Bagger 258 - The Largest Abandoned Machine in the World
Bagger 258 is a bucket wheel excavator built by the company Lauchhammer. The Blue Wonder it's nickname from the blue painting that once covered the entire machine.
First put to use in DDR in 1964, Bagger 258 was one of a series of such machines whose task was to assist in intensive mining operations. This motorised excavator featured a total of 10 blades, cutting to a depth of 15m into the earth as it removed spoil from the layers of coal beneath.
With a length of 171.5m and reaching a height of 50m, the 3850-tonne Bagger 258 rather resembles a factory although this factory was mounted onto giant tank like tracks and able to move at a speed of six metres per minute.
The Blue Wonder was abandoned in 2002, for no better reason than that it had simply run out of things to dig. By this point the giant was showing its age, and the cost of dismantling it wasn’t justified. Today it stands alone, abandoned, in a field.
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