Bagger 1473 is a
bucket-wheel excavator
A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining.
The primary function of BWEs is ...
left abandoned in a field in the municipality of
Schipkau
Schipkau ( dsb, Šejkow) is a municipality in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany.
Geography
The municipality is located in the north of the historical region of Lusatia, close to the motorway A13, connectin ...
in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
History
The excavator was used at the
Tagebau Meuro mine from 1965 to 2002.
After it was withdrawn from service, the municipalities Senftenberg, Großräschen, and Schipkau decided on a joint action to preserve the opencast mining machine. Between 29 August to 15 September 2003, Bagger 1473 was moved approximately from the Meuro mine to near the
EuroSpeedway Lausitz
The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bor ...
, where it would serve as a monument to the area's former lignite mining. The machine was moved across industrial roads and railways owned by the LMBV but public traffic was not affected.
When Bagger 1473 became popular with the
urban explorers
Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...
, it was misidentified as Bagger 258 because of markings found on its information plate.
Scrapping
In January 2019 the municipalities that supported its move announced that the excavator was to be scrapped. Their decision was mainly due to the machine's dilapidation and damage. It was financially impossible to maintain and because vandalism and theft had become so extensive, the structure was no longer safe for people. Parts of the excavator would be preserved, such as its wheel.
However, when the ''Brandenburg Landesamt für Denkmalpflege'' (State Office for the Preservation of Monuments) and state archaeological museum learned of the planned demolition from news reports, they issued a statement the excavator had acknowledged historical structure protection since 2002/2003. Although at that time, it was simply assumed that it was unnecessary to formally place it on the list of such structures. The fact that the structure was identified as historically significant was considered sufficient to declare it as protected. The Landesamt quickly made it official in February.
Constructive discussions about the future of Bagger 1473 are ongoing with the local municipalities and communities. Despite imminent demolition work being prevented, it remains unclear how the structure can be preserved and who will have financial responsibility.
See also
*
Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60
F60 is the series designation of five overburden conveyor bridges used in brown coal (lignite) opencast mining in the Lusatian coalfields in Germany. They were built by the former Volkseigener Betrieb TAKRAF in Lauchhammer and are the largest mov ...
*
EuroSpeedway Lausitz
The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bor ...
References
External links
{{Commons category, Schaufelradbagger 1473
Tagebau Meuroat ostkohle.de
(in German)
Engineering vehicles
Bucket-wheel excavators
Mining in Germany
Takraf GmbH