NEW ATHENS, Ohio – Their gathering is huge. And so, too, is the equipment they find and restore.

The Appalachian Ohio Antique Power Club will hold its third gathering on Sept. 11-12 in New Athens. And not just any gathering. The groups participating specialize in old construction and mining artifacts.

“Just as some people restore old John Deere and Allis-Chalmers tractors and such, we’re also into the huge earth moving equipment and mining equipment of yesteryear,” said Dustin Welch, president of the Appalachian Ohio Antique Power Club. “We attract those who are agriculture, construction, industrial, mining, military, logging, oil and gas, steam and transportation history enthusiasts, as well as machinery owners themselves.”

Welch’s club is the Ohio Valley chapter of the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA), which is in its 25th year.

“And, just as some people are into restoring old antique farm tractors, we include construction and mining equipment,” Welch said. “When these large pieces of equipment are no longer needed they’re normally cut up and the scrap is sold, but our group is trying to promote the preservation of that machinery. At this show there will be 20 pieces of equipment from the HCEA as well as 10 to 15 more brought in by individuals.”

One of the largest pieces on display will be the cab and bucket from the Silver Spade, which at one time was the world’s largest earth moving machine. In Ohio, the Silver Spade was used remove the earth and rock overburden from the coal seam. Visitors can sit in that cab and work the controls.

Also on exhibit will be a 1941 Caterpillar D8. This crawler and scraper was used in the construction of the beach head, access roads and airfield on Gold Beach in France just four days after the D-Day landings.

Also on the same grounds that weekend will be the Old Construction & Mining Equipment group. Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park members will have similar equipment on exhibit, as will the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club Chapter 22. The groups will display draglines, shovels, crawlers, dozers and much more.

Visitors to this year’s show will see vendors with tools, die-casts models, hit-and-miss machines and their parts, antique Caterpillar equipment and more. Also included will be antique tractors, oilfield engines, cars, trucks and even garden tractors.

The two-day show will be held rain or shine.

“Someone will be there moving dirt in some fashion, unless there is a monsoon,” Welch said. “We’re likely to have plowing going on as well.”

Many pieces of equipment on exhibit were donated by former mine owners. Boich Mining donated a 50S-BOT, a 1950s 50-ton machine that was used to transport coal from the pit to the tipple site for processing. And, a rotary drill from the 1960s was donated by mine owner Tony Puskarich. The drill was used to drill holes for dynamite in mines. Roger Sliva will exhibit an authentic coal car with steel wheels that ran on tracks.

Photo and history displays will be on exhibit. Exhibitor camping is available on the site.

And just how does one go about collecting vintage construction and mining equipment?

“This is a niche market,” Welch said. “Usually you have to be in the right place at the right time. We say in touch with a lot of mining companies and former mine owners, as well as construction firms. We stay in close contact with them so that when equipment of theirs become obsolete they reach out to us. It has sentimental value to our members. Many of our members’ dads or grandfathers had it in the company they worked for and want to see it preserved.”

The event will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park grounds, 43672 Stumptown Road in New Athens (Ohio state Route 519 between U.S. 22 and New Athens). Admission is $3. For more information about this show email oldironshow@yahoo.com or call 330-618-8032.