Vintage shots from days gone by!

SWI/Gary, great post, man! Yeah, that Marion looks similar to the Bucyrus that started going to Panama in 1904.

EVEN GREATER to know that some entities were considerate enough to PRESERVE one of these as an historic site! Mostly, such utilitarian equipment got SCRAPPED, routinely. Point of fact: The unique sisters "The Silver Spade" and "The GEM of Egypt" were completed in 1965 and 1967, respectively. BOTH were demolished in recent years. Wow. Anyway, I can remember as a kid when laws were way more lax, and pieces of heavy euqipment were often simply ABANDONED as they sat when a job was done, probably less useful motors, etc.

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A matter of scale! Cover photo of the Smithsonian
magazine, February 1973, showing the GEM at work.


The GEM at work, with Interstate 70 at upper-left.

Completed in 1967 by Bucyrus-Erie, The GEM of Egypt was one of only two mammoth Model 1950-B power shovels, the sister machine being The Silver Spade. Built in 1965, the "Spade" had a bucket capacity of 105 cubic yards of earth and rock, while the GEM's bucket moved a whopping 130 cubic yards (200 tons a bite). The slightly smaller Spade

Even at that, the Hanna Coal Co. strip-mining era in Ohio's Belmont and Harrison counties, where the two machines were deployed, consumed nearly a quarter-century. Both earth-movers were of a design called "knee-action crowd," licensed to Bucyrus-Erie by the designer and owner of the patent, Marion Power Shovel. In the deal, Marion was permitted to use Bucyrus' "cable-crowd" system.

I located these photos at: GEM of Egypt (www.midwestlost.com/locations/ohio/belmont/GEM.html).

 

In early 2007, a $2.6 million offer to buy and preserve the Silver
Spade failed, and it was scrapped. The cab and bucket, however,
are preserved at Harrison Coal and Reclamation Park on Stumptown
Road in Athens Twp., Harrison County, Ohio. Though this pic is public
domain, THANKS go to the WikiMedia Commons project.

 

I agree Gallipoli was a terrible waste of young ANZAC lifes and no doubt Churchill was responsible.

On the other hand without his leadership and personality, we British would probably all be speaking German now

 

Looks like J. Sainsbury on the right - one of the UK's leading Supermarket chains today.

Mart.

 

The Le Roy Marion

The world's largest steam shovel surviving intact is a 1906-built Marion machine, located in the small American town of Le Roy, New York.

This machine was bought by the General Crushed Stone Company, who operated the largest rock crusher in the world at a quarry in Le Roy. The shovel, which weighed over 100 tons, was originally mounted on flanged rail-wheels, but was converted to caterpillar tracks in 1923 using a conversion kit manufactured by Marion.

A crew of three men were required to operate it: a fireman, who kept the boiler fed with coal and water; a crane man, who sat on the left-hand side of the boom and tripped the 1 5/8 yard bucket by tugging on a wire rope attached to the bucket; and an engineer (or driver), who raised and lowered the bucket and drove the machine along the track.<SUP id=cite_ref-2 class=reference itxtvisited="1">[3]</SUP>
This shovel remained in use until 1949, when it was driven out of the quarry and parked by the main road – where it remains to this day, although no longer functional. The Town Council have purchased the land on which it sits, and are planning to apply (in March 2007) for National Landmark status for the shovel.
Note: The shovel and land are now a historic landmark.
So it should be preserved now for posterity.
(unless of course someone steals it.....LOL)

They were considering moving it to alexander NY to the site of the Alexander Gas and Steam show. Maybe a 20 mile trip, but nowadays an impossible route due to height, size, and weight.
More info:
Made Marion
by Lynne Belluscio
We almost missed the 100th anniversary of “Marion” the steam shovel on the Gulf Road. The 1906 Le Roy Gazette reported that the 100-ton steam shovel was manufactured in Marion, Ohio for the General Crushed Stone Company, which in 1906 operated the largest rock crusher in the world. The company needed a shovel to load stone from the quarry into the small railroad cars that conveyed the large stones to the crusher. The steam shovel was known as a 5-yard dipper. Originally, when the Marion came to Le Roy, it moved on railroad tracks, which had to be laid in the bottom of the quarry. A crew of men relaid the tracks when the shovel moved to a new rock face.
In 1921 the Marion Company manufactured a “kit” to change the railroad wheels to caterpillar tracks but it wasn’t until 1923 or ’24 that the Le Roy shovel was adapted to caterpillar tracks. The Marion shovel worked in the quarry for forty three years and in June 1949 it was driven out of the quarry by Manny Stefani and parked near the edge of Gulf Road where it is now. One of the locomotives and a tip car were displayed with it. (Several years ago, General Crushed Stone gave the “Dinky” to a collector near Syracuse and it was moved, much to the dismay of all the people who had worked in the quarry!)
The Le Roy shovel is called a partial swing shovel since it doesn’t move 360 degrees. The main frame is mounted on two all-steel heavy-duty trucks (sometimes called bogies). The axels are driven by chains and gears from the main, reversible engines on the deck of the shovel. The power for the equipment is a locomotive-type boiler with reversible hoisting, swinging and thrusting (or crowd) engines.
The Le Roy shovel has the original Marion boiler, although it is not in operating condition. The lower flues are badly rusted and the doors are broken. Attached to the front of the frame, or car, is the swing circle, on which is mounted the excavating equipment which consists of the boom, the dipper handle, the dipper and the thrusting engines. Unfortunately the thrusting engines are mounted on the boom and have been exposed to the weather and are full of water. The other two engines seem to be in working condition. The boom is split which allows the swing of the dipper handle. The dipper is made of heavy steel plates and the teeth are made of manganese steel. Kermit Arrington told me that his father often removed and sharpened the teeth.
The steam shovel was invented by an American, William S. Otis in 1836. It was the first efficient dry-land single bucket excavator and was a partial swing machine, like the Marion in Le Roy. The full swing, revolving shovel was introduced in 1884 in England. The advantages of the revolving shovel was eventually recognized and the railroad shovel was doomed.
Although it has been rumored that the Le Roy Marion had been used to dig the Panama Canal, that is not the case.

 

The automobiles of peach pickers are parked in front of a large hay stack in Delta County, Colorado in 1940. Peak peach season is from late June to early July in the South; July and August in the North. The best peaches are produced when weather conditions are ideal, with no late frosts.

 

Those big buckets are incredible. I prefer something smaller...

 

Hard to say when this was taken, maybe the 1950's. Looks like an electric trike for the disabled, complete with fenders and at least one light. Amusement ride in background?

 

"dude,"
"they got this new site called the hamb,
lets stay here while they take our pics,
we're gonna be famous someday"

 

Worth a second look,,
Nice original,
Damn thats nice,,
think I found my woody,

 

Here are some more. Some are family photos, some are ones I scanned from the Ellsworth Historical Society and others were donated to the EHS but had no information on them. I thought you all may enjoy some of them.

 

V8Nutter said: "I agree Gallipoli was a terrible waste of young ANZAC lives and no doubt Churchill was responsible. On the other hand without his leadership and personality, we British would probably all be speaking German now."

Jimi: Well and tightly said. Winnie's military experience began in the Boer War and WWI, so he knew his stuff. AND he knew the RISKS involved in military strategy. I hate to put it this way, but he knew the importance of being pragmatic when the stakes were perilous (besides Gallipoli in WWI, he also endured sharp criticism for blasting the French fleet in the Mediterranean in WWII). So, he didn't win 'em all, but his judgement, influence and leadership were just what was needed in WWII. It seemed sad to me that he was immediately replaced as PM, once the war ended.

I'll add: Winston had the sharpest wit since Oscar Wilde! He was insulted by the best and ALWAYS beat them with a curt retort! My favorite was when a lady at an evening gathering took exception with his well-known love of spirits.

"You, sir, are drunk!" she snorted.

"That may be true, madame," he replied. "But you are ugly. In the morning, I will be sober."


Photo THANKS to TheGentlemanBlog!

 

Here you go...

 

Bowling was great in the 1950's and early '60's..

 

...ditto...

 

Trying to find one of these puppies to say you'ld be home late was not always easy.


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1950's.

 

Small world, my company built the body on that truck. Picture is in San Francisco. I also have pictures of Acme trailers from same period I can post one of these decades.

 

Then there was the stuffy old gal who said "Mr. Churchill if you were my husband I'd poison your tea." Winnie responded "Madam if you were my wife I'd drink it."

 

Looks like a metal roof !

 

great shot of '53 Corvettes!!.... especially the coupe and station wagon models.

 

aka the Corvair and the Nomad. Plans for production as a separate line based on the look of the '53 Vette were scrapped.