Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
The 1,200 ton Bucyrus-Erie 1150-B dragline known as "Oddball" was built on the 30th December 1948, to be used in the coal mine stripping operations in West Virgina U.S.A where it served 4 years. It was transported in the mid 50's to the UK and used in the coal industry in South Wales. It is an amazing piece of machinery -- it took an entire fleet of trucks to move Oddball to Commock, Stafforshire to resume it's work as a dragline in the mining industry there. Its final operation was for Miller Mining in Yorkshire. While Oddball may be referred to as a walking dragline its top speed was .04 kph, not typical for a walking dragline. To put this puppy in perspective -- Oddball is the size of 60 double deck busses.
While the "Big Muskie" is the largest dragline built to date (weight 27 million lbs), Oddball is the only dragline of it's class to have been preserved. At its final resting place (open to the public) at an opencast mine site just outside Leeds, Yorkshire, Oddball quietly lowered it's boom unaided.
The jib is 215ft long and it was capable of moving 20,000 tonnes a day. It moved the 50 metres to its final resting place on a foggy january day in 1999.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/002.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/029.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/013.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/025.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/008.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/027.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/020.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/019.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/023.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/016.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/006.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/010.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ddball/012.jpg
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
I love these pieces of kit, great write up and pics!
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
Nice one mate. It is massive. Glad it is there and not broken up for scrap.
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
Great stuff, always liked the look of this.
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
Nice to see our Industrial Heritage being preserved in this way:thumb
There use to be a similar type of crane at the Former Stewartby Brickworks, Bedford, near me.
Don't know what happened to it after the brickworks closed though:confused:
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
POTN used to stand for "plain old telephone network"
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mexico75
Thanks for clearing that up then KE :lol::rolleyes:
Seriously, along with PSTN (Public switched telephone network) and IDSN (Indistry standard digital network)
LOL :thumb
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
That's a chunky monkey! nice one fella! :thumb
Re: Report-"Oddball"-Swillington walking dragline-18/4/9
Nice one Ernie-good to see some internal pics! :smclap That main body reminds me of a BIG ship out of water! :w00t