On a hill outside Virginia, Minn., the world's first two-axle 240-short-ton, diesel electric haul truck overlooks the Mesabi Iron Range. Retired in 1999 with more than 80,000 hours of service, the Liebherr/Wiseda KL-2450-0001 stands at an LTV Mining visitors center, which explains how taconite is mined from the Range and moved by train south to Duluth, where massive freighters take the ore up through Lake Superior and into the Great Lakes shipping lanes.
Manufactured in Cardin, Okla., by Wiseda Ltd. in 1982, this truck--with serial number 0001--hauled 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It carried phosphate in Idaho, coal in Wyoming, and was the first KL-2450 to haul taconite in Minnesota. Eventually, 2,000 of the 240-ton trucks operated in mines around the globe.
Liebherr Mining Equipment acquired Wiseda in 1995 and gave the KL-2450 a new name: Liebherr T 262. The design, however, stayed essentially the same. During its service in Wyoming, SN#0001 was the guest of honor at a "Birthday Party on the Prairie" to celebrate the completion of its first 10,000 hours of operation, complete with a musical parody called "King of the Lode."
"King of the Lode" arrived at LTV in August 1988.
Information supplied by Liebherr. If you're interested in historical machines, consider a membership in the Historical Construction Equipment Association. Visit HCEA's website at www.hcea.net.
