Marion Steam Shovel - LeRoy NY
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nomadwillie
N 42° 59.544 W 077° 56.289
18T E 260479 N 4764159
The Marion Steam Shovel, also known as the Le Roy Steam Shovel, is a historic Model 91 steam shovel manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company of Marion, Ohio. In 1949 it was taken out of service and moved to its present location.
Waymark Code: WM17R74
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 03/27/2023
Views: 2
The Marion Steam Shovel, also known as the Le Roy Steam Shovel, is a historic Model 91 steam shovel manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company of Marion, Ohio. It is located on Gulf Road in the Town of Le Roy, New York, United States. In 1949 it was taken out of service and moved to its present location.
Representative of the type of technology developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century to provide large, inexpensive supplies of crushed stone for the vast American railroad network and later for the road construction, it is believed to be the largest intact steam shovel remaining in the world, and may have been used in the excavation of the Panama Canal. No longer operational, it was moved to its current site in the mid-20th century. It is currently owned by the town. In 2008 it became the first steam shovel listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the only listing in the Town of Le Roy and the easternmost in Genesee County.
Its main section is the size of a railroad boxcar, 18 feet (5.49 m) wide by 42 feet (12.80 m) long, with an arched roof and siding of riveted sheet metal, now rusted. The operator's cab is on the east-facing front end, with most of the rest of the section housing the shovel's three steam engines and a 5-by-15-foot (1.52 by 4.57 m) boiler, no longer in working condition, with horizontal flues. A plate on its door bears the number 5304. An eight-foot (2.44 m) coal bin was added to the rear after it was built. The section rests on two pairs of caterpillar tracks, one pair out in front on a twenty-foot –wide (6.10 m) outrigger, the other in the middle. The largest of the three engines is the hoisting engine. It is a double-cylinder horizontal type with a 12-inch (305 mm) bore and 16-inch (406 mm) stroke. In addition to powering the hoist, it provided locomotive power and could move the shovel at speeds of a one-quarter mile per hour (0.40 km/h).
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