# Marion 6360

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**Marion 6360**, known as "**the Captain**", was a giant [power shovel](/source/Power_shovel) built by the [Marion Power Shovel](/source/Marion_Power_Shovel) company. Completed and commissioned on October 15, 1965,[1] it was one of the largest land vehicles ever built,[2] exceeded only by some [dragline](/source/Dragline_excavator) and [bucket-wheel excavators](/source/Bucket-wheel_excavator). The shovel originally started work with [Southwestern Illinois Coal Corporation](/source/Southwestern_Illinois_Coal_Corporation), but the owners were soon bought out by [Arch Coal](/source/Arch_Coal). Everything remained the same at the mine except for the colors which were changed to red, white, and blue. Like most mining vehicles of extreme size, the Marion 6360 required a surprisingly small crew to operate it (a total of four people) consisting of an operator, oiler, welder, and a ground man who looked after the trailing cable.[1]

The shovel worked well for Arch Coal until September 9, 1991, when a fire broke out in the lower works of the shovel,[1] caused by a burst hydraulic line that sprayed the hot fluids on an electrical relay panel.[1] This fire caused a great deal of damage to both the lower works and machine house.[1] Afterwards, engineers from both Arch and Marion Power Shovel surveyed the damage and deemed it too great to repair, and the machine was scrapped one year later in the last pit it dug.

The only Marion shovel that compared (in size and scope) to "The Captain" was the [Marion 5960-M](/source/Marion_5960-M) Power Shovel that worked at Peabody Coal Company's ([Peabody Energy](/source/Peabody_Energy)) [River Queen Surface Mine](/source/River_Queen_Surface_Mine) in [Central City, Kentucky](/source/Central_City,_Kentucky). It was named the "Big Digger" and carried a 125-cubic yard (96-cubic metre) bucket on a 215-foot (66-metre) boom. It was Marion Power Shovel's second largest machine ever built and the third largest shovel in the world. This "sister shovel" was scrapped in early 1990 in [Muhlenberg County, Kentucky](/source/Muhlenberg_County,_Kentucky).

## Specifics

- Boom Length: 215 feet (66 m)
- Bucket Capacity: 180 cubic yards (140 m3) (double doors)
- Dipper Stick Length: 133 feet (41 m)
- Overall Weight: 12,700 tons (28,000,000 lbs)
- Total Height: 210 feet (64 m)
- Crawler Height: 16 feet (4.9 m)
- Crawler Unit Length: 45 feet (14 m)
- Individual Crawler Width: 10 feet (3.0 m)
- Individual Track Shoe Weight: 3.5 tons (42 shoes per track)
- Clearance Under Shovel: 16 feet (4.9 m) to the first level of the Lower Works
- Largest Shovel In The World & Largest Ever Built By Marion--
- Started Service: 1965
- Dismantled: 1992
- Power 30,000 hp (30,416 PS; 22,371 kW)
- Build time (site erection) 18 months & 150,000 man hours

## See also

- [Bagger 288](/source/Bagger_288)
- [Bagger 293](/source/Bagger_293)
- [Big Muskie](/source/Big_Muskie)
- [The Silver Spade](/source/The_Silver_Spade)
- [Big Brutus](/source/Big_Brutus)
- [Bucyrus-Erie](/source/Bucyrus-Erie)
- [Bucket-wheel excavator](/source/Bucket-wheel_excavator)
- [Dragline](/source/Dragline)
- [Excavator](/source/Excavator)
- [Power Shovel](/source/Power_Shovel)

## References

1. ["The Captain's Dying Hours"](https://www.coalage.com/features/the-captain-s-dying-hours/). *Coal Age*. 30 August 2016.

1. ["Bucyrus page on Marion"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080531071221/http://www.bucyrus.com/marion.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.bucyrus.com/marion.htm) on 2008-05-31. Retrieved 2008-09-30.

## External links

- [Picture of the shovel](https://web.archive.org/web/20180317202024/http://www.utaj.fi/koulu/ylaaste/talvikki/kuvat/marion6360.jpg) 17 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Marion 6360](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_6360) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_6360?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.