Rare Ruston Bucyrus saved from the gas axe

I was once again recently invited to visit Mason Bros the Doosan dealers for South and West Wales to see Hywel Mason’s Priestman Mustang 220, but before I got to see that excavator I was shown another recent addition to the Mason fleet of historic machines.

As I pulled into the company’s yard in Narberth, West Wales, I clocked a green boom and dipper arm sticking up from behind the sheds and straight away I begun to imagine what it could be, my first instincts suggested it might be another elderly Hymac, especially with that manufacturer being historically associated with the area, but I was in for something of a surprise when I actually discovered what it was.

The machine in question is a Ruston Bucyrus 15-RBH hydraulic excavator which incredibly has spent many years lying in a field locally. Ruston Bucyrus are of course more synonymous with cable controlled excavators, cranes and draglines but the company did dabble in the hydraulic excavator market in 1963 with the launch of the 3-RB. As I understand it this machine is one of only 20 that were ever manufactured.

That model was joined by a range of B-E (Bucyrus Erie) American designed machines including this 15-RBH and 20 and 30-RBH versions in 1967. These models remained in the line-up until 1975, but in 1976 the company launched the RB designed 150-RH which was built in Lincoln and later joined by the 220-RH. However these machines were not big sellers and production ceased in 1983.

What strikes you about all these old girls is the size of the components that were used in them compared to what we see in modern machinery. A look inside the cab is a real eye opener too, this machine used levers that were directly connected to the valve blocks for forward and back motions and early servo controls mounted on top of those levers for other movements.

If you wanted to have fresh air and clearer visibility to the front of the machine, the operator had to take out the entire front window and push it into a slot below the cab for storage!

One can only imagine you would know you had done a day’s work after a shift in one of these old beasts. This machine will now be a long term restoration project for Hywel and it’s great to see that this rare old machine will be saved for future generations to see.

There is very little if any information on these machines on the internet, but I did come across some videos of its larger American brother the BE 20-H in action.