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| Steam Navvy - from "Engineering" 1877 I couldn't resist adding this image of a gigantic lignite excavator which could swallow up the "Steam Navvy" in one gulp. The humans standing in front of the excavator would be about 2 cm high in 4mm scale, which means that a model of this machine would be several metres long and a couple of metres high.  http://media.thyssenkrupp.com/images/press/thyssenkrupp_p_1336.jpg |
"Steam Navvy" 1877
This beast caught my attention. It is one of the precursors of the multitude of mechanical diggers around today, some of which are many times the size of this machine. The caption states that it could excavate 60 cubic yards per hour and could be worked by two men and one boy. I'm not sure which of the figures in the illustration is the "boy" - maybe he's the one with the beard? It could become a nice tableau for a corner of a model railway, especially if the scoop was functional.
