Steam Digger From The Deep

somebody said the other day that there was a greater wealth below water throughout the world than there was on dry land I take it that they meant mineral wealth but they're certainly still a lot of treasure well this bygone special goes to owls in their bull dock to see the raising of one piece of treasure this in case you didn't know is what our grandfathers knew as a steam navi in 1909 this one was the very latest model fresh from the manufacturers in Lincoln a Navi was a digger large steam-powered crane and bucket that could do the work of a thousand men without complaint or fatigue they hissed and puffed and clanked and jogging every open pigeon quarry in the country Rustin and Proctor Lincoln was one famous firm which built navvies in all shapes and sizes fares were reliable and built to last for up to 20 years of hard service but one at 12 ton steam crane Navi did somewhat better than that when in 1902 Edward the seventh gave Ruston's works the seal of approval our Navi was not yet born with just a draftsman sketch on a paper well that was just memories from 70 years ago but our now be lived worked and was finally abandoned to the rising water here at our sea in Bedfordshire drowned but certainly not forgotten here which one is here a Hooley that's him on the left wanted that digger back in working order just as it was when George Albert last worked in 1931 there's George right near the Navy I started work on the machine was in the water in January 1918 are not working on it quite a long time and then we used to change over I used to go on the top road and a be a week and then on the bottom one for a week we use change avail it took rare only two years to plan his rescue scheme we started with a thorough inspection to see if it was really worth while you're plenty of volunteers especially for the underwater work but that can be dangerous and rare couldn't afford mistakes so he finally chose the Bedford sub-aqua Club simply because they were so safety conscious they wouldn't even let him go down Philippi that's the most extraordinary thing was the clarity of the water it was like best gin until disturbed so clear that the Subic were boys a little difficulty giving our another once-over yeah you'd never get to see where to put the Spanish as soon as you touch it all the visibility goes as soon as you touch the ping it's just gone what's it like for we didn't really look bad it's just all the sediment all over it so sort of okay you're gonna put a spin on it you won't even see where the span has gone over the problem they will cope the chemical composition of this chocolate water prevented us from forming instead it was covered with a layer of sediment and freshwater mussels they reckoned the old lady was worth saving from then on he was all gold he can't just pluck 45 tons of steel straight out of 18 in turf war you have to use ingenuity first of all the book had to come off which meant lifting the weight of the jib that long bit sticking out of the water the first cable goes around the bookie town to be pulled away later once the man finish removed his heart waste player you can see get clear listings progressed nothing could really happen until the bracket holding the bookie dam was knocked off so separating three tons of Bukit from the rest of the machine another cable was sent fit the main jib whose original support had been twisted steel and hemp cord rope is not surprisingly erotic away over on the left you can just see the boiler poking out next to arrive was game gong that diamond t recover attractor from New Malden musicians talkin breakdowns on the m1 motorway the bucking dog time Lud's y on tile now okay to take this train here pull it a little bit and just get the feel it we will see what happens okay yes so you've actually still got the pin in the bottom bucket yeah yeah you're gonna move it right over by now there are plenty of willing hounds down to the Blue Lagoon all wanting to help King Kong winch took the slap to try and pull out the main jib it was no telling just how much tension it would take such a powerful machine could easily bend or snap vital parts of the precious relic all that was needed was for the weight to be taken off the bucket underneath but no more was all done by guesswork bit by bit they got it just right after clearing off the unexpected debris the main pin was ready for Amal followed by on bolting the jib from the swiveling part of the nowI that done that jib could be lowered delicately onto the bottom for recovery later on and know that cobbler don't you move how's the first time the G been deducted being under the wart in his life the famous Blue Lagoon monster had apparently disappear the third part remove was the boiler easy things have gone so well up to now that boilers know a thing or two about resisting pressure this month Ling was finally complete now it happed ability fairly large crane is on its way so large they said but it needed its own road down to the water's edge switch was the interest generated by the proceedings that are seep it that a friendly road builder sent along his biggest scraper that job was done in no time at all the way yellow in the meantime specialists of a different sort of lifting had arrived a marine salvage company from holt in Norfolk of modernized and ancient means of raising treasures from the deep their equipment look more like a hot-air balloon it's meeting and so it mike has ballooned are exactly what they do use the creek originally device for salvaging cannon from guy ins on the seabed this operation can be extremely dangerous and had to be tackled by the firm's own highly experienced divers we'll put two five ten bags around these wheels around the axle of the wheel which means you guys dig away all the muck and stuff they're floating boys marked the position of the air pipes so that they won't be crushed when the time comes to haul in our Navi they took down hooks and lines and folded air bugs still uninflated and attached them at eight separate points as low down on the mainframe as possible each single steel cable had a breaking strain of turning tongues broad webbing straps go over and around the balloons the attachment of each balloon is critical for massive bull fish to remain stable if it shook tilt that could be serious trouble once all the air pipe in position and the bugs secure an air compressor was started the open bottom balloons filled up in only a couple of minutes although the air was prompted 200 pound per square inch the balloons needed volume not pressure each contains a hundred and seventy-five cubic feet at only seven pounds per square inch each 10 foot long bag can potentially raise five tons when submerged but in only 18 feet of water nor saw early lifting and restart were PA above the surface so all losing their lift this place requirement was not to raise denarii to the surface nearly to get it off the bottom 12 inches of clearance is quiet enough little friction so long as the whole platform is kept level who doesn't drag at that moment the Creole arrived for 65 tons of it look straight out of Star Wars it was the newest mobile clean the country had already won itself a design award but this was its first real job this was the young stretching out to help the old it was all hands to the Rope the Navi was so perfectly balanced that Ollie hit into shallow water was almost ethicist the extended crane towered 90 feet of the scene like a giant heaven watching the water while the crowd gathered on the bank this was fishing on a scale not often seen then there she was just a glimpse of the monster from the Blue Lagoon the first time above water for nearly 15 years somehow it looked about zone like a steam now is anything could just a heap of jump but what jubilation the team but whatever it look like oh sweet that was a close shave fortunately no damage was done either to any of the men or more in front while a dear old Navi everyone was delighted and excited but perhaps a most amaz'n incredulous of the lot was George album the last driver oh no go ahead do it all the thing it's really marvelous never thought I'd see it again anyway like bees around a holy strange isn't a cowgirl men get so excited over old iron but they'd worked hard all of them the diverse King Kong the crane the road builder the balloon boys and all the extra help was on the raise direction that's only half the student the real job had yet to begin nobody wants a digger in that state however much effort they put into getting it she was going home now but to her birthplace in Lincoln where she was built in 1909 the boiler went to robas the firm which built it where the experts made their initial inspection via the labor after 45 years in the water the condition of this that's important at all with no surface corrosion on the outside of the shell so she'll send a boiler to Eric I hope so I thought of pressure will system that I felt it was the job of the apprentices at Reston Bucyrus to strip down and clean up the whole Sun Holly the what a treat that was for them to certainly really such a worthwhile task the queued up for the chance to work on steam just like their grandpa's used to a great surge of fondant just swept all the firm the old were reminded of their youth who young wanted to learn from the past with no particulars of the fittings on the job but we have found drawing here of an old roba door which is similar as shown in the catalogue of the same date despite the remarkable state of preservation there were many small paths which had to be repaired and even rebuilt remember the when she was left in the chalk petit RC should already work hard for 22 years was considered clapped out then piecing it together would take three years from start to finish without a proper blueprint each component was arranged jigsaw fashion on the floor of the training workshop down at robe is the boiler had been thoroughly Sun blasted until it shone Mike knew this was the most vulnerable piece of the whole machine and the most likely to need replacing something nobody wished to do they found the wooden brake shoes have suffered little from the water but for safety's sake half were replaced in Elm the original wood after three months most of the engine was ready for trials not with steam of course but with compressed air it really did seem quite fantastic that these paths will work in such good order - so many years of the water the larger bits while I now have to be kept outside for lack of space there's a lot of work restoring tired and warm parts the jib and the wheel that clearly been overworked in their time the wheels were no longer quite round and the axle was bent the result of an accident Georgia Auburn remembered happening in the 1920s amazingly the boiler was standing up to the most rigorous desert Robi's right this is the crunch they thought systolic tests should tell us whether the boilers going to be usable or not these boilers on the pod record the designers world and several years ago we have one or two failures whether this line is now mandatory that all of these boilers on the lap scene the vertical lap scene the ultrasonic Texas all the restrict laws governing the working strength of new boilers let alone old limbs the inspector was most interested to see those who passed the test the thickness of the metal was examined electronically two defects two years had now plastered every piece large and small was repaired and awaiting reconstruction but would they fit together it was by no means certain as there was no original plan to work from some of the parts of steam now is were built from cast iron and joined together by rivets that today repairs were made using the finest steel and modern welding techniques before the working attachments were replaced the apprentices held their own trials of the two engines and the turntable powered by compressed hair so far so good now to add the jib they had been a bit worried about the strength of the jib at the point where it used to poke above the waterline in the pit 50 years of wet and dry on the same few inches should have eaten great respects beneath a protective layer of freshwater mussels wasn't a mark to this built into the ribbing was the steam Ram cylinder the main power which gave the book if it's digging steel and all the gold it on his that main pin the first piece removed underwater right back at the start of the operation the boiler had now passed the most meticulous examinations on the high-pressure and proved to be as strong today as the last time it left Roby's yard seventy years ago our twelfth on steam cream nubby was nearly whole again the pride of all would work so hard to get it this far second under coat of paint gave her that nearly new look for everyone of all ages this was a rare sight this was an exercise unlikely to be repeated in their lifetime once the boiler was on it will be truly complete in appearance like Cinderella before the ball but would it work again the idea was to get it back to a quarry for the final challenge digging nearly three years from the start of the whole project and the day of the first story it was a thrilling moment the old smells of coal and steam fill the air Frankenstein's monster life returning to the beast once more though there are a handful of steam now is still working in the world non resolved or in pawned as this one George Alban took a great step back in time when he held those controls just look at him almost I am now seen it at the marvelous job I'll never see book as good as this never since I remembered us not in 18 when I first went on it I will never see the blood this before the inspector had given the boiler a maximum working pressure of 80 pounds per square inch so the safety file was set to blow once full steam was achieved as the engines turned within the crankshaft wheels spun at the same speed the two engines perform three functions first to raise and lower the jib and bucket this is it it works second to swing the turntable in either direction carrying both the weight of the machine and the full load toddlers from 45 tons and third to propel the whole Navi along its tracks everything worked perfectly until suddenly the wheels bearing the turntable jump the marriage between modern welding and cast-iron it brought down more cracks appeared this timing the turntable itself cracks that run right through the base or despite all the work of restoration despite modern technology our grand old lady just couldn't quite make it well there we are that's one of the hazards of renovating obsolete machinery particularly if it's been that long underwater but uncertain though chaps we'll turn to and right in the end

Channel: Industrial Heritage

Views: 809,666

Rating: 4.7958508 out of 5

Keywords: Steam excavator, Steam Shovel, Industrial rennovation, Threlkeld Quarry, Vintage Excavator

Id: Ug6hmnUvTps

Length: 26min 6sec (1566 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 20 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/Goodgulf]

One of my favorite books when I was very young was Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. I'm glad to see they got this one running again eventually.

[u/Treereme]

That was a pretty awesome video, it's amazing that the boiler could go right back to the same shop that made it after so many years. That must be some pretty special water, I can't believe the boiler could still pass pressure testing.

[u/cdoublejj]

From what i under stand the crack in the base could be repairable and wheels that cracked re made.