Monster Mining Machines — How Draglines Work
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Published 2024-03-15
What the heck is a dragline, and how do they work? We’ve got the answers!
We’re back with North American Coal to tour one of their massive draglines. These machines are the largest earthmovers in America, capable of moving well over 100,000 cubic yards of material per day.
Using steel cables, they drag monster buckets through the earth, filling them in seconds. Then, they unload by tipping the bucket as they swing, flinging the dirt into huge piles.
Without these machines, millions of Americans would be without power!
All Comments (21)
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Man they keep the old girl looking good. Inside and out. Draglines are way cool. Makes those little 3/4 yard machines I used to operate look very insignificant. Thanks Aaron for doing what you do. For an old gear head it's fun to watch. Cheers
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1:54 That machine is 106 days short of operating 10,000 days. The most custom piece besides the bucket is the drive gear. I wonder how many individual sections it was cast in and if any of the sections of drive gear have been replaced.
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Awesome video. As a retired heavy equipment operator i don't think i would last long doing that unless the pay was real good. After running a excavator for years loading on and off road trucks this would make my brain rot fast .The boredom is hard to overcome. And the machine actually runs on coal , because without coal .... theres no electricity.
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What impresses me the most are the engineers who designed this monster and also created machines to make the parts for this.
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I was fortunate enough to work 7 shifts of Big Muskie only 4 months before she was decommissioned. A true behemoth!
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re reference, the machine hours indicates that one particular machine has been running for 28 years of its 40 year life span. WOW
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Everybody gangsta until the drag line starts WALKING...
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The bucket and the amount of dirt it holds is tiny compared to the size of the machine. Just shows how difficult it is to move the earth
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the efficiency of these machines is so cool
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Nothing quite like the intertwining of man & machine feels so natural. The perfect bond
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It’s like moving a whole factory around.
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This is such a cool video. I worked for a heavy engineering company in Australia in the 70's called Perry Engineering. I operated a Skoda horizontal floor borer that machined the gear boxes and swing shafts for draglines.
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Awesome video, impressive point of view. 👌
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Awesome video brought back alot of good memories i got to run a drag line half that size at a limestone quarry in central Illinois that my dad worked at when i was a freshman in highschool it was an awesome experience
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The reliability of that machine is the most amazing part. To operate for 40 years is just NUTS!!
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I was lucky enough to not only get to see one of these in person but the guy knew the driver so he stopped the machine and let us onboard. The sensation of being in the cab while its swinging around and throwing its bucket is wild. So much weight
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my dad made the main spool drive gears (amongst other parts) for drag lines like these back in the 80's and they're still out there running today!
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Well you sort of got one thing wrong. I guess they didn't tell you, that if you were standing on the very end of the boom, when its swinging you'd be travelling between 60 - 80 miles per hour !!! Thats pretty damn fast for an earth moving machine!
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this is actually epic i would love to have your job aaron 👍great vids love the content keep it up
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Next time your up at Coteau, ask to see the coal handling facility and ask to maybe tag along with the dragline maintenance guys.
