The RWE Bagger 288 excavator is the world's largest land vehicle and is currently moving mountains--or at least one mountain--in Germany where it's in use excavating an open pit coal mine for a utility. But there are plans for its cousins elsewhere--digging for gold in Romania, for example.
Crossing Highways
RWE Bagger 288 excavator, left, is moving across a highway in Germany. It dominates the horizon and overwhelms the highway, as would any vehicle that weighed as much as 2,000 sedans.
A Giant Bucket Wheel
The close-up picture, left, shows the bucket wheel (and its arm) that is in itself huge (70 feet in diameter) and clearly able to pick up loads of coal or bulldozers if they happen to be in the way. The rotary moves in a counter-clock direction.
Tractor Crawlers
The close-up picture, left, of Bagger 288 tractor crawlers in contrast to the crowd gives a sense of their size. The central machine’s 12 tractor crawlers are each 12 feet wide, eight feet high and 46 feet long that outsizes a modern military tank.
Control Room With Driver
The close-up view, left, of the bucket wheel excavator control room with driver in the driver’s seat. The Bagger 288 is able to dig a hole in one single day that is the size of a football field and to a depth of 30 feet.
Preparing The Road
The picture, left, shows the road preparation needed to move the Bagger 288 bucket excavator across a highway (Bundesstrasse No. 55.) Much advanced work had to done to give it its right of way.
A Scale Beyond Comparison
The RWE Bagger 288, left, in a night shot that dramatizes its scale and its self-producing environmental affect.