We moved another steam hoist today. It is the smallest of the double drum steam hoists on site, but also the hardest to reach, being located high above the others, about 2/3 of the way up the dump, with a sheer drop on one side that slopes into a trench several feet wide and deep on the opposite side. Other than walking/hiking to it, a 4x4 was needed to reach it. Cranes, forklifts, backhoes, and even the excavator owned by Pete and Mike could not get to it. However, I got word early last week that the crew taking down the mill (the one I got the rail from) had something that would work: a 10,000 pound capacity, 4x4, off road forklift with a shotgun boom!
After securing permission to use the forklift, we got to work over the weekend. The first and most time consuming task was just getting to the engine. In order to do this, we had to build our own road. With a total weight of 17,400 to 19,000 pounds, the engine could not be moved in one piece, so we next had to take the drums off. To move the frame, a fork was wedged under it to free it from its poured concrete foundation. The frame was then lifted off and lowered to the new road, from which it was pulled about 500 feet down the dump to the main access road where traditional lifting equipment can load it at a later date. The hoist survived well. Only some of the brake bands and one clutch rod were bent, but all those can be bent back into shape.
Here is a link to photos of the engine and the move:

http://www.ironminers.com/mineforum/viewtopic.php?t=19652

Great work. Glad to see you guys got it down securely. It was quite a ways up there. I wonder how'd they get it up there in the first place?

Miner Greg

I have been wondering how it got there too. I would guess that some sort of combination of horse and wagons, jacks, block and tackle, and ramps were used to put it in place. When placed on a wood frame, the hoists can be pulled around. In logging regions, hoists with boilers on the same frame (called donkey engines) could even move themselves:
http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,106949,107617#msg-107617
To answer Brian’s question from the photo thread, the hoist is located in Pen Argyl, PA. Also, if anyone wants to see a steam hoist in operation, two of the hoists preserved from the same site will be running under steam August 13-16 at Rough and Tumble in Kinzers, PA.

Thats pretty awesome!