Every day carry:
Not this exact headlamp but one like it with three AAA, it is important that it be adjustable or you will have the lamp pointed over your field book when you make a note, brightness is not really that important.
For level loops to light the rod if the nedo illumination is not enough, or for general use if the power is going to be out in the tunnel:
https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-90642-Knucklehead-Alkaline-Yellow/dp/B004MOEJWK
Bring some batteries and change em at lunch if it is going to be straight up dark with no tunnel lights, if they have lights you will not be using yours the whole time.
confined space stuff set aside.
BlackDiamond and Petzl make the best headlamps
http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/headlamps-and-lanterns
https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Professional#.V-2LUegrJaQ
Got the go ahead today. GOING UNDERGROUND!
They got the rails all rehabilitated and are going to let us use their electric train engine (battery LOCI) to go in and out. Going to make it better on the back, as much of the tunnel is a bit less than 6 feet high. One of those rare different kind of projects. Need to topo the rails and also the low points on the tunnel roof to plan a grade that the 54 inch ADS pipe will go through and maintain a flowing grade. They are not going to install the pipe until next year as winter will shut it down (access).
John Margaroni, post: 390856, member: 12076 wrote: One thing you didn't mention: Is the Tunnel on tangent or curved?
Tangent, When you get a ways into one end (into darkness) you can see a light dot in the distance (other end I suppose).
LRDay, post: 396226, member: 571 wrote: Tangent, When you get a ways into one end (into darkness) you can see a light dot in the distance (other end I suppose).
Hopefully not a train.
I've worked on a tunnel or three in the past and I would say this is a great candidate for scanning.
John Putnam, post: 398029, member: 1188 wrote: Hopefully not a train.
I've worked on a tunnel or three in the past and I would say this is a great candidate for scanning.
This tunnel is a water tunnel. Canals collect melting snowbanks and the tunnel flows the water through the mountain from the Colorado Basin into the Great Basin. The tunnel is at about 9700 feet elevation and 7000 feet long. The tunnel had filled up with some rock and dirt since 1937 when it was built. They cleaned it out this season and will shut down soon until past water season next year (about September 1). I was in the tunnel for the first time last week and we got about 1/2 through on the level loop. They set pins in the roof every 100 feet. I fixed my digital level rods with some hanging hooks. We are just using flashlights but its working OK. Have one light that magnets to the rails to illuminate the rod. I'm doing every other one the way through and will use the others on the way back to complete the loop. The bad part is much of the tunnel is under 6 feet at about 5-1/2 feet. Walking is real hard on the back and bending to sight the level is no fun either. I had to tall of a tripod first day, going to use a shorter one tomorrow. The last half of the tunnel has more head room. Thinking about making a little platform to bridge the rails to kneel on the knees to sight instruments.
Scanning would be great but way overkill. They are going to install a 54 inch diameter ribbed steel pipe and then it will be grouted in with cellular concrete. I hope we don't need to get into that very much for the as built, at least I want to try and not go in with an instrument. Right know we can ride in and out on the rails (in a muck cart) pulled by a Loci (battery powered electric train). I will need to do some profile, plan on using a reflectorless gun and the bench marks from the level loop. They need enough profile info to grade the pipe and fit it between the rails and roof. They can move back and forth sideways as they need to. Other than doing a huge survey/scan job for fit they are just going to put a pipe on the train and work it through. They may need to slide the rails a bit as there is another 10 inch culinary pipeline laid through the tunnel also. They may need to shift this pipe in places also.
Yeah, there is a train in there but we are using it. It doesn't go very fast but beats the heck out of walking.
Radios don't work very well in a tunnel. Wonder if a robot would even work in there, might be hard to maintain radio contact with the rod.
LRDay, post: 398699, member: 571 wrote: there is another 10 inch culinary pipeline laid through the tunnel
What's a culinary pipeline?
Jim Frame, post: 398706, member: 10 wrote: What's a culinary pipeline?
Water collected from springs, piped down the mountain about 7 miles for a small city's drinking water. After they install the 54 inch pipe they will install a new 10 inch pipe inside hanging from the top. Now that's gotta be fun. Ain't going to be a railroad a that point.
Spent twenty hours in the tunnel to do the level loop. There is an eye bolt in the roof every 100 feet. The tunnel is 7100 feet (plus) long. About half the tunnel you can't stand up straight (under 6 feet). That was tough on the back. It's about 40-45 degrees and wet, a few inches of water most places on the floor. Still need to adjust it out. Once we worked out the lighting system it worked fairly well, I bought the flashlights recommended in an earlier post.
I gotta stop acting like a kid!!!
LRDay, post: 398961, member: 571 wrote: Spent twenty hours in the tunnel to do the level loop. There is an eye bolt in the roof every 100 feet. The tunnel is 7100 feet (plus) long. About half the tunnel you can't stand up straight (under 6 feet). That was tough on the back. It's about 40-45 degrees and wet, a few inches of water most places on the floor. Still need to adjust it out. Once we worked out the lighting system it worked fairly well, I bought the flashlights recommended in an earlier post.
I gotta stop acting like a kid!!!
Sounds like you are enjoying the challenge.
imaudigger, post: 399123, member: 7286 wrote: Sounds like you are enjoying the challenge.
I like doing new things but the years are starting to show. Had leg cramps for 3 hours after the first day but been OK since. I have some video of riding the rails into the tunnel but not time to get it ready to post. Maybe in a month or so.
Longer recovery times when you get older, but it IS amazing how quickly the body can respond to diet/exercise (either direction!)
I have seen a 90 year old swinging a pick in the hot summer sun - cleaning out a culvert inlet. He made it to 100 or just short of 100
My theory is that staying active is critical to keeping your balance/flexibility/mobility.
LRDay, post: 399170, member: 571 wrote: I have some video of riding the rails into the tunnel but not time to get it ready to post. Maybe in a month or so.
please do.
imaudigger, post: 399178, member: 7286 wrote: My theory is that staying active is critical to keeping your balance/flexibility/mobility.
My theory is you need to find the right balance between wearing out and rusting out.
4-1/2 days in the tunnel. 2-1/2 days to run a level loop, about 70 BM's in the roof and 2 days to traverse and topo the rails and roof for a design profile. 42 degrees F and 20.5 inches of mercury, wet and muddy with some water on the floor in many places. Level loop was 2 man and the second day traverse/topo was a three man. It took one man just to leap the tripod forward for the traverse points (tribrachs on tripods - gone once we pulled up). Everything is slower in there. On day four our Loci (electric train) broke down at about 3 PM and we had to hike out from 51+00, About an hour and a half, had to stop many times just to rest the back from being bent over under the roof. My hard hat is all scraped up.
What we learned. Radio's don't work in tunnel, useless. Most places you can't talk (or yell) more than about 100 feet and understand. My little M3 Trimble TS turned out to be the right gun as it has a laser beam. The only way we could communicate was with the beam. The beam goes off during the shot, so once the beam went off and came back on I knew to move to the next shot. On the traverse back sight or foresight once the observations where complete then we'd wave the beam back and forth a bit before turning it off to indicate completion so the guy knew to either move the tripod prism forward, or walk the prism back as the gun moved forward. It took a while to work it all out. We traversed at about 600 foot intervals and always shot back to a triple prism left at the outlet end of the tunnel. The longest shot we got through the tunnel was about 6200 feet. We didn't get the last traverse point back, we were tired, it was going dark outside and my associate was having a hard time seeing the cross hair. Might have got it but it wasn't critical to our work.
We walked out on Tuesday night about 5:30 PM. A three hour drive Wednesday to retrieve the back sight in the tunnel outlet and it snowed Wednesday night and Thursday. No more going on the mountain till late June next year. I got what we needed for now. Next year we as-built the new pipeline.
Probably my first and last tunnel survey.
LRDay, post: 400156, member: 571 wrote: 4-1/2 days in the tunnel. 2-1/2 days to run a level loop, about 70 BM's in the roof and 2 days to traverse and topo the rails and roof for a design profile. 42 degrees F and 20.5 inches of mercury, wet and muddy with some water on the floor in many places. Level loop was 2 man and the second day traverse/topo was a three man. It took one man just to leap the tripod forward for the traverse points (tribrachs on tripods - gone once we pulled up). Everything is slower in there. On day four our Loci (electric train) broke down at about 3 PM and we had to hike out from 51+00, About an hour and a half, had to stop many times just to rest the back from being bent over under the roof. My hard hat is all scraped up.
What we learned. Radio's don't work in tunnel, useless. Most places you can't talk (or yell) more than about 100 feet and understand. My little M3 Trimble TS turned out to be the right gun as it has a laser beam. The only way we could communicate was with the beam. The beam goes off during the shot, so once the beam went off and came back on I knew to move to the next shot. On the traverse back sight or foresight once the observations where complete then we'd wave the beam back and forth a bit before turning it off to indicate completion so the guy knew to either move the tripod prism forward, or walk the prism back as the gun moved forward. It took a while to work it all out. We traversed at about 600 foot intervals and always shot back to a triple prism left at the outlet end of the tunnel. The longest shot we got through the tunnel was about 6200 feet. We didn't get the last traverse point back, we were tired, it was going dark outside and my associate was having a hard time seeing the cross hair. Might have got it but it wasn't critical to our work.
We walked out on Tuesday night about 5:30 PM. A three hour drive Wednesday to retrieve the back sight in the tunnel outlet and it snowed Wednesday night and Thursday. No more going on the mountain till late June next year. I got what we needed for now. Next year we as-built the new pipeline.
Probably my first and last tunnel survey.
Thanks for the story man. I really enjoyed reading this rather than living it.
