Western Railroad Discussion > Reopening Tunnel 11...a UP Story

UP posted a article about reopening Tunnel 11 in the Cascades of Oregon yesterday. Funny they didn't mention catching the hay on fire?!?

https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/oregon-tunnel-07-18-2018.htm

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Using the hay to try and plug the hole seems like such a oddly bad idea anyways. Could have got some loggers up there to fall some trees and put the branches down into the hole. The branches would interlock with each other and provide the needed structural support.
BTW, 600 cubic yards is equal to a volume 10' wide, 20' tall by 81' long.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/18 08:38 by funnelfan.

Hay on fire! That would melt every snowflake's heart on the Western seaboard.

On a serious note: What a massive undertaking. Those guys really busted their humps.

Posted from Android

"About 20 trains per day pass through the tunnel..." ...really?

FiestaFoamer Wrote:
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> "About 20 trains per day pass through the
> tunnel..." ...really?

YUP!

Dick Samuels

From the article:

Helicopters flew in hay bales to stabilize the mountain’s slope.

That implies impacts from the tunnel collapse reached to the surface above the tunnel. Is that true? If not what slope needed stabilizing?
And was hay brought into the tunnel itself or was it used outside the tunnel?

I think the writer of the article could use a refresher in technical writing.

hay, what the hay are you talking about, willis???  let's try the word straw, which comes from dead wheat or oat stalks, not alfalfa or grasses that are used to feed livestock.  off soap box.  dave, out.

Previous stories indicated that a hole did open up above the tunnel all the way to the surface.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

A number of years ago I had a conversation with a lady that worked for the Forest Service  that had hiked all over those hills cruising for timber.  She talked about finding old camps used during construction of the railroad and of almost falling in hole above the tunnels.

A second conversation was with a fellow I knew that married a girl I graduated from High School with in 1953.  He hired on with SP at Oakridge in 1953 and worked his way up to Division Engineer.  We were talking about the tunnels and he said that some of the tunnels had a horizontal bore on the uphill side of the tunnel.  There were vertical shafts to the surface that connected to the horizontal one and they were used for drainage  of water.

Could it possible that those are  the forerunners of the holes that went to the surface in the collapsed tunnel?

jb

SN711 Wrote:
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> Previous stories indicated that a hole did open up
> above the tunnel all the way to the surface.
>
> Gary
>
> Posted from iPhone

Thanks. I missed it but found a story using the TO search function:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4574512,4575672#msg-4575672 

jdb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A number of years ago I had a conversation with a
> lady that worked for the Forest Service  that
> had hiked all over those hills cruising for
> timber.  She talked about finding old camps used
> during construction of the railroad and of almost
> falling in hole above the tunnels.
>
> A second conversation was with a fellow I knew
> that married a girl I graduated from High School
> with in 1953.  He hired on with SP at Oakridge in
> 1953 and worked his way up to Division Engineer. 
> We were talking about the tunnels and he said that
> some of the tunnels had a horizontal bore on the
> uphill side of the tunnel.  There were vertical
> shafts to the surface that connected to the
> horizontal one and they were used for drainage 
> of water.
>
> Could it possible that those are  the
> forerunners of the holes that went to the surface
> in the collapsed tunnel?
>
> jb

Joel Ashcroft has mentioned before about a network of drainage tunnels aroudn all the railroad tunnels up there. He said it was quite an impressive network.
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Does UPrr contract this work out? Or have a special crew, or just the regular district team. Not much to go by in the article.
tia.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/18 21:14 by TCnR.

Cumbresfan Wrote:
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> And was hay brought into the tunnel itself or was
> it used outside the tunnel?
>
> I think the writer of the article could use a
> refresher in technical writing.

It's a P.R. piece, not a technical article.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does UPrr contract this work out? Or have a
> special crew, or just the regular district team.
> Not much to go by in the article.

Contractors.