The pic. of the 54yd. bucket really makes you appreciate how big Big Muskie's 220yd. bucket was. In 2009/2010 a couple guys that road at my track were welder's who got hired on to build a big BE/Marion dragline. It was an 8750 but what was unique is that it is the longest boom ever put on a dragline at 435 feet. They said the weld tests were all dual-shield on thick plate with pretty strict requirements. I think it cost $50,000,000+ to build. I mentioned it before but I had a friend who was in the union, at the time, and got called up to the oilsands. While waiting for blueprints they asked him if he could weld on a dragline while waiting. It was better than sitting around so he agreed. The cables are already up the boom, he just had to take a stinger and some rods and climb up the stairs on the boom. He gets all set up and starts welding a crack when all of a sudden the boom starts moving. Freaked out he gets on his radio and tells them, hey I'm welding on the boom. Then they informed him they don't shut the dragline down for minor repairs. Nope, get someone else. He said it felt like he was going 25 MPH which is pretty accurate and feels worse the higher up/further out you are from the base. I read the BE 3850B stripping shovels had a top swing speed of 25 MPH. I'd guess draglines would be similar. Not long after that he heard they no longer ran the dragline while work was performed on the boom. Alberta also has a dragline that is tied for formally having the longest boom at 420'. Alberta has some of the cleanest coal in the world but they're phasing out coal powered generating plants. I think they'd be much better off looking more into carbon capture technology. Alberta has an abundance of good clean low cost coal. I'm curious what will happen the draglines. They'll have a lot of life left in them.
