Walking Drag-Line Near Henderson TX

Here is a nice shot of a walking drag-line and a dozer taken near Henderson, TX at the TXU Oak Hill mining operation. This is a 26,000 acre lignite mining site, part of a the larger Martin Lakes Mine operation, and produces about 13 million tons annually. It is pretty amazing to watch this machine move!

nice pic

Thanks - there are at least two of these machines, one (this one) marked DelTa 34, the other marked DelTa 36 on the mine site. TXU is known to use Bucyrus machines on many of its mines, I can't find a reference for Delta. The only data on the sister machine, 36 I've been able to locate is that is has an 82 cubic yard bucket, a main boom length of 325', and weighs a staggering 8,000,000 lbs. I watched this one being walked across the road from one section of the mine to another (wasn't allowed to photograph), then get set up for operation in the new work area.

Nice shot, what size dozer is that? Looks like a D10 possibly? Looks like this is visable from the road?

That is a D10. This shot was taken from Elderville Road which passes through the current working, northeast section of the mine site. The machine was stripping overburden after having been walked over the road from south to north. There are several places around the mine site where various activities are visible from the surrounding/intersecting roads. Elderville Road, FM782 and a number of other county roads provide views of both big draglines in the northeast section of the mine, as well as the haul roads, equipment shed, and the material handling/loading operation.

Thanks for the info AustinPSD, might be in the area soon, and if time allows, will have to see this if possible.

These draglines are amazing. Also used to enjoy driving by the San Miguel Power Plant and watching their draglines. Haven't been by there in a while. Last time I was by there they weren't working near any public roads.

Do you know if these machines were built for this mine? Reason I ask is Amax Coal Co. had some "Delta" mines. I believe that one of them was near Marion IL. Just thinking out loud, I guess.

I think the units marked DelTa 34 and 36 are Marion 8750 walking draglines. They have have been in service at the Amax Delta mines, but I am just speculating. Marion was acquired by Bucryus in 1996/97, and does not maintain a public photo archive on their site to aid in ID'ing the machine. The boom structure, house and other details look similar, if not identical to the units identified as Marion 8750's on http://www.stripmine.org .

walking dragline your correct. its a marion 8750 dragline. they also have a 8200 marion on the far western side of that mine. they also have 3 other 8750's at their beckville mine not far from there. I work for north american coal, not far from there. I run the ground dozer ,a D9T, for a 1570 BE dragline. At our mine we have 2 identical 1570 BE's; a marion 8200, and a page 726 dragline. cant post any pictures, i want to keep my job. if u know what i mean.

Thanks 1570BEGrdman! It is too bad the mining/utility companies are so restrictive and tight with the photos of their operations. The operation is fascinating to watch, and they all do an awesome job of reclamation too - nothing to keep hidden or be ashamed of. When they were moving this particular unit across the road, they had a safety officer on both sides of the barricades. Part of this person's responsibilities was to keep people from photographing or video-taping the operation. When I talked to the officer, he alluded to them being harassed by environmentalists, news scammers, and others who mostly wanted to put them in a bad light. He kindly suggested that I could wait around, and "probably get a picture" once the machine was reset on the new section of mine. The damnedest thing is most of us like electricity, so why the nut cases can't connect the dots that no mining = no lignite/coal = no lights/air-conditioning... Anyway thanks 1570BEGrdman for the info. You have a cool job, it has to be awesome to work around these machines!

Was it a public road they were crossing? If so, they cannot stop you from taking pictures or video....as long as you are on public property when you are doing it. Brian

Yes, it is a public road. The security officer politely requested that I refrain from photographing during the move, he didn't demand or imply that it was required. While I could have continued photographing, I tend to give the working guys like myself a break, especially when they're polite and respectful, so I complied with his request.

1570BEGrdman said: your correct. its a marion 8750 dragline. they also have a 8200 marion on the far western side of that mine. they also have 3 other 8750's at their beckville mine not far from there. I work for north american coal, not far from there. I run the ground dozer ,a D9T, for a 1570 BE dragline. At our mine we have 2 identical 1570 BE's; a marion 8200, and a page 726 dragline. cant post any pictures, i want to keep my job. if u know what i mean. Click to expand... 1570BEGrdman, did North American erect the 8200-M new, if not, what mine did was it erected new. Also, was the 726 a new machine & what bucket size?

SpecOne said: These draglines are amazing. Also used to enjoy driving by the San Miguel Power Plant and watching their draglines. Haven't been by there in a while. Last time I was by there they weren't working near any public roads. Click to expand... SpecOne, I heard that the surface part of San Miguel mines were idled, they had a 740 Page, if it is idle, is it still located at the mine? What other dragline line do they have?

Knucklehead said: Do you know if these machines were built for this mine? Reason I ask is Amax Coal Co. had some "Delta" mines. I believe that one of them was near Marion IL. Just thinking out loud, I guess. Click to expand... Knucklehead Amax Coal, Delta mine did have a 8750-M with a 110 yd bucket. Northwest Resources bought it around 1996 & moved it to the Jewett Mine. They installed a 128 yd bucket, which at the time, it had the largest bucket in Texas & may still be the largest, I don't know. I think this mine is owned by Westmoreland Coal now, not sure.

walking dragline near henderson tx The 8200 is a 1978 model, but was never put together back then. It was put together in 2007-2008. North American bought the 726 page from a small mine close by. It has a 21 yard bucket on it.

That's a nice looking machine. I saw them when I flew to El Paso back in the Spring of 2009. I flew out of Houston and our routing took us right over the coal fields and you could see the pits way down below. Awesome!

dragman said: Knucklehead Amax Coal, Delta mine did have a 8750-M with a 110 yd bucket. Northwest Resources bought it around 1996 & moved it to the Jewett Mine. They installed a 128 yd bucket, which at the time, it had the largest bucket in Texas & may still be the largest, I don't know. I think this mine is owned by Westmoreland Coal now, not sure. Click to expand... Last I heard it was owned by Westmoreland Coal.I used to run parts to all the mines for the Hitachi Excavators. Liked the little Cle Traxx dozer on display.Flat head V8 Ford with home made hydr.blade.They dug it up in the mine.

1570BEGrdman said: The 8200 is a 1978 model, but was never put together back then. It was put together in 2007-2008. North American bought the 726 page from a small mine close by. It has a 21 yard bucket on it. Click to expand... Thanks for that info. Are your two 1570's nicknamed "The Big Dipper" and "The Texas Star"