More O&K Memories #ThrowbackThursday

We know from the number of messages we receive that there is still a large appetite for the old kit, especially in today’s world where technology and autonomy is gradually taking over, it’s nice to reminisce about the simpler days of heavy equipment.

Our good German friend and industry colleague Dirk Bömer is back with another selection of classic photos, featuring the iconic O&K RH5 hydraulic excavator.

O&K (Orenstein & Koppel) first launched the RH5 in the year of my birth, 1961, and it was the German manufacturers first ever fully hydraulic excavator, having previously produced rope-controlled models.

Production was undertaken at the companies’ factories in Berlin and Dortmund, and from production launch in 1961 to 1966 around 3,000 of these models were produced and sold all around the world.

Interestingly enough for us, the first two images feature RH5’s at work in the UK around 1964, for Lancashire based Leonard Fairclough Plant Limited. The headline photo shows an example with a quite an unusual looking long dipper arm.

The second image is another example on the Fairclough Plant fleet, this time featuring a very short dipper arm set up, but with the adjustable boom configured for longer reach. The machine appears to be working on a motorway project. Also note the old semi rotary retro-fit hand pump which we all used to use for filling up with diesel back in the day and also the big slew gearbox which also housed the brake band system, that if memory serves me right, required regular attention on these old girls!

Further afield this time and we are in Milan Italy, where this example of an RH5 is working away on an archaeological dig somewhere in the bustling city, not doubt uncovering some nice roman artefacts. The machine is fitted with what looks to be a rotary digging grab bucket.

This last image was taken at the factory loading ramp in Berlin and shows one of the many modifications that O&K were well known for producing. This is a loading/face shovel combination with stubby boom and short dipper arm, possibly designed for loading coal onto rail trucks. One curious detail with these machines was the lack of glass on the nearside rear of the cabin, not the best for all-round visibility.

As ever, we thank Dirk for sharing these awesome old images with us here on the Digger Man Blog.  

Here's some video footage of an RH5 example at rest some seven years ago in a not so familiar yellow livery, courtesy of Benjamin Beytekin.