TRANSACTIONS

Introduction.

The section of the Pennsylvania Railroad Tunnel work described in this paper is that lying between Tenth Avenue, New York City, and the large shaft built by the Company at Weehawken, N. J., and thus comprises the crossing of the North or Hudson River, the barrier which has stood for such a long time between the railroads and their possession of terminal stations in New York City. The general plan and section, Plate XXVIII, shows the work included.

This paper is written from the point of view of those engaged by the Chief Engineer of the Railroad Company to look after the work of construction in the field. The history of the undertaking is not included, the various phases through which many of the designs and plans passed are not followed, nor are the considerations regarding foundations under the subaqueous portions of the tunnels and the various tests made in connection with this subject set out, as all these matters will be found in other papers on these tunnels.

This paper only aims to describe, as briefly as possible, the actual designs which were finally adopted, the actual conditions met on the ground, and the methods of construction adopted by the contractors.

For easy reference, and to keep the descriptions of work of a similar character together, the subject will be treated under the four main headings, viz.: Shafts, Plant, Land Tunnels, and River Tunnels.

Shafts.

It is not intended to give much length to the description of the Shafts or the Land Tunnels, as more interest will probably center in the River Tunnels.

The shafts did not form part of the regular tunnel contract, but were built under contract by the United Engineering and Contracting Company while the contract plans for the tunnel were being prepared. In this way, when the tunnel contracts were let, the contractor found the shafts ready, and he could get at his work at once.

Two shafts were provided, one on the New York side and one on the New Jersey side. Their exact situation is shown on Plate XXVIII. They were placed as near as possible to the point at which the disappearance of the rock from the tunnels made it necessary to start the shield-driven portion of the work.

The details of the shafts will now be described briefly.

The Manhattan Shaft.—The Manhattan Shaft is located about 100 ft. north of the tunnel center; there was nothing noticeable about its construction. General figures relating to both shafts are given in Table 1.

The Weehawken Shaft.—The Weehawken Shaft is shown in Fig. 1. This, as will be seen from Table 1, was a comparatively large piece of work. The shaft is over the tunnels, and includes both of them. In the original design the wall of the shaft was intended to follow in plan the property line shown in Fig. 2, and merely to extend down to the surface of the rock, which, as disclosed by the preliminary borings, was here about 15 ft. below the surface. However, as the excavation proceeded, it was found that this plan would not do, as the depth to the rock surface varied greatly, and was often much lower than expected; the rock itself, moreover, was very treacherous, the cause being that the line of junction between the triassic sandstone, which is here the country rock, and the intrusive trap of the Bergen Hill ridge, occurs about one-third of the length of the shaft from its western end, causing more or less disintegration of both kinds of rock. Therefore it was decided to line the shaft with concrete throughout its entire depth, the shape being changed to a rectangular plan, as shown in the drawings. At the same time that the shaft was excavated, a length of 40 ft. of tunnels at each end of it was taken out, also on account of the treacherous nature of the ground, thus avoiding risk of injury to the shaft when the tunnel contractors commenced work. There was much trouble with floods during the fall of 1903, and numerous heavy falls of ground occurred, in spite of extreme care and much heavy timbering. The greatest care was also taken in placing the concrete lining, and the framing to support the forms was carefully designed and of heavy construction; the forms were of first-class workmanship, and great care was taken to keep them true to line. A smooth surface was given to the concrete by placing a 3-in. layer of mortar at the front of the walls and tamping this dry facing mixture well down with the rest of the concrete. The east and west walls act as retaining walls, while those on the north and south are facing walls, and are tied to the rock with steel rods embedded and grouted into the rock and into the concrete. Ample drainage for water at the back of the wall was provided by upright, open-joint, vitrified drains at frequent intervals, with dry-laid stone drains leading to them from all wet spots in the ground. A general view of the finished work is shown in Fig. 1, Plate XXIX, and Table 1 gives the most important dates and figures relating to this shaft.

TABLE 1.— Particulars of Shafts on

After the tunnel work was finished, both shafts were provided with stairs leading to the surface, a protective head-house was placed over the New York Shaft, and a reinforced concrete fence, 8 ft. high, was built around the Weehawken Shaft on the Company's property line, that is, following the outline of the shaft as originally designed.

Plant.

Working Sites.

Before beginning a description of the tunnel work, it may be well to set out in some detail the arrangements made on the surface for conducting the work underground.

All the work was carried on from two shafts, one at Eleventh Avenue and 32d Street, New York City—called the Manhattan Shaft—and one at Baldwin Avenue, Weehawken, N. J.—called the Weehawken Shaft.

The characteristics of the two sites were radically different, and called for different methods of handling the transportation problem. The shaft site at Manhattan is shown on Plate XXX. It will be seen that there was not much room, in fact, the site was too cramped for comfort; the total area, including the space occupied by the old foundry, used for power-houses, offices, etc., was about 3,250 sq. yd. This made it necessary to have two stages, one on the ground level for handling materials into the yard, and an overhead gantry on which the excavated materials were handled off the premises. The yard at Weehawken was much larger; it is also shown on Plate XXX. Its area was about 15,400 sq. yd. in the yard proper, and there was an additional space of about 750 sq. yd. alongside the wharf at the "North Slip," on the river front, connected with the main portion of the yard by an overhead trestle.

All the cars at Manhattan were moved by hand, but at Weehawken two electric locomotives with overhead transmission were used.

Power-House Plant.

At the Manhattan Shaft the power-house plant was installed on the ground floor of the old foundry building which occupied the north side of the leased area. This was a brick building, quite old, and in rather a tumble-down condition when the Company took possession, and in consequence it required quite a good deal of repair and strengthening work. The first floor of the building was used by the contractor as offices, men's quarters, doctor's offices, and so on, and on the next one above, which was the top floor, were the offices occupied by the Railroad Company's field engineering staff.

On the Weehawken side, the plant was housed in a wooden-frame, single-story structure, covered with corrugated iron. It was rectangular in plan, measuring 80 by 130 ft.

At both sides of the river the engines were bedded on solid concrete on a rock foundation.

The installation of the plant on the Manhattan side occupied from May, 1904, to April, 1905, and on the Weehawken side from September, 1904, to April, 1905. Air pressure was on the tunnels at the New York side on June 25th, 1905, and on the Weehawken side on the 29th of the same month.

The plants contained in the two power-houses were almost identical, there being only slight differences in the details of arrangement due to local conditions. A list of the main items of the plant at one power-house is shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2.—Plant at One Power-House.

The following is a short description of each item of plant in Table 2:

Boilers.—At each shaft there were three 500-h.p., water-tube boilers, Class F (made by Sterling and Company, Chicago, Ill.). They had independent steel stacks, 54 in. in diameter and 100 ft. above grate level; each had 5,000 sq. ft. of heating surface and 116 sq. ft. of grate area. The firing was by hand, and there were shaking grates and four doors to each furnace. Under normal conditions of work, two boilers at each plant were able to supply all the steam required. The average working pressure of the steam was 135 lb. per sq. in.

The steam piping system was on the loop or by-pass plan. The diameter of the pipes varied from 14 in. in the main header to 10 in. in the body of the loop. The diameter of the exhaust steam main increased from 8 in. at the remote machines to 20 in., and then to 30 in., at the steam separator, which in turn was connected with the condensers. A pipe with an automatic relief valve from the exhaust to the atmosphere was used when the condensers were shut down. All piping was of the standard, flanged extra-heavy type, with bronze-seated gate-valves on the principal lines, and globe-valves on some of the auxiliary ones. There was an 8-in. water leg on the main header fitted with a Mason-Kelly trap, and other smaller water traps were set at suitable intervals.

Each boiler was fitted with safety valves, and there were automatic release valves on the high-and low-pressure cylinders of each compressor, as well as on each air receiver.

Buckwheat coal was used, and was delivered to the bins on the Manhattan side by teams and on the Weehawken side by railroad cars or in barges, whence it was taken to the power-house by 2-ft. gauge cars. An average of 20 tons of coal in each 24 hours was used by each plant.

The water was taken directly from the public service supply main. The daily quantity used was approximately 4,000 gal. for boiler purposes and 4,400 gal. for general plant use. Wooden overhead tanks having a capacity of 14,000 gal. at each plant served as a 12-hour emergency supply.

Feed Pumps.—There were two feed pumps at each plant. They had a capacity of 700 cu. ft. per min., free discharge. The plungers were double, of 6-in. diameter, and 10-in. stroke, the steam cylinders were of 10-in. diameter and 10-in. stroke. An injector of the "Metropolitan Double-Tube" type, with a capacity of 700 cu. ft. per min., was fitted to each boiler for use in emergencies.

The feed-water heater was a "No. 9 Cochrane," guaranteed to heat 45,000 lb. of water per hour, and had a total capacity of 85.7 cu. ft. It was heated by the exhaust steam from the non-condensing auxiliary plant.

Condenser Plant.—There were two surface condensers at each plant. Each had a cooling surface sufficient to condense 22,500 lb. of steam per hour, with water at a temperature of 70° Fahr. and barometer at 30 in., maintaining a vacuum of 26 in. in the condenser. Each was fitted with a Blake, horizontal, direct-acting, vacuum pump.

Circulating-Water Pumps.—Two circulating-water pumps, supplying salt water directly from the Hudson River, were placed on the wharf. They were 8-in. centrifugal pumps, each driven by a 36-h.p., General Electric Company's direct-current motor (220 volts and 610 rev. per min.), the current being supplied from the contractor's power-house generators. The pumps were run alternately 24 hours each at a time. Those on the Manhattan side were 1,300 ft. from the power-house, and delivered their water through a 16-in. pipe; those on the Weehawken side were 450 ft. away, and delivered through a 14-in. pipe. There was also a direct connection with the city mains, in case of an accident to the salt-water pumps.

Low-Pressure Compressors.—At each plant there were three low-pressure compressors. These were for the supply of compressed air to the working chambers of the subaqueous shield-driven tunnels. They were also used on occasions to supply compressed air to the cylinders of the high-pressure compressors, thus largely increasing the capacity of the latter when hard pressed by an unusual call on account of heavy drilling work in the rock tunnels. They were of a new design, of duplex Corliss type, having cross-compound steam cylinders, designed to operate condensing, but capable of working non-condensing; the air cylinders were simple duplex. The steam cylinder valves were of the Corliss release type, with vacuum dash-pots. The valves in the air cylinders were mechanically-operated piston valves, with end inlet and discharge. The engines used steam at 135 lb. pressure. The high-and low-pressure steam cylinders were 14 in. and 30 in. in diameter, respectively, with a stroke of 36 in. and a maximum speed of 135 rev. per min. The two air cylinders were 23½ in. in diameter, and had a combined capacity of 35.1 cu. ft. of free air per revolution, and, when running at 125 rev. per min., each machine had an actual capacity of 4,389 cu. ft. of free air per min., or 263,340 cu. ft. per hour. The air cylinders were covered by water-jackets through which salt water from the circulating pumps flowed. A gauge pressure of 50 lb. of air could be obtained.

Each compressor was fitted with an automatic speed and air-pressure regulator, designed to vary the cut-off according to the volume of air required, and was provided with an after-cooler fitted with tinned-brass tube and eight Tobin-bronze tube-plates having 809 sq. ft. of cooling surface; each one was capable of reducing the temperature of the air delivered by it to within 10° Fahr. of the temperature of the cooling water when its compressor was operated at its fullest capacity. From the after-cooler the air passed into a vertical receiver, 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 12 ft. high, there being one such receiver for each compressor. The receivers were tested to a pressure of 100 lb. per sq. in. The after-coolers were provided with traps to collect precipitated moisture and oil. The coolers and receivers were fitted with safety valves set to blow off at 1 lb. above the working pressure. The air supply was taken from without, and above the power-house roof, but in very cold weather it could be taken from within doors.

High-Pressure Compressors.—There was one high-pressure compressor at each plant. Each consisted of two duplex air cylinders fitted to a cross-compound, Corliss-Bass, steam engine. The two steam cylinders were 14 and 26 in. in diameter, respectively, and the air cylinders were 14¼ in. in diameter and had a 36-in. stroke. The air cylinder was water-jacketed with salt water supplied from the circulating water pumps.

The capacity was about 1,100 cu. ft. of free air per min. when running at 85 rev. per min. and using intake air at normal pressure, but, when receiving air from the low-pressure compressors at a pressure of 30 lb. per sq. in., the capacity was 3,305 cu. ft. of free air per min.; receiving air at 50 lb. per sq. in., the capacity would have been 4,847 cu. ft. of free air per min. This latter arrangement, however, called for more air than the low-pressure compressors could deliver. With the low-pressure compressor running at 125 rev. per min. (its maximum speed), it could furnish enough air at 43.8 lb. per sq. in. to supply the high-pressure compressor running at 85 rev. per min. (its maximum speed); and, with the high-pressure compressor delivering compressed air at 150 lb., the combined capacity of the arrangement would have been 4,389 cu. ft. of free air per min.

The air passed through a receiver, 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 12 ft. high, tested under a water pressure of 225 lb. per sq. in., before being sent through the distributing pipes.

Hydraulic Power Pumps.—At each power-house there were three hydraulic power pumps to operate the tunneling shields. One pump was used for each tunnel, leaving the third as a stand-by. The duplex steam cylinders were 15 in. in diameter, with a 10-in. stroke; the duplex water rams were 2⅛ in. in diameter with a 10-in. stroke. The pumps were designed to work up to 6,000 lb. per sq. in., but the usual working pressure was about 4,500 lb. The piping, which was extra heavy hydraulic, was connected by heavy cast-steel screw coup lings having a hexagonal cross-section in the middle to enable tightening to be done with a bolt wrench. The piping was designed to withstand a pressure of 5,500 lb. per sq. in.

Electric Generators.—At each plant there were two electric generators supplying direct current for both lighting and power, at 240 volts, through a two-wire system of mains. They were of Type M-P, Class 6, 100 kw., 400 amperes, 250 rev. per min., 240 volts no load and 250 volts full load. They were connected direct to 10 by 20 by 14-in., center-crank, tandem-compound, engines of 150 h.p. at 250 rev. per min. A switch-board, with all the necessary fuses, switches, and meters, was provided at each plant.

Lubrication.—In the lubricating system three distinct systems were used, each requiring its own special grade of oil.

The journals and bearings were lubricated with ordinary engine oil by a gravity system; the oil after use passed through a "White Star" filter, and was pumped into a tank about 15 ft. above the engine-room floor.

The low-pressure air cylinders were lubricated with "High Test" oil, having a flash point of 600° Fahr. The oil was forced from a receiving tank into an elevated tank by high-pressure air. When the tank was full the high-pressure air was turned off and the low-pressure air was turned on, in this way the air pressure in the oil tank equalled that in the air cylinder being lubricated, thus allowing a perfect gravity system to exist.

The steam cylinders and the high-pressure air cylinders were fed with oil from hand-fed automatic lubricators made by the Detroit Lubrication Company, Detroit, Mich.

"Steam Cylinder" oil was used for the steam cylinders and "High Test" oil (the same as used for the low-pressure air cylinders) for the high-pressure air cylinders. The air cylinder and steam cylinder lubricators were of the same kind, except that no condensers were necessary. The steam cylinder and engine oil was caught on drip pans, and, after being filtered, was used again as engine oil in the bearings. The oil from the air cylinders was not saved, nor was that from the steam cylinders caught at the separator.

Cost of Operating the Power-House Plants.—In order to give an idea of the general cost of running these plants, Tables 3 and 4 are given as typical of the force employed and the general supplies needed for a 24-hour run of one plant. Table 3 gives a typical run during the period of driving the shields, and Table 4 is typical of the period of concrete construction. In the latter case the tunnels were under normal air pressure. Before the junction of the shields, both plants were running continuously; after the junction, but while the tunnels were still under compressed air, only one power-house plant was operated.

TABLE 3.—Cost of Operating One Power-House for 24 Hours During Excavation and Metal Lining.

Stone-Crusher Plant.—A short description of the stone-crusher plant will be given, as it played an important part in the economy of the concrete work. In order to provide crushed stone for the concrete, the contractor bought (from the contractor who built the Bergen Hill Tunnels) the pile of trap rock excavated from these tunnels, which had been dumped on the piece of waste ground to the north of Baldwin Avenue, Weehawken, N. J.

The general layout of the plant is shown on Plate XXX. It consisted of a No. 6 and a No. 8 Austin crusher, driven by an Amex, single-cylinder, horizontal, steam engine of 120 h.p., and was capable of crushing about 225 cu. yd. of stone per 10-hour day. The crushers and conveyors were driven from a countershaft, in turn driven from the engine by an 18-in. belt.

TABLE 4.—Cost of Operating the One Plant for 24 Hours During Concrete Lining.

The process of crushing was as follows: The stone from the pile was loaded by hand into scale-boxes which were lifted by two derricks into the chute above the No. 6 crusher. One derrick had a 34-ft. mast and a 56-ft. boom, and was worked by a Lidgerwood steam hoister; the other had a 23-ft. mast and a 45-ft. boom, and was worked by a "General Electric" hoist. All the stone passed first through the No. 6 crusher, after which it was lifted by a bucket conveyor to a screen, placed about 60 ft. higher than and above the stone bin. The screen was a steel chute pierced by 2½-in. circular holes, and was on a slope of about 45°; in order to prevent the screen from choking, it was necessary to have two men continually scraping the stone over it with hoes. All the stone passing the screen was discharged into a bin below with a capacity of about 220 cu. yd. The stone not passing the screen passed down a diagonal chute to a No. 8 crusher, from which, after crushing, it was carried back by a second bucket conveyor to the bin, into which it was dumped without passing a screen. The No. 8 crusher was arranged so that it could, when necessary, receive stone direct from the stone pile. The cars in which the stone was removed could be run under the bin and filled by opening a sliding door in the bottom of the bin. A track was laid from the bin to connect with the contractor's surface railway in the Weehawken Shaft yard, and on this track the stone could be transported either to the Weehawken Shaft direct, for use on that side of the river, or to the wharf, where it could be dumped into scows for transportation to New York.

The cars used were 3-cu. yd. side-dump, with flap-doors, and were hauled by two steam Dinky locomotives.

The average force employed was:

Owing to the constant break-down of machinery, chutes, etc., inseparable from stone-crushing work, there was always at work a repair gang consisting of either three carpenters or three machinists, according to the nature of the break-down.

The approximate cost of the plant was:

The cost of the crushed stone at Weehawken amounted to about $0.91 per cu. yd., and was made up as follows:

The crushed stone at the Manhattan Shaft cost about $1.04 per cu. yd., the difference of $0.13 from the Weehawken cost being made up of the cost of transfer across the river, $0.08, and transport from the dock to the shaft, $0.05.

Miscellaneous Plant.—The various pieces of plant used directly in the construction work, such as derricks, hauling engines, pumps, concrete mixers, and forms, will be found described or at

The tunneling shields, however, will be described now, as much of the explanation of the shield-driven work will not be clear unless preceded by a good idea of their design.

Tunneling Shields.

During the period in which the original contract drawings were being made, namely, in the latter part of 1903 and the early part of 1904, considerable attention was given to working out detailed studies for a type of shield which would be suitable for dealing with the various kinds of ground through which the shield-driven tunnels had to pass. This was done in order that, when the contract was let, the engineer's ideas of the requirements of the shields should be thoroughly crystallized, and so that the contractor might take advantage of this long-thought-out design, instead of being under the necessity of placing a hurried order for a piece of plant on which so much of the safety as well as of the speed of his work depended. Eventually, the contractor took over these designs as they stood, with certain minor modifications, and the shields as built and worked gave entire satisfaction. The chief points held in view were ample strength, easy access to the working face combined with ease and quickness of closing the diaphragm, and general simplicity. A clear idea of the main features of the design can be gathered from Fig. 3 and Plate XXXI.

The interior diameter of the skin was 2 in. greater than the external diameter of the metal lining of the tunnel, which was 23 ft. The skin was made up of three thicknesses of steel plate, a ¾-in. plate outside and inside, with a ⅝-in. plate between; thus the external diameter of the skin was 23 ft. 6¼ in. The length over all (exclusive of the hood, to be described later) was 15 ft. 11-7/16 in. The maximum overlap of the skin over the erected metal lining was 6 ft. 4½ in., and the minimum overlap, 2 ft.

There were no inside or outside cover-plates, the joints of the various pieces of skin plates being butt-joints covered by the overlap of adjoining plates. All riveting was flush, both inside and outside. The whole circumference of each skin plate was made up of eight pieces, each of which extended the entire length of the shield, the only circumferential joint on the outside being at the junction of the removable cutting edge (or of the hood when the latter was in position) with the shield proper.

Forward of the back ends of the jacks, the shield was stiffened by an annular girder supporting the skin, and in the space between the stiffeners of which were set the 24 propelling rams used to shove the shield ahead by pressure exerted on the last erected ring of metal lining, as shown on Plate XXXI.

To assist in taking the thrust of these rams, gusset-plates were placed against the end of each ram cylinder, and were carried forward to form level brackets supporting the cast-steel cutting-edge segments. The stiffening gussets, between which were placed the rams, were also carried forward as level brackets, for the same purpose. The cast-steel segmental cutting edge was attached to the front of the last mentioned plates.

The interior structural framing consisted of two floors and three vertical partitions, giving nine openings or pockets for access to the face; these pockets were 2 ft. 7 in. wide, the height varying from 2 ft. 2 in. to 3 ft. 4 in., according to their location. The openings were provided with pivoted segmental doors, which were adopted because they could be shut without having to displace any ground which might be flowing into the tunnel, and while open their own weight tended to close them, being held from doing so by a simple catch.