Just saw this video of a steamshovel in operation, I never realized they were this fast!

https://i.imgur.com/IZEMzpK.mp...mgur.com/IZEMzpK.mp4



https://i.imgur.com/IZEMzpK.mp4

If you don't recognize the title, it's from a childrens book titled "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...and_His_Steam_Shovel

Still a good book, get a copy and read it to your kids or grandkids!

I haven't thought of that book in a lifetime. Wouldn't even have remembered it if you had did not mentioned it.

That's great footage. I am thinking back to the 1950s when they used to put up board fences around construction sites and you would watch the shovels and other heavy equipment through a knothole or viewing port. And yes, Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne occupy a very warm place in my inner child's heart. Thanks for posting!

Reminds me of one of my trips to Brazil. We were driving along a rural road and along side it were a dozen or so men standing in a trench with picks and shovels moving dirt. I asked the engineer with us what they were doing. "Burring a fiber optic cable" was the reply. I commented that 1 guy with a backhoe could have it done in a day. The response was "but then what would they do?"
I sometimes think we are about at that point in this country.
C.G.B.

So much for speak and spell. I think it is burying?.
C.G.B.

quote:

Originally posted by cgbach:
Reminds me of one of my trips to Brazil. We were driving along a rural road and along side it were a dozen or so men standing in a trench with picks and shovels moving dirt. I asked the engineer with us what they were doing. "Burring a fiber optic cable" was the reply. I commented that 1 guy with a backhoe could have it done in a day. The response was "but then what would they do?"
I sometimes think we are about at that point in this country.
C.G.B.

To quote Andrew Wilcow of talk radio fame, if they really wanted to give the people employment, instead of 100 guys with shovels, make it 10,000 guys with spoons!!

Goes along with the same theory of if $15 per hour minimum wage is the answer, why not make it $150 per hour?

Remember FDR's program of the WPA? Not much new under the sun. It did help to bring us out of the depression but the real boost to America's economy was our victory in war 2. For once, "A chicken in every pot". Lets see how long that lasts with our current national mentality of folks feeling entitled to a fine life just because they exist!

All that smoke reminds me of the first pipe hauling trucks I drove.

At night pulling the big hills the glow from the fire was bright enough to read by. 1 or 2 mpg too

George

We need 10,000 of these in California!

They need their brains corrected.

Ever since they went CLEAN, common sense disappeared!

May be pollution is good for us!

They don't even know that it takes real men and machines and labor to get things done in this world.

They would be lost and helpless without their keyboards.

Interesting! Thanks for the post!

These days many excavators in face shovel and back hoe configuration will give draglines a run for their money, and often better them due to flexibility if you keep large trucks up to them.

Love seeing old shovels work.

Every time I use a shovel.

I realize how great power equipment is.

Indeed! When I was much younger, I dug all the ditches here on my property for the water + power lines, by hand; there is no way I could do that today. In the late 80s, when the market fell out of the construction industry, an electrician buddy of mine wanted to know if I wanted to use his CASE ditching machine to run a LV line the 1/2 mile to my gate. I said, Hell, yeah. So I used it that weekend + it was the difference between day + night. I asked him why the hurry to use it + he told me that as there was NO work happening, the new banker was threatening him because of his 20K note for the machine that he also put up his old truck for collateral. He said that the old banker had worked with him + he paid what he could when he could with every intention on paying the loan in full, but then this new pup comes in all high + mighty + making immediate demands, so I figured if he wants that old pick-up + trencher in lieu of 20K, I will give it to him 1st thing Monday morning. He did, too. I was grateful for the use over the weekend.