Steam it up: Learn how to work the huge machine that helped build California | Bartell's Backroads

[@archstanton_live]

Seeing this marvel in person is like standing in the presence of a fire breathing dragon.

[@kmoecub]

I'm a 70's child and one of the first books that I remember being able to read was about a steam shovel. It's good to see a working example still being used.

[@susanlua4792]

Let me guess….mike mulligan?

[@EthanV-xh7dw]

Love that book lol. It’s all I could think of Mike Muligan and MaryAnne

[@Andy-vt7sl]

It’s so neat to see something truly unique in this part of California, especially something you can go try out yourself! Can’t wait to sign up for a lesson.

[@adriaanboogaard8571]

It's an Artform. I knew one really smooth operator. He ran a gasoline engine model Dragline.I met him doing his when the river flooded. He could cast that bucket and take a scoop within a foot of target. Most of us can't do that fishing. That was in 1983. He was a great guy. I would watch while I fished a nearby pond. I'm 56.

[@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE]

Glad to see Ken and Ed out there teaching about and sharing the great equipment the people at Roots have saved and restored. I like how you cover some of the more unique parts of California. We have our 50th STEAMBOAT meet coming up the last full weekend of September at B&W Resort Marina near Isleton. Another unique California adventure.

[@RonBoerste]

It's really great to see the old stuff still being used instead of just rotting away in some field of something like that 🤔👍

[@mariotorres6287]

That is definitely a cool place!! I'd love to get to go there!

[@rickh9507]

Thats the best thing i seen on the internet

[@SOU6900]

Now I have a reason to want to go to California.

[@gabrielbennett5162]

Bucyrus-Erie! I used to work on a 160-ton B-E steam railroad crane. Very similar in a lot of respects to that shovel, but at least twice as large.

[@CaptainPip]

Steem stuff is amazing I work with one :)

[@robertbert2662]

Great to see one of these in operation have seen a few in the uk around museums but not in operation 👍

[@dfirth224]

I wonder how many horses this replaced? When gas and electric motors were first invented in the 1890s, the salesmen went out to the country to sell to farmers. The first question the farmer asked was, "How many horses will this replace?" At first the salesmen could not answer the question. So scientists and engineers figured out a way to compare the power output with that of a horse. This is where the measurement term of horsepower comes from.

[@vernonslone8627]

As a former steam plant operator you got to be very careful around steam boilers...Not something to play with...

[@philpots48]

I as a young boy I was read "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" is a children's book by Virginia Lee Burton. I still call them steam shovels too.

[@larsiversen4466]

Love is in the air.🎉

[@duron700r]

It it really neat you were able to operate a couple shovels. Around here, you need to know somebody that knows somebody.

[@michaelrichards4000]

Real neat. A (almost) lost err

[@sandasturner9529]

Sign me up!!!!!! ☺️😁

[@shawncurtis3686]

SNORT!

[@erikbarrett8523]

I wonder what they are firing it with? Lots of steam equipment has been converted to use propane because of easy availability and the ability to shut the heat off instantly in the event of an emergency. Emergencies with steam power are bad news.

[@trainnerd3029]

1:01 73 years old?

[@masondamoose7520]

420th like

[@waynetaylor8082]

From a time when men were men, and sheep were nervous 😅😅😅.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

What's with the noisy music blocking 🚫 the speech. 😂

[@imtheeastgermanguy5431]

Ridiculous 👎👎