Steam Shovels
https://archive.org/details/steamshovelminin00marsuoft/page/n4/mode/2up
Mike Mulligan at his best!
Isn’t it something that even though they haven’t been steam-powered for decades people still refer to power excavators as “steam shovels?”
Kind of like the term “steamroller,” who knows how long it’s been since an actual steam-powered one was in use?
Hey, the name fits, it sticks, and there you go.
Somebody say “Mike Mulligan?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQjHJKNyoUE
I just love happy endings! “Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! Tears of joy!”
This is one of the stories that has a not-happy ending in the PC anthology version: what happens when the municipal building has to start dealing with global warming CO2 emissions, sulfur and mercury pollution, and ash-disposal issues from that boiler in the basement?
The archived book on Steam Shovels in Mining was sent to me by a fella that asked about our Rexall Train thread. Retired from Bucyrus Erie . He has since sent me a lot more info that I could certainly use in my curriculum, even if its historical.
As to the PC crowd AOC types, wonder what George would say:
Germs !
George Carlin and a steamroller. This is the first time I heard him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqTiYUthX-4
Here’s a great example of real-life railroad customer service. “YOU’RE in the wrong place, not us!!!”
As an existing installation, it is initially grandfathered in.
As time goes on and regulations tighten, this story can go two ways (just like a ‘choose your own adventure’):
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The building is turned into the headquarters of a steam museum, and Mary Anne becomes a historic artifact, valued all the more because she remains operational and useful.
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The town installs scrubbers and a ash capture/removal system a-la the S.S. Badger, selling the ash to a local cement maker. They even add a CO2 capture system, some of which is diverted to the town’s retro soda fountain.
Steam Shovels
http://dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%3A47919/datastream/OBJ/view
http://dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%3A41432/datastream/OBJ/view
The Panama Canal is maybe the largest monument to the railroad steam shovel. See David McCullough’s classic “The Path Between the Seas”.
When I was a boy, I read a book we had that was named The Steamshovel Man. It told of a young man who worked on the construction of the Panama Canal, and I found it quite interesting.
I wish I had picked it up the last time I was in the house. Of course, if I taken all the books I wish I had taken, I would not have room to store them all.
Or #3: both, and then some. Let’s include pilot-plant torrefied fuel firing, and cogeneration.
A consummation devoutly to be wished…
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:
“Literacy! It’s a curse!” [:'(]
We have, and I’m not joking, 2,000 pounds of books here in the “Fortress Flintlock!” How do we know? The movers weighed 'em!
Here you go Johnny… read it at your leisure from the privacy of your own boudoir.
https://archive.org/details/steamshovelman00painiala/page/n7/mode/2up
It’s Mary Anne! She’s still alive!
Thank you, Man who Digs. It will take me a while, but I look forward to reading it again, after 70 years or so.