page_title: Steam shovel
section_title: 1923 Bucyrus Model 50-B
hierarchical_section_title: Steam shovel / Preservation / 1923 Bucyrus Model 50-B
caption_attribution_description: English: A preserved 1923 Bucyrus Model 50-B steam shovel at the Nederland Mining Museum in Colorado, USA. This steam shovel is the last surviving Model 50-B, 1 out of 25 built! It was built to dig the Panama Canal. This very machine was shown on an episode of Mega Movers (Season 2 Episode 3) on the History Channel.
context_page_description: A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads and the Panama Canal. The development of simpler, cheaper diesel-powered shovels caused steam shovels to fall out of favor in the 1930s.
context_section_description: Twenty-five Bucyrus Model 50-B steam shovels were sent to the Panama Canal to build bridges, roads, and drains and remove the huge quantities of soil and rock cut from the canal bed. All the shovels but one were scrapped at Panama. The survivor was shipped back to California and then brought to Denver. In the early 1950s it was transported to Rollinsville by Roy and Russell Durand, who operated it at the Lump Gulch Placer, six miles south of Nederland, Colorado, until 1978. This steam shovel is one of two (the other at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion in Rollag, MN) remaining operational Bucyrus Model 50-Bs, and is preserved at the Nederland Mining Museum. Roots of Motive Power in Willits, CA has also acquired a 50-B and operates it for the public once a year at their Steam Festival in early September.
caption: 1923 Bucyrus Model 50-B at the Nederland Mining Museum
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