Photo of a Rail Mounted Steam Shovel loading a Dump Car

Photograph of a rail mounted steam shovel loading dump cars for two waiting steam locomotives. The hillside next to the shovel and locomotives appears to have already had dirt cut out of it.

Steam Shovels were some of the first ever excavators. The patent for the steam powered shovel was acquired by William Otis in 1839, and his cousin Oliver Smith Chapman continuing development and manufacture after Otis’ death that same year. By 1870, Otis’ original patent expired, and numerous companies began to manufacture their own shovels. They were common in heavy duty construction like railroad and canal creation due to their ability to move earth in far greater amounts than before. The earlier steam shovels moved on temporary rails laid by workers where they were needed, and they were in turn used to clear the way for permanent railroad tracks to be laid. During the later years of their operation, they moved on their own caterpillar treads instead. They were rendered obsolete in the 1930s by diesel powered shovels.

Dump cars were railroad cars designed to dump easily dump their loads, either by tilting or opening from the bottom. Railroads commonly used them for removing the dirt and earth dug up by steam shovels.

Currently not on view