2009.05: Tagebau Garzweiler, Jüchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Location: Tagebau Garzweiler, Jüchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Date: 2009.05

Photographer: Jesen

Camera: Nikon

Retouch: Adobe Photoshop

Copyright: www.haomingxiong.com

The Tagebau Garzweiler is a surface mine in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia. It is operated by RWE and used for mining lignite. The mine currently has a size of 48 km² and got its name from the village of Garzweiler which previously existed at this location. Bagger 288 is a bucket-wheel excavator or mobile strip mining machine built by the German company Krupp. When its construction was completed in 1978, Bagger 288 superseded Big Muskie as the heaviest land vehicle in the world, at 13,500 tons. It took five years to design and manufacture, and five years to assemble with total cost reaching $100 million. In 1995, it was itself superseded by the slightly heavier Bagger 293 (14,200 tons). NASA’s Crawler-Transporter still remains the largest self-propelled land vehicle in the world, since bucket-wheel excavators are powered by an external power source, and the Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60s hold the title of largest land vehicle of any type by physical dimensions.

JESEN Photo