O&K Face shovels.

[Shovelman]

Niklas,

You are correct; all six RH400s produced to date were shipped to North America. It does not seem like it has been ten years since the first RH400 went to work! It was reported in Mining Magazine in the August 2006 issue that two RH400s were on order, but that seems to be bad information. If Dortmund had produced another unit or two; it would be heavily publicized. You can read the article here:

http://www.mining-journal.com/mining_magazine/pdf/MM0608scr.pdf

Ray,

Thanks for posting the photo! I really like hydraulic shovels as they are not common here in America. Your photo looks like an RH200 to my eyes. I have seen an RH200 working in western Pennsylvania many years ago, but at the time did not have any camera.

All the best,

John

[rayman]

John C. thanks for the correction. I have dug out another pic of her walking and yes its a 200. According to my D.D. it is a very smooth machine to operate too.

[IBH]

Im sure I read somewhere that all the RH400s produced to date are to be found working in the Canadian oil sands.

[Shovelman]

From what I have been told by friends who work in the area; only three RH400s are still operating; all at Syncrude. They have purchased the RH400 previously operated by NACG at the Albian Sands operation and are still operating the third and fourth machines originally delivered to them. Here are photos of the former NACG machine in Syncrude colors;





All the best,

John

[Niklas Eriksson]

Yes many of the RH400 has been scrapped. And Syncrude wants to get more but it is something with the dealer that makes things harder to get more shovels. Dont remember all.

[Ross]

Sorry about the photobucket links. I will upload the pics to the site.

The Auzzy RH looks like a RH200.

Ross

[Niklas Eriksson]

Btw, not sure how many of you that knows this but there was plans on making a backhoe verision of the RH400 super shovel for a coal mine in South Africa. But it never made into steel...

[Shovelman]

Niklas,

Yes; the RH400 backhoe project failed! The engineers in Dortmund and even the famous model builder Peter Keim could not fit enough ballast into the machine to make it viable. It may be interesting to see if Hitachi will attempt an EX8000 backhoe for the Australian market.

All the best,

John

[Shovelman]

IBH,

Five of the six RH400s produced until now were shipped directly to Syncrude and Albian Sands. The first four units to Syncrude and the sixth unit to NACG for use at Albian Sands. The fifth unit was electrically powered and went to work in a Wyoming coal mine, but was unsuccessful for a reason I do not know. I have been told that it has since been "parted-out" to Syncryde, but I can not confirm this.

All the best,

John

[Ross]

Just sorted the first post pics out.

Ross