Voices From the Niagara Tunnel

As the TBM machine would mine forward, provisions had to be made to allow the fresh water supply to be continuously maintained, as well as greywater disposal in a similar manner, but on the opposite side of the tunnel. For freshwater, a large reel uncoiled a 6 inch diameter hose for a distance of about 30 metres before mining would halt and the hose would be wound back onto the reel. In anticipation of this, a crew would also be placing pipe on the wall to take the place of the now coiled hose. Slide the connected sections of pipe back, connect to the freshwater supply line, and away we go again for the next 30 odd meters. Also, the now coiled hose had to be connected again to the supply pipe, so the pipe could supply water to the coiled hose, which would slowly be played out as mining continued. That was always a challenging task, as the 6 inch hose with metal end was quite heavy. The style of connection also mandated that a perfect alignment was necessary for a correct connection. Two or three fellows would be hanging off the machine, or actually lying on the curved tunnel wall just to get the hose skewed into the proper alignment so one of the guys could attach and tighten the clamp. When it came time for a water pipe extension, it was always "all available hands on deck", and tunnelers and maintenance guys would pitch in together to get this task done.

One night shift, I pitched in to help Carmen (shift foreman) and Nick (tunneler) to hook up the hose. Carm and I were on the first true deck of the TBM machine, about 1 storey up from the bottom of the tunnel. Nick found it better to brace himself on the tunnel wall, he held his position by standing on one of the stubs of rebar that were placed along the tunnel wall in holes drilled to accommodate the rebar. They were designed to support the freshwater pipes that I spoke of earlier. As we struggled, all of a sudden Nick disappeared...in the blink of an eye, the hole in the tunnel wall broke out, the rebar fell, chased merrily downward by Nick. As it was night shift, early in the morning, and sleep deprived minds may have not been 100%, Carm looked at me and asked "Where did he go?!" Sleep deprived myself, I could not help but laugh like an idiot and reply "Down!...where the devil do you think he went?!" Dirty and with a few new tears in his clothes, Nick climbed back up onto the deck we were situated on. Just another normal night for the tunnelers.

On another night with another crew, I gave a hand with the lengthening of the greywater pipe on the opposite wall. Here we just hung long 6 inch flexible hoses that were suspended from chainfalls and beam trolleys, and as we mined forward, we would alter the chainfalls to allow the machine to go forward without overstretching these hoses. Eventually, the rear hose was disconnected from the wastewater pipes, a new length of pipe added, and the hose reconnected. Often times, when the hose was disconnected, the pipe would drain back with a good deal of water pressure, and the crew would get a bath. After being soaked one night, I realized I had stood to the side, but still managed to get soaked as the hose / pipe was disconnected. Reasoning it was harder to hit a moving target, I had my plan of action for the next time in place.

A few nights later, the same tunneler crew and I again were altering the greywater pipe set up. As the connection was broken, I took off down the wall of the tunnel, and running back toward the front of the machine...and promptly got a continuous soaking as the connection slowly released its pressure this time, the arc of water perfectly following my path. It was as if someone was chasing me with a god awfully big garden hose. So much for the scientific method. The guys DID get a good laugh out of it.

Name withheld by request

The "7 Pin Pickup" incident.

As the TBM entered the area of rock that was most unstable, the overbreak was bad, but so too was the cascading of rock when the TBM would begin a push. No matter how deftly or gently an operator would ease the TBM into the rock face, the large rocks falling onto the conveyor belt were out of control for the first few moments. Small rocks on a conveyor belt are steered and guided by gravity and skirting, large falling rocks on a conveyor belt do what they darn well please until they settle down. Also, any time a material transfers from one belt to another, there is a repeated period of turbulence as the material settles down again. There were two such points on the TBM. The trailing point was at the backup belt / tunnel belt transition, where crews would add framework to the ever lengthening tunnel belt as the machine mined forward. With the large rock problem noted, tunnelers and maintenance staff would station themselves at trouble points during a mining start up to monitor and stop the belts if damage or uncontrolled material occurred. Once the "push" had begun and material flow settled down, only a few tunnelers were needed to keep watch at strategic points, the rest of us would return to other tasks that were always in need of doing.

I was at the backup belt / tunnel belt area one night shift as the next push began, so I stationed myself about 20 metres along the tunnel belt, right at the point where crews would add the steel channels, frames and rollers as the belt required lengthening. This point was also two full decks up on the machine, a point about midway between the floor and ceiling of the tunnel, close to the left wall. Terry, a member of that crew was also in the area, he took up watch as well. As the push began, the expected rock surge began, and a good number of bushel basket sized rocks were tumbling along the belt along with smaller material. As the still tumbling rocks passed Terry and I, they were in a rebellious mood and no amount of my yelling at them did a bit of good. Come to think of it, neither does yelling at your teenager.

One of these tumblers was the size of a 20 lb. turkey, and it took a roll right up the wall as it corkscrewed off the belt, as the belt had worked its way up to full mining speed. Momentum kept it flying along horizontally for a few feet, then gravity took over as it skittered down the curved wall of the tunnel. Picture a tumbling rock, now with added "english" on it from the curved wall...the trajectory was now something to be seen.

Meanwhile, below on the tunnel floor, George the tunneler was walking in the same direction as the conveyor belt carried the mined rock. He was making his way along when the rock came careening down the wall, arced along the floor, and took George's feet out from under him from behind. He never saw it coming. The spin and speed on the rock as I watched it was something close to what you see in ten pin bowling, when a really good bowler throws one of those arcing balls that cuts down the 7 pin for a spare. George was that 7 pin. Happened so damn quick I didn't have time to say anything but "HEY!" just as he got clipped.

Well, for the most part we were a lucky bunch, and this time George got up, shook his head, and continued on walking. "You OK?" I yelled down. A wave and his continued walking told me he was. Seeing he was OK, I started to play back in my mind what I just saw...and got into a laughing jag over it. Gary the electrician came by, found me there laughing with tears rolling down my cheeks over a scene I thought could only happen in a Warner Brothers cartoon. It took a full 20 minutes of me trying to tell Gary the story until the laughing stopped.

Name withheld by request

NIAGARA FALLS THUNDER ALLEY NAVIGATOR
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A FEW OF THE FACES THE MAKING OF SUCCESS

IN MEMORIAM Christopher "Chris" Campbell

IN MEMORIAM

Christopher "Chris" Campbell