Diesel Creek

Michelle asks: And you really expect to find anything here that can be salvaged?
The four are walking into a valley in a large forested area.
Jack replies: Right now, I'm not even sure this is the place – everything looks so different – but if it is, we'll have plenty machines to choose from and a bunch more for parts.
James gestures to the side: Look, over there.
He points to a group of very rusty and completely overgrown machines.
Jack says: Oh yeah, so we are in the right place.
They walk towards them to take a closer look.
Annie asks: How did these machines get between the trees?
Jack says: They didn't. This wasn't a forest then. The machines came first, the trees grew after.

After a short look at the machines, Jack says: Looks like these were already out of order before they were abandoned. He turns to Annie and James, and explains: This is an excavator. We're looking for a big one like this, maybe a bit smaller, but not as small as that one over there – and preferably without trees growing out of it...
He points to a mini excavator sitting askew on the trunk of a tree that had grown through its floor and out the side.
James asks: Why not just use this big one? What's wrong with it?
This thing's just done for. It's more rust than steel, missing its tracks and the hydraulics up there, and it looks like someone got a bit carried away trying to remove the cab.
They take a quick look at the other machines around them. Apart from the two excavators, there is a dump truck, a what's the name of that machine with a conveyor belt that sorts large rocks and rubble from sand? , and two loaders. All of them are rusted beyond repair and missing integral parts.

A bit further down the valley, they find a much larger assortment of machines, parked in long rows and parted out just like the first ones they saw.
Jack says: Welcome to the machine graveyard. If memory serves right, there should be a few buildings back there and one of the main parking lots behind them.
While they make their way through between the machines, Annie asks:
So these machines dug out the dome?
Well... no. That was mostly done using explosives, conveyor belts, and trains. They used loaders to get the stuff onto conveyors but most of the machines here were used in construction after the digging was done.

The buildings are in rough shape, some much worse than others. Most don't have rooves, a few have been completely reduced to foundations and piles of rubble. The four walk through a gap between them and find themselves on the parking lot. Instead of a forest, they find it mostly overgrown with bushes and young trees. They split up and start roaming the area.

research that needs to be done:
→When were hydraulic excavators invented?
→When did they get the ability to use a jackhammer attachment?
→When did cable shovels go out of fashion? (Apparently never, depending on use case. From a quick image search, modern ones seem to be huge industrial machines.)

Annie calls the others over to one of the buildings.
Look what I found...
Michelle arrives first and has a chuckle. Jack arrives a moment later and peeks inside. There sits a cable shovel, a machine that looks like a hybrid between a crane and an excavator, partially covered in rubble from the caved-in? fallen-in? roof. It is rusty on the outside but looks otherwise surprisingly intact.
He says: That's ... uhhh ... kind of a historical artifact.
James arrives as well, saying: I mean, everything here is a historical artifact...
Jack responds: Fair enough, but this thing especially so.
They step into the building and take a closer look. Michelle climbs onto the back of the machine and opens an access panel.
Just about mint condition in here – compared to the rest at least... Looks like might fire right up. Anyone see a crank for this baby?
She pats the side of a small engine that sits on top of a much larger engine.

They start looking around the place, in the rotting shelves and in the rubble on the floor. Michelle jumps down and joins them. After a while, Jack spots some rust right behind the rear end of the machine. He moves some leaves aside and picks up a metal rod with two bends.
You mean this one?
Michelle comes over.
Yup, that'll do.
She climbs back onto the the machine and shoves it into a protrusion on the small engine. Then, she proceeds to crank it over. First carefully, then more translate: energisch. After a moment, it fires up for a brief instant... then nothing.
Aww. Almost but not quite.
She unscrews the cap from the small fuel tank on top of it and peeks inside.
Well that can't work.
She jumps off and checks the tank for the main engine.
Nope.

Research todo: On engines that had a pony motor, was it common to use the same fuel across both engines or was it sometimes a mix?
They scavenge some gasoline from a nearby truck by loosening the translate: Überwurfmutter on a fuel line and letting it drip into a glass bottle that James had found on the ground. Michelle takes it back inside while the others continue looking for diesel fuel.

Things that need research: Did early hydraulic excavators have starter engines (what were they called again?) or was that a thing of the past by then?
Events:
-> they take off some access panels
-> they manage to get the starte engine going
-> large engine won't start (why?)