Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 | Page 8

the muck in the tunnel cars being hoisted by elevators to a platform at the top from which it was dumped into standard-gauge cars supplied by the Erie Railroad, as shown by Fig. 7; or later hauled to the crusher or storage pile, some 500 ft. distant, on the north side of Baldwin Avenue. At the western end, the cars were hauled directly to the surface through the approach cut, and the material, except that required for concrete and rock packing, was deposited in the embankment across the Hackensack Meadows, a haul of from 1,000 to 3,000 ft. beyond the portal.
All disposal tracks were of 3-ft. gauge, the main running tracks being generally laid with 60-lb. second-hand rails, although some of lighter weight were used.
Except for about 1,000 ft. in each tunnel at the Weehawken end, where the muck was loaded by hand, four steam shovels, operated by compressed air, were used, one at each working face. One of these was a "Marion, Model No. 20," weighing 38 tons, the others were "Vulcan Little Giant," of about 30 tons each. All these shovels were on standard-gauge track, and were moved back from 300 to 500 ft. from the working face during blasting.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. METHOD OF EMPTYING DUMP CARS AT WEEHAWKEN SHAFT: FRONT VIEW, SIDE VIEW]
At Weehawken, previous to the time the shovels were installed, the muck was shoveled by hand into the cars from the bottom of the bench, and the heading muck was dumped into them from the movable platform (Jumbo) shown by Fig. 1, Plate XXII. There were three loading tracks at the face. The cars used at that time were similar to that shown by Fig. 5, but were about two-thirds the size and had no end door; stop-planks were supposed to be placed in the ends but seldom were. The loads averaged about ? cu. yd. (measured in place). After the shovel was installed the cars shown by Fig. 5 were used, and the loads averaged nearly 1 cu. yd.
The empty cars were pushed up to the shovel by hand from the storage track. When loaded, they were given a start with the bucket of the shovel, and were then allowed to coast by gravity out to the storage track near the shaft, where they were stopped by placing rolls of cement bags or burlap on the rails. After the lining was started, the loaded cars were stopped on the inside of the lining and only sent out over the single track through this latter at stated intervals, when several cars followed in close succession, with a long interval which permitted the concrete to be brought in. The empty cars were hauled back to the storage track near the working face by mules, one mule usually hauling two cars at a time.
Up to the time the trap rock was reached, about 1,100 ft. from the shaft, the excavated material was disposed of by loading it on flat cars. All the trap, however, was stored to be used later for concrete and ballast.
When the tunnels were in full working order, sixty muck cars of the type shown by Fig. 5, were in use, about evenly divided between the two tunnels. For some time the work was greatly hampered by lack of cars, and even with the sixty finally obtained, there were many times when extra cars could have been used to advantage to keep the shovel working.
When mucking by hand, the mucking gangs consisted of from 15 to 20 men. The maximum output was 50 cu. yd., and averaged about 35 cu. yd. per shift; there was a great deal of trouble in keeping the gangs full, as labor at that time was very scarce, and the tunnels were quite wet. The maximum output of either of the shovels was 159 cu. yd. in one shift, and the best average in any month--which was between July and December, 1907, during which time only the enlargement and bench of the Central Shaft headings was being taken out from the western end--was 60 cu. yd. per shift. As the shovels were generally idle for one shift out of three, the quantity actually handled averaged 90 cu. yd. per shift during the shifts the shovel worked. All these quantities were "measured in place," and, as previously noted, would be about equal to twice as much measured loose in the cars.
The shovels at both ends were usually worked with three crews for the two tunnels; two day crews, one at each shovel, and a night crew which was used in either tunnel as occasion required. The day crews generally averaged from 45 to 60 hours overtime during the month, one of them working during the early part of the evenings in the opposite tunnel to the night crew. For a