10 Massive Wheeled Loaders 2

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This DVD shows some of the larger and more impressive wheeled loaders working in surface mines and quarries in Europe and the UK. The emphasis in this programme is on monsters from Hitachi, LeTourneau and Komatsu. The companion programme – Part One – deals with machines from Caterpillar, Liebherr and Volvo.

Part Two starts in Norway at the Titania ilmenite mine with a 100-tonne LeTourneau L1000. However, this is dwarfed by the 180-tonne L1400 at the Guarain-Ramecroix limestone quarry, Belgium, which has no trouble at all handling around 1,500 tonnes an hour.

The giant machine was broken up for parts soon after we filmed it so this programme provides a unique opportunity to see the largest LeTourneau wheeled loader in Europe in action.

In a Carrara marble quarry, Italy, we see a 46-tonne ZW550 – Hitachi’s largest wheeled loader. This uses stone forks to move blocks of marble of over 30 tonnes up torturously steep tracks.

There are several Komatsu examples in this DVD, including a WA500, a WA800 and a WA900 – which was filmed near Stamford, in the UK. Towering above these is the Komatsu WA1200 at work in the Norwegian ilmenite mine. Currently the world’s largest mechanical loader, this 200-tonne brute comfortably shifts 40-45 tonnes an hour – sometimes more.

This 75-minute programme is number 10 in the Massive Machines series of DVDs.

Researched and scripted by Steven Vale, this programme was filmed by Roger Wiltshire and directed by Jonathan Theobald. Narrated by David Holt, the programme was produced by Old Pond Publishing in 2012.