain is now owned by Terex. You should make a reaction video of you at the local Terex dealership trying to order parts for this rig...

Years ago, when I was an apprentice operator for our local Operating Engineers, I was shown very briefly how to start an old "Cable-8" (D-8) dozer that had the pony motor setup. Once I showed I could get it running, I was let loose on clearing an old growth area on a river bottom that was to be a new soccer complex for kids. That was my 'break in' to operating heavy equipment! After the dozer, I was then put on a Cable-8 with a scraper and taught how to scrape and stock pile the black dirt and then how to follow grade for cuts and fills. It was the beginning of learning the basics before I was put with a company that had nothing but the newest, greatest CAT equipment with AC/heat cabs, tunes, etc. This was all before GPS and all that, but it was an incredible 13 years of my life! I enjoyed not only running all those big, yella toys, but especially NOT having to be the guy repairing them, lol! That said, I was a very good operator and I never thrashed the equipment - treated it as it were my own. The mechanics appreciated that, as there were other operators that (wonder why) their equipment was always breaking down. Love this video! Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine at 6'2" crawling in under there like you did!

As a 22 year commercial aircraft mech, I admire and can watch this kind of content all day. Wouldnt be caught dead watching anything aviation related, lol.

Christine: “I’m the coolest piece of equipment in this yard!” Loraine: “Hold my beer.”

Considering how her diesel started and ran, and how she broke loose, I'd say Sweet Lorain is a good name for her.

This is fantastic. It’s always good to revive an old piece of history. There’s nothing like an old piece of mechanical equipment with no electronics or computers. Keep up the good work.

My grandfather started as a machine operator on steam shovels working in a granite pit in VT. He passed away in 2010. Seeing these kinds of machines make me think he's likely used a machine like this sometime during his career. I got to see him cut in a road on a mountain side in 1996. He had that excavator rocking and rolling. It was pretty awesome to see even as an older man he still had what it took.

I cannot TELL you how much I am enjoying your channel and the videos!! I am a professional archaeologist with a passion for earthmovers - especially the old, rusted iron - and your channel combines my love of both! I'm also an avid collector of antiques, many of which are old rusted earthmover toys (bulldozers, haul trucks, etc.). I've been completely hooked on your videos since discovering them a week ago, and I cannot thank you enough for your ongoing efforts to save these wonderful, old machines. For me, the best I can do is photograph them in my adventures to find them. But it does my heart good knowing that people like you are bringing them back to life, preserving and restoring such an important part of our history. From the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU!!

Hi Mat, I grew up in a small country town and when I was a kid back in the early 1950's they put a new bypass road through the paddock between our place and the neighbours, and they used the block behind our house as their vehicle park. What I remember most about all this is, every morning all the pony motors starting just after dawn. It was winter and often got down bellow zero so these would run for quite a while, while everything warmed up, then one by one they stated their main engines and trundled off down their new road to work. All those little exhausts pipes blowing into the cold misty air. Magic🙂

The old Caterpillars used here in northernmost Sweden had a rule. When you have run the pony engine with the diesel engine engaged for 25 minutes and it has not started, then it is too cold to work.

I’m 81 and watch you often. It’s encouraging to see a young man with a work ethic and business sense. I’m looking for to watching you get your new shed up and especially your home in the woods.

There was a company , Ruston & Hornsby based in Lincoln, England, and they went into partnership with Bucyrus-Erie based in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. The resultant product bearing the name 'Ruston Bucyrus' we kids used to call them Rusty Piecrusts 🤣 . I remember seeing their cable draglines and shovels working in the nearby quarry here in the UK, when I was a small kid back in the late 1950's, early 60's, great to watch your resurrection of this venerable old girl, another great easy to understand video Matt, well done.

Getting this machine moving and functioning is a huge accomplishment. I think this old girl needs to keep her battle scars, each one is a story. Fix her joints, tune the moving parts and mechanics as close to factory as possible. Use something to stop the rust. Then let those who enjoy heavy equipment appreciate her history and beauty. She had a life, keep it going. Imagine the operators in the seat. Imagine the job sites. Imagine the work she was built to do. True beauty is more than paint deep. Jon...

Love it. I often stop and take a look when I drive by old steel cable shovels/excavators.

I was born in Lorain, Ohio where your Crane was built. Back then the factory was called "Two Shovel". I'm 75 years old.

Years ago, I used a cable driven backhoe to dig in a water line at my FIL's salvage yard. It was truck mounted, with the truck having a frozen engine, so we pulled it around with a wrecker. It had a bit of a learning curve as you have figured out, but it was fun to operate. The issue was to coordinate the foot brakes' engagement with the cable drums' disengagement. Get it wrong and the boom will do a lot of slamming. Fortunately, I didn't break it while learning. It won't be nearly as convenient as a hydraulic backhoe, but it's a novel way to get the job done. Enjoy!

Crazy. Thew-Lorain was a company that made these in my hometown of...Lorain, Ohio. Now the city is another casualty of the rust belt.

All of these Antique Catipillars, Lorains, Shovels are immune to EMP blasts! Amazing that something that looks so ancient can be brought back to life!

What a treat to see that old dog even close to functional! My dad had an old D4 with that pony motor, had a rope pull starter on it! Always a thrill to hear that Diesel engine take off!

„Industrial revolution“ right in front of our eyes: Does the job of at least 6 men with a shovel in half the time! Great job of bringing it back to life, but also respect to the people who invented and built it in first place! It‘s normal now, but somebody had to figure this all out!

When you crawled in the machine on top of those clutches, I got cramp in both my legs just watching 😂😂 great video, good to see another one saved

Be careful, Ive known two equipment operators in my lifetime who were killed by cable snap on similar machines. Operator safety and reliability were the main reasons everything switched to hydraulic.

Amazing job Matt and Mike!. Nice to see someone who can turn an actual wrench. Too many players on RU-vid break everything down with a Milwaukee fuel impact, and don't show the ins and outs like getting a 6'2" person over the drag link clutches.

Hello 1,27,24, Matt and all. I am 84 years old and in 2 months will be 85, and I watch Diesel Creek everyday. new day 3.3 and 738k subs, it is really nice to see that MATT is doing so well. I do enjoy watching and see all he is showing. be well, be safe.

the mechanical engineering of all those clutch assemblys, cable windings and output shafts is an absolute thing of beauty. thanks for sharing!

Nostalgia brought to the forefront. I live in Lorain and my Grade School was directly across the street from Thew Lorain. In fact being an old you know what, I was 9 when this was built (1956?) and may have actually seen this unit being tested. At recess, we would often watch the workers run the machines through their paces prior to shipment. Very happy to see you get it going again. Thew was well known throughout the country and the Lorain badge was seen all over the world. Thanks for a great video.

Well done Matt, I would never have thought you were 6'.2! That's one tight spot! I'm 5'.11 and my brother's 6'4 &1/2! He is a mechanic too and owns vintage machines! If I wasn't disabled, I think I would have been also!

Matt, I have in recent times been in locations where its so cold that the pony motor has its own detachable pony motor which you keep inside to stop it from freezing and both the main and pony motor has built in heaters again to stop the oil in them from freezing solid

My grandfather ran the cable rigs, starting in the 20's as an oiler. Everyone started as an oiler!

What happened to that old drag line you bought, Matt?? Thought this vid was about that old drag line at first.......I'm not mad, love seeing old hunks of iron come back to life....your happiness is infectious and spills over to us, your fans. Same effect Muste1has, hearing his cackle of mirth driving around an ATV, golf cart, moped, go cart, or boat he just resurrected from a "free" junk pile. I've never worked on a diesel engine, but after hours watching vids from you and others that also rescue abandoned iron...like Marty T, down in NZ or Northwest Pacific Hillbilly, who is restoring an old CAT D-4...from a manual. Reminds me of me.....if I don't know how to do something...I read how, and I do.......Mostly because I'm poor and can't afford to pay someone...but more like I'd just rather do it myself. I'm encouraged to go out , find some old broken down hunk of junk and breathe life back into it..................................................................HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, RIGHT, IM 72 AND POOR AS A CHURCH MOUSE...Thanks , Matt for allowing all of us to vicariously live your life. (Couldn't do it without you...lol)

Now I'm in love in 1970 I got to operate something much like that. LOL, it was a beast. The old guy showing me the ropes gave me a few lessons. Then said you're on your own don't hurt yourself or anybody else. Oh ya. Don't damage or break the shovel or anything else. Since then think I've operated everything other than a train and a plane lately I've taken to cranes. Some towers mostly Mobiles up to 200. I almost feel like I've retired. LOL 😆 😱

Man, you guys are fantastic! When that pony motor revved up to full rpm I smiled ear to ear. I thought my face was going to break. And then it just got better and better. That diesel engine purrs like a kitten. How fantastic is that. And when that boom first moved I liked to wet my pants lol. Then all of a sudden it is knuckling and everything. Then the darn thing piroets 90 degrees! Looked like a swan doing the ballet. This is one of the most entertaining videos I have seen on RU-vid. I watch everything from Opera to airshows to bulldozers at work and now this old excavator from my childhood. I actually sat in one of these in 1958 when I was four years old. It was parked next to our home on Grove Avenue in Harahan Louisiana there to help develop a new subdivision right behind our house. Hard to believe that was 64 years ago.

It amazes me how these were designed with only a pencil, paper and a slide ruler! Before the age computers and they performed the jobs required of them.

We want to see a full restoration on this one, like you did for Christine!

Love your site! I'm a 80-year woman, my husband had a TD6 and a D4 Cat , I did a lot of work on the repairs and help run them too. i would laugh when someone asked were the steering wheel was on the D4.

Grew up in Lorain, Thew shovel made this . Lorain was a great industrial city, US steel, American shipbuilding , Ford assembly. Than came the rust belt .. Glad someone cares about the old stuff.

This reminds me of “Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel”. I loved that book.

When I was a boy, I remember watching these machines dig trenches for sewer lines. They are poetry in motion!! Watched them for hours.

Glad I found Your channel,been a heavy equip. Operator going on 45 years, about 15 on draglines. I just love this old stuff and happy to see people like You saving history. That Lorain is a beauty!

Great save. I'm happy to know that it won't be scrapped. Those were the machines I watched for hours as a kid. Yeah, I'm 80, and there is no going back.

My mother's dad used to be a 'steam engineer' who at one point in the early 20th century operated a steam shovel preparing earthworks for a new railway junction in a regional center.

In the UK, we call the small starter engine a "donkey engine" where you in the States call in a "pony engine". We could only afford a donkey to your classy pony! I always like noticing the small local differences in technical names. Nice job in saving the old girl there Matt. A very worthwhile thing. In many years to come, people will loook back at this video to appreciate that it would likely have been lost forever if you had not taken her into the Diesel Creek stable. As you say, she helped build the world.

Those are exactly what I worked on in 1964 as a Navy Seabee Construction Mechanic. but sadly most of which I have forgotten over the years. While you are working on things like this much comes back.

I had an '52 P&H backhoe W/ a Dodge 6 cyl gas engine mounted on and '45 army 6X6. I poured so much $$ trying to restore it when I was in my mid twenties. One time I was demonstrating it at a show only half fixed (No brakes, just clutches) and lost control of the stick. As it fell, it knocked over a 75 YO guy, and the bucket's teeth dug in the ground within 1 foot of the guy's shoulder. He, and I, were very lucky that day. Thank God it been turned into new cars by now.

Gives a whole new meaning to pre-inspection. Next time I am complaining about checking and greasing my machine I’m going to think twice about this Lorain. Matt, thank you so much for sharing this video with us. Knowing how near and dear this old machine is to you and seeing you guys working on it so diligently and carefully really made me feel like part of the family.

The coolest thing about this in my opinion is that you now own a piece of equipment with it's own engine room!

Congrats on getting this old girl running. Nice to see that there are people that appreciate the old stuff. I will toot the horn on my Model T in honor of this event.

Mr.Matt I love watching your channel you have a lot of knowledge. I'm 13 years old and I love small engine repair. I like to watch your videos and get your knowledge. I have a 2003 Honda Rancher 350 with a warn 3000 pound winch an led light bar led headlights and itp midnight tires. I mow and weedeat to get money to work on it. I'm saving for an international cub to use for a roughcut mower.keep up the good work,and God bless you.

When they were building the Alaskan Highway a lot of the Dozers had Pony motors. If needed you could run the Pony motor and spin the diesel engine for an hour or more to get the oil and engine warmed up until it would start. I worked on an old flat head six cylinder gas engine once and the oil on the dipstick looked absolutely fresh from a can, had not been run for years. I was suspicious and checked the oil pan. Condensation on the inside of the engine had run down the inside and pulled all of the chunks, carbon, metal, etc out of the oil and to the bottom of the oil pan. If I had cranked it I would have pumped pure water plus chunks (no oil filter) plus gummed carbon and gum into the bearings. I drained ALL of the oil, with a lot of water, trash and dirt out and put in new oil. Since then I have always checked the bottom of any reservoir in something that has sat for more than about six months.

Matt you did a great job loading the shovel, even with no experience with the old girl, what a day you had. Job well done😊👍👍👍

My Dad was an operating engineer when this rig was In its heyday. Before the adventure of hydraulic powered equipment. I'm sure he would have had a b in smile on his face watching this video.

My uncle was an oiler on drag lines and cables shovels. He was 64 and 265 lbs. he use to have hand crank pony motors. He taught me how to engage the clutch’s to start the main motor. That was in the mid 60’s. And some coal mines were still open then

I love that old shovel! Great save! It's got the same motor as the one in "Old Red"! Great motors!

*- Wonderful ! ! !* *- 3366 hours **8:51* *- Congratulations to you, Matt, and to Lorain for finding a happy home to live with ! ! !*

I just Love these Old Power Shovels….The “Pride” of the Fleet Once Upon a Time….

You did it again Matt, you found yourself another "Beauty of History"!!

Make sure you turn the fuel off to the pony motor to kill it. Otherwise fuel will leak down and contaminate the oil.

That sure was a exciting day! Glad it finally made it to the show I was getting worried for a minute haha

I'm a new subscriber and I believe that my father built that crane at Thew Shovel in Lorain, Ohio. It brings back memories.

You're saving history man this is awesome. This is the kind of stuff we need to focus on in America today. 🇺🇸👍🏻🇺🇸

Matt: When you hoard something and everyone calls it junk, and then the day comes when it fits something, that is when you feel "wise", not just cheap.

I cannot be the only one of your subs to have let out a cheer when you finally got the Larain loaded! Just waiting to see more of the same entertainment Matt. Both yourself and @SalvageWorkshop have an amazing gift of restoring these great old machines. Keep it coming😊

Yeah bro you brought history back alive I'm retired diesel mechanic and I used to run a 210 bantam about the same size as that

I got tired watching this and had to take a nap. lol Very happy to see a bunch of you guys saving these old machines.

Excellent video Matt. Keeping old and older equipment running is about like opening a restaurant; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and you still need another 12 hours a day to catch up on all the things you didn’t get to because you were taking care of other things that also require your immediate attention 😱. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Keep the aspidistra flying!

Well, after watching for about 5 minutes or so I thought there must be enough video's sorting this out to keep me happy for years, but guess what after an hour she starts on the button lifts up stretches out , runs backwards and forwards, all that's left is a coat of paint and to watch you dig a few trenches. Well sorted as always love everything you do, i'm sure you'll find lots of interesting stuff to keep me and everyone else happy.

My uncle has a D6 with a manual start pony, 1956 I think. One of my favorite memories with him is going out to run it and we couldn't find the hand crank. He told me to go get the 1/2" socket set behind the seat of the truck. He put a 12-pt socket on the stub to start the pony, turned it just so, and with 1 good yank the pony fired right off. There is something really neat about coming up to a dozer and being able to start it without a battery anywhere.

As a boy I remember seeing these. I’m 75. In HS I worked in a shipyard in CT that had a similar one. An old mechanic kept it running. It was used to cable lift cabin cruisers on cradles. Loved watching it work. Great video. Go for it!

Damn ! I remember starting the day filling oil cups and grease caps on a gravel pit shore plant, 52 years ago, how time flies ! Now I think about it, the very first thing was priming the priming pump, with a rope and bucket about 7’ above the water, you had to go fast, you got wet, lovely about 6.30 in he morning !

Just saw you squeeze into position to oil the pony motor ... can you say "MUSCLE CRAMP!" My uncle had a construction company back in the '50s and another uncle worked with him. Stories they told kinda come to life with some of your old equipment videos. Great content and really enjoy your enthusiasm!

Hello sir, i just found your channel and you basically brought back my childhood with my dad and grandpa because they had AMERICAN draglines and i used to work on and drive them when i was about 11 man i miss being on a dragline.... thank you

"Feels so good to use something you've been hoarding for years" never a truer word spoken

Watching this brought back memories of my childhood when I volunteered at a railroad museum. I will never forget the day when they finally got the diesel locomotive to start. It used a pony motor as well.

Back in my day there was a lot of places that would cook the tops and bottoms off , run the core and tanks throw acid bath . Fix almost any radiator , unless a person ran the fan or meteor though it . Look amazingly like new . Painted and leak free , for less than a third of the cost of new one ! Oh the old days ! Looks like a very comfortable seat to spend eight to ten hour days in , plus air conditioning ! Machines that were way ahead of its time .

You have yourself a museum folk would pay to come and see the old machines working both young and old to reminisce. Very good you certainly now your stuff

This is fantastic and I just love seeing older industrial hardware and vehicles saved and working again. When I grew up this was the sort of "shovel" in all the books and even cartoons. It would be great to blast and paint her up all nice and yellow again for later generations. You are also super lucky to have a friend who borh knows and is willing to get his hands dirty. I wish I had people like that in my life!

Matt, it's a testament to the kind of person you are that you have friends like Mike, a guy who would come over to help a buddy multiple times. Great videos. Keep up the good work. It's a great thing you're doing as you're preserving all of this old steel.

Matt, be very careful and replace those cables before too long. if one of those cables breaks, it could quite literally rip you in two. there was a reason why they were replaced by hydraulics.

I am so glad that there are people out there that still care about these old machines like yourself Matt. You put blood sweat (maybe even a tear or two off camera) into every machine and video, it's clear as day that you're passionate about what you do and it makes it all the more enjoyable to watch along, Diesel Creek cap on my head. Keep it up man.

I get tired and had enough of a modern day excavator by the time 3pm rolls around...back in the day they were made of tough stuff. Great to see the Donkey engine do it's thing 👍👍

Love seeing the old school equipment that has sat for years run and operating again. Nice job guys. 👍👍

Matt, I agree the Autocar should come first. 🙂 But just to throw in my two cents about restoring this ol’ shovel - I think mechanically do a full restoration. But the patina suits her, and a shiny new paint job would look odd.

That old shovel is a treasure. And so are guys like Matt and his buddy who save these old machines. 👍

This old stuff is so much better , no crazy electronics to fail , just good old quality , solid , dependable , repairable all metal engineering .

I’m surprised how nice and quiet that old cat runs. It’s like a modern machine. All the old machines I see all seem to be straight piped

57:08 I think one of the nicer features of this old machine, mostly for the sanity of the operator, is the lack of beeping...

In 1974 I worked as a shovel oiler in an open pit iron mine in northern Minnesota. The operator taught me how to run them. We were stripping the Earth off of the iron ore with old electric Bucyrus-Erie and Marion shovels. You shovel video reminded me of those days when I was learning to operate them. Greatest worry was knotting or twisting the cables on the reels. Your shovel is difficult with all the levers, I just had two swing foot pedals, left and right and two levers, one for hoist and one for crowd, with buttons one them for horn and dump. Was fun.

Great Job guy’s ! Really enjoyed how you made this happen from the trade all the way to getting it to the show 👍👍. One thing that sets your channel up from many out their is just that, you make things happen with all of your many talented friends from start to finish in one show without dragging it out over 5 or more shows which is torture 🙄. Love that your saving these wonderful pieces of our America’s history. My grandfather was a diesel and heavy equipment mechanic and operator back in the 50’s -70’s. I remember when he was involved building the newest road from route 7 starting outside Troy NY over the mountains through Bennington VT into route 9 into Keene NH. I was in awe Of just what those men and equipment did blasting their way through those mountains with boulders Bigger than the cape cod I’d grow up in ! Those men were tough and knew how to rig equipment to the steep cliffs and repair machines. Our country was built from those mens abilities and that equipment you love so dearly. Thanks again to all of you who are out their saving those amazing machines from the scrappers, plus Why would you want the metal from those machines going to build cars not even made in the USA !!

You notice the two levers in front of you are close together for a reason as we used one hand to alternate between those and the other on the swing. Whether loading dirt or converted to load logs, we ran them a good ten hour day average with summers allowing a the twelve to more hours a day. When I got on my first hydraulic machine, called a prentice or something close, it had tons more power than it needed, if you crowded a lever wrong, it blew the hose off of it pronto. It was standard oils buddy. I hated running it till after a year of it got on a brand new cat. It even had the high cab and so went from loading seven to ten loads a day of logs, off highway loads so they made three highway loads to doing from fifteen to a high of thirty five loads in a twelve hour day. I held that record for a few years then a young boy named Butch who his dad like myself a good friend came out and showed me up like a step child. It was just before I got drafted so you can do the math........ after that I figured to never see many cable machines but boy howdy was I ever wrong as alaska and the islands didn't get the message that there was a better machine till some were worn out and then shipped out for us to fix and use.

Worthwhile trade for the Clark. Seem to remember the Let's Dig load up video mention this machine was 1940s early 50s vintage and I can tell you for a fact adult men were smaller then. Been to air shows back in my 20s when it was a fit, tail chasing, ass kicking hard body and opted to get up in a B25 the way the crew would have rather than the cheater rolling stairs and it was a snug, "am I going to get stuck" fit even for me. Additionally about 5 or 6 years later when my late wife and I were just out of our just friends stage and wanted to attend the more formal dances at some of our scifi conventions both of us being history nerds in addition to being just regular nerds got the idea of attending in historically accurate WWII garb. She was able to find a couple of nice vintage dresses but while I found multiple sets of era correct US Army and Army Air Corp pinks and greens they were all way too small for my 5'8 128 frame.

From 1960 to 1978, I was raised across the street from the Thew Shovel factory, in Lorain Ohio. I watched them roll by as they were shipped out world wide. Thanks to 1980-82 and imports, that all came to an end. Nice to see some of them being given life again.

I am amazed this thing was running by the end of the video. What an old beast .love it .

Never had a doubt!! It's always a good day when you can save a piece of history. Now it's safe and reunited with its family at its forever home. Freaking fantastic! It's not every day you get to rescue something that helped build our country. Excellent job Matt.

If the hardest part of getting her up and running was getting her on the trailer, its been going pretty smoothly. Might be a good idea to put a heavy coat of bedliner on your trailer so those track pads have a little something to hold onto. Or maybe some guides like Mike had on his old trailer to keep it from sliding off the side. Keep up the good work on keeping the old stuff running.

I really appreciated your video for a number of reasons and chief among them is the fact I was born in Lorain, OH where this excavator was manufactured by the Thew Shovel Co. Although the company ceased operations many decades ago some of the equipment they built is still around as you've shown us. So whenever I see a "Lorain" it always holds a special place in my heart.

You guys just Rock. Unbelievable, you managed to turn it on and make it work and role and so on. What a powerful knowledge you have got. Simply Bravo!

17:05 You’re the steam shovel from this chrildren’s book I used to read “Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel”. To compete with new gas shovels she dug a basement so fast she forgot to leave a way out, so they just kept her in there and turned her into the building’s furnace

That’s awesome buddy I believe in keeping stuff from the scrap yard even though I used to scrap for a living lol but we have to keep stuff and show it off so history’s preserved it is amazing what they worked with back in the early days of machines thanks for sharing

Chris,and Mike two of the best when it comes to moving dirt.

Man it’s nice to see another PA diesel mechanic that gets all the Sling Blade and O Brother quotes too! Keep up the good work!