Claimed as the world’s oldest dragline in complete condition, the Bucyrus Class 24 steam dragline is on display at the world-class Reynolds Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. After being submerged for three decades in a water-filled coal pit near Edson, Alberta, this machine was rescued and moved to its new home in July, 1998. After a two-year restoration project sponsored jointly by the Edmonton branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum (CIM), the national Coal Division of the CIM, Bucyrus International, Inc. and private donations, the machine was ready for permanent display, although not in working order.
The dragline, known as a Bucyrus Class 24, was found in an area known as the Coal Branch of Alberta, an area extensively mined by surface (opencast) methods going back to the early 1910s. Some of these operations were massive, going down hundreds of
