Tremors!.. They're getting louder... OMG, it's getting out - and it's HUGE!!
What dwells beneath, does not dwell so quietly - these enormous machines are notorious for producing shaking and loud noise, but they do the job - excavating tunnels wide enough to fit two trains inside (maximum tunnel diameter 19 meters). They produce a smooth tunnel wall, but woe to any creature that stands in its way (obviously).
- Modern TBMs have fifteen electric motors, which supply some machines with a record-breaking 6,375 horsepower.
- "The machine tows nearly 800 tons of backup equipment through the tunnel, including trailers for electrical support systems, firefighting supplies and even a lunchroom."
- "The face of the drill contains a small door through which workers can crawl to replace the 15 or so cutters that wear out every day." (source)
- The biggest ever built was used to excavate Gotthard Base Tunnel - 19 meters diameter. It was made by Herrenknecht AG of Schwanau, Germany in 2005. Here is a scaled-down model:
Here is how Herrenknecht company describes it: "With two 57km-long tunnels, the Gotthard Base Tunnels will be the world's longest railway tunnel. Four Herrenknecht Gripper machines are excavating a total of 75km through the Alps. The identical S-210 and S-211 (diameter of 8.830m each) have been cutting their way through the rock from the south since November 2002 and February 2003 respectively."
These machines easily capture the imagination of movie makers. The whole pulp-style scientific romance "Core" is built around exploring the Earth's innards, and in "Oceans 13" the guys smuggle a 600-ton tunnel boring machine under Vegas.
Here is TBM cabin control center - and the driver:
There were special conditions with the Arrowhead Project, that Herrenknecht AG has been commissioned to undertake - very close proximity to major earthquake fault:
"Nobody has ever excavated so close to the site of earthquakes before. The route of the S-233 and S-234 through the South Californian mountains above San Bernardino is only a few hundred meters away from San Andreas Fault."
"Providing drinking water for the population of Los Angeles, California, is without doubt one of the greatest challenges facing the municipal authorities and local government. The mountain overlooking San Bernardino, through which a tunnel is to be drilled to pipe the water, presents quite unique challenges of its own: the aqueous rock has been heavily fissured by the San Andreas fault, which is located very close to the mountain."
Here is a good animation of how these machines work:
when these types of machines were reported on 'alternative news' websites (read: conspiracy theory) decades ago, the posters were called nuts, tin hat wearing conspiracy theorists.
i guess you're one as well, even though you have pictures :)
I was totally unprepared for that. This type of stuff is truly hard-core engineering (no pun intended, but I'll enjoy the serendipity of it)
I can barely even fathom what the project management is like for the design and development of those (both TBMs and tunnel systems alike.) One minor error could be hugely compounded. Remarkable, great post!
Hi there. I've been a huge fan of DRB for years now, and it's this kind of post that I love. Fantastic, imagination-catching stuff. Wow, can you imagine the consequences of forgetting to carry the 1 on an alignment equation??
Look here for a view of what looks to be an endpoint for the Little Skull Mountain tunnel.
The internet (combining various maps and commentaries) suggests that the area in question is Nevada Test Site Area 25, and given the fact that that's a tunnel, the best guess is it is or was used for underground depleted uranium testing (of projectiles or armor or both).
Hey - those cartoons are great! I love that black Humor. It reminds me a bit of the old "Parking Lot is full" cartoons - http://plif.courageunfettered.com/ - worth a look if you haven't seen them already!
The truck tire hole looks suspicious to me. Why is the rubber inside the hole the same color and wear as the outside of the tire? Shouldn't it be somewhat cleaner rubber?
Sigivald... It's possible the orange cones were placed there to mark the spot of the STEEL PIPE STICKING VERTICALLY FROM THE GROUND which may, or may not, be able to cut a piece of rubber out of a tire that has several tons of pressure on it.
As for the cut being dirty, the tire probably made quite a few rotations over dirt after the puncture was made. Since it's part of a dual they took the truck off the site to fix it.
It's not a parking garage. Vending machine isn't too far off. The picture is of Palette Town in Odaiba, Tokyo and the cars are part of the Mega Web Toyota showroom. You pick a car you want to see by pushing a button and a giant conveyor belt system rotates the vehicles around until your selection is in view. It's pretty awesome.
I like the video on the Pimped Office Cubicles link where the office workers show how they converted their colleague's cube into a tiny house while he was on vacation.
Okpo Land was very peaceful at night. We went up there at 2am while very drunk. The third picture from the bottom with the swirling lights was taken from the ride as it was rotating, and we could see the city way below.
First of all, the author of this post was not actually supposed to go inside. It's forbidden to go inside as it will be under construction very soon.
Second, it's not likely abandoned. Around the resort, there are gonna be new housing area(apartments), and the resort will be transformed to bigger park! hope this helped u guys understand!
if you wanna see pictures, pls refer to the pictures below.
You obviously have no idea what urban exploring is if you think I made a mistake.
There were no signs, in Korean or otherwise, forbidding entrance. Nobody stopped us, despite the fact we were crawling around there for several hours and seen by many people.
Thanks for posting your pictures. If there is anything South Korea needs more of, it's soulless highrises.
It's great that you guys were able to take pictures of this place, since this place will be gone soon due to the apartment complex construction plan throughout the area. The price of the land in Seoul and its suburban areas including Suwon is considerably expensive because of "supply and demand". (e.g. 1300 ft2 of apartment, not a house, costs minimum $300,000 average and up.-plz google the population density in these areas if interested.) And that's why people would like to utilize this piece of land to build more housing to live.
By the way, FYI, it's kind of sad and true that Koreans really don't talk to Foreigners because of the language barrier. Don't be surprised!
-A city of 1 million may be large by western standards, but in Asia it's relatively small, especially when it's a little south of a city of 10 million. -A site is abandoned if it has been vacated and is awaiting demolition. The two significantly large neighbourhoods of vacated houses awaiting demolition that are within five minutes of my home are abandoned. -Not everyone sees beauty the same way. The Japanese have a word, haikyo, which relates to the hidden beauty found in sites like this. There are hundreds of people all over the world who seek out places like this. Korea is not unique in this way.
Anonymous, we see the beauty in these places. When we say weird or creepy we really mean cool. :) Where are these abandoned neighborhoods you speak of?
"It´s remember me the movie "Chihiro´s travel" from Miyazaki."
I believe this film was released in the U.S. as "Spirited Away." (Chihiro's Dad mistakes a portal to the spirit world for the entrance to an abandoned amusement park; surreal eerieness ensues).
Yes, I had the same thought, looking at those pictures.
This and "Castle in the Sky" by Miyazagi are amazing, and well worth renting; but do not select the English language version: it changes the stories too much. Read subtitles on the original Japanese-soundtracks.
I'm sad to report that the front gate arch has been removed.
South Korea is filled with large abandoned neighbourhoods. In the near future I'm thinking of putting together a report on them for this site, but for now you can see a ton of photos on my site.
Too bad you weren't able to get inside the floating restaurant with the windmill. Maybe come back at night and borrow one of the boats to get across. Would suck if the door leading up turned out to be locked.
man, I'm from Lithuania but that Lithuanian Folk Art cracked me up. I have no idea what is that. And maybe that really is an ancient handjob porn, carved in a tree, LOL.
Ummm, I am not sure, but I think that the toys are possibly for ADULT MEN if you know what I mean. I believe that the Japanese make them in Anime style as well as more human-like form
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Hi all at drb. You have all put together one of the BEST Websites EVER. Just a note to say how much i enjoy your site. Thank You
regards,
when these types of machines were reported on 'alternative news' websites (read: conspiracy theory) decades ago, the posters were called nuts, tin hat wearing conspiracy theorists.
i guess you're one as well, even though you have pictures :)
19m diameter... that is insane
I was totally unprepared for that. This type of stuff is truly hard-core engineering (no pun intended, but I'll enjoy the serendipity of it)
I can barely even fathom what the project management is like for the design and development of those (both TBMs and tunnel systems alike.) One minor error could be hugely compounded. Remarkable, great post!
Hi there. I've been a huge fan of DRB for years now, and it's this kind of post that I love. Fantastic, imagination-catching stuff. Wow, can you imagine the consequences of forgetting to carry the 1 on an alignment equation??
"when these types of machines were reported on 'alternative news' websites (read: conspiracy theory) decades ago..."
Huh? Which sites were you on in the 70s and 80s?
"when these types of machines were reported on 'alternative news' websites (read: conspiracy theory) decades ago..."
Huh? Which sites were you on in the 70s and 80s?
LOL, nice catch!
OT: Love the post. Incredible machines!
Look here for a view of what looks to be an endpoint for the Little Skull Mountain tunnel.
The internet (combining various maps and commentaries) suggests that the area in question is Nevada Test Site Area 25, and given the fact that that's a tunnel, the best guess is it is or was used for underground depleted uranium testing (of projectiles or armor or both).
To all the fans - thank you! your good words keep us going.
thank you for all. great site!!:)
Thank you for the great post.
Strabag AG is not the type of the machine but the construction company which owns it (www.strabag.com)
But anyhow nice article.
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