Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 / The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. / The North River Tunnels. Paper No. 1155 - Bertram Henry Majendie Hewett; W. L. Brown

Excavation of Weehawken Rock Tunnels.—This subject may be dismissed in a few words, as very few features of interest were called into play. The rock was of good quality, being the sandstone typical of this part of the country. Little or no timbering was needed, there were no buildings above the tunnel to be taken care of, and large charges of powder could be used.

TABLE 9.— Supplementary Analysis of Timbering, Rock Tunnel Excavation Under 32d Street, East of Cut-and-Cover Section. Analyzed Cost of Timbering, per Foot Run and per Bent.

	Ke
	Per foot run of tunnel	Per bent, 3 ft, 6 in., center to center	Per cubic yard excavation
PERMANENT TIMBERING.
Lumber in feet, B. M.
Upper Bent.	274	685	7.8
Blocking.	294	735	8.3
Total.	568	1,420	16.1
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	23.75	59.38	0.67
Labor.	37.50	93.75	1.06
Total.	61.25	153.13	1.73
TEMPORARY TIMBERING.
Lumber in feet, B. M.
Lower Bent.	479	11.97	13.6
Blocking.	193	483	5.5
Total.	672	16.80	19.1
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	29.13	72.81	0.82
Erection labor.	28.85	72.13	0.82
Removal labor.	8.29	20.73	0.23
Total labor.	37.14	92.86	1.05
Total.	66.27	165.67	1.87
GRAND TOTAL.
Lumber in feet, B. M.	1,240	3,100	35.2
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	52.88	132.19	1.49
Labor.	74.64	186.61	3.60
Total.	127.52	318.80
	Ki
	Per foot run of tunnel	Per bent, 3 ft, 6 in., center to center	Per cubic yard excavation
PERMANENT TIMBERING.
Lumber in feet, B. M.
Upper Bent.	227	830	5.3
Blocking.	164	601	3.8
Total.	391	1,431	9.1
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	16.84	61.56	0.39
Labor.	12.82	46.88	0.30
Total.	29.66	108.44	0.69
TEMPORARY TIMBERING.
Lumber in feet, B. M.
Lower Bent.	186.33	681.25	4.33
Blocking.	42.80	156.50	0.99
Total.	229.13	837.75	5.32
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	9.65	35.31	0.22
Erection labor.	10.38	37.97	0.24
Removal labor.	9.74	34.09	0.23
Total labor.	20.12	72.06	0.47
Total.	29.77	107.37	0.69
GRAND TOTAL.
Lumber in feet, B. M.	6.20	22.69	14.4
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	26.49	96.87	0.61
Labor.	32.94	118.94	0.77
Total.	59.43	215.81	1.38
	Ko
	Per foot run of tunnel	Per bent, 3 ft, 6 in., center to center	Per cubic yard excavation
PERMANENT TIMBERING.
Lumber in feet, B. M.
Upper Bent.	261	962	4.1
Blocking.	408	1,508	6.5
Total.	669	24.70	10.5
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	28.00	103.38	0.44
Labor.	29.79	110.00	0.47
Total.	57.79	213.38	0.91
TEMPORARY TIMBERING.
Lumber in feet, B. M.
Lower Bent.	350	1,291	5.5
Blocking.	61	227	1.0
Total.	411	1,518	6.5
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	18.45	68.16	0.29
Erection labor.	20.83	76.92	0.33
Removal labor.	12.16	44.59	0.19
Total labor.	32.99	121.51	0.52
Total.	51.44	189.67	0.81
GRAND TOTAL.
Lumber in feet, B. M.	1,080	3,988	17.1
Cost, in dollars.
Lumber.	46.45	171.54	0.73
Labor.	62.78	231.50	0.99
Total.	109.23	403.04	1.72

TABLE 10.—Timbering:—Detailed Cost of Timber, Labor, and Superintendence. Rock Tunnel Excavation under 32d Street, East of Cut-and-Cover Section.

	Date.	Timber Used, in Feet, B. M.			Excavation in Cubic Yards.		Cost of Timber.			Cost of Labor.	Total Cost.	Cost per Cubic Yard (Actual).			Cost per Cubic Yard (Paid for).			Cost, per 1,000 Ft., B. M., of Total Timber.
	Date.	Main timber.	Blocking timber.	Total timber.	Actual.	Paid for.	Main.	Block.	Total.	Cost of Labor.	Total Cost.	Timber.	Labor.	Total.	Timber.	Labor.	Total.	Total timber.	Labor.	Total.
	1907	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	h / d	i / d	j / d	h / e	i / e	j / e	h / c	i / c	j / c
Ke	May	18,016	15,234	33,250	1,736	1,664	$810	$565	$1,375	$1,792	$3,167	$0.79	$1.03	$1.82	$0.82	$1.07	$1.90	$41.35	$53.89	$95.24
	June	14,048	11,528	25,576	809	698	680	457	1,087	1,576	2,663	1.34	1.95	3.29	1.55	2.25	3.81	42.50	61.62	104.12
	July	20,092	7,339	27,431	1,022	960	900	300	1,200	1,580	2,780	1.16	1.55	2.72	1.25	1.64	2.89	43.74	57.60	101.34
	August	6,485	2,632	9,117	743	716	290	110	400	300	700	0.53	0.40	0.94	0.57	0.41	0.98	43.87	32.90	76.77
	Sept.	1,632	2,224	3,856	238	238	73	94	167	60	227	0.70	0.25	0.95	0.70	0.25	0.95	43.31	15.56	58.87
	Removal									663	663
	Total	60,273	38,957	99,230	4,548	4,276	$2,703	$1,526	$4,229	$5,971	$10,200	$0.91	$1.51	$2.22	$1.00	$1.40	$2.40	$42.62	$60.19	$102.81
Ki	May		3,537	3,537	614	527		$150	$150	$100	$250	$0.24	$0.16	$0.40	$0.28	$0.19	$0.47	$42.41	$28.27	$70.68
	June	300		300	357	259	$14		14	44	58	0.04	0.12	0.16	0.05	0.17	0.22	46.66	146.33	193.33
	July	7,776	5,811	13,587	530	404	350	233	583	525	7,108	1.10	0.99	2.09	1.44	1.30	2.74	42.91	38.64	81.54
	August	19,712	5,702	25,414	925	890	887	220	1,107	1,018	2,125	1.20	1.10	2.30	1.24	1.14	2.38	43.56	40.06	83.61
	Sept.	20,556	9,218	29,774	1,585	1,501	925	325	1,250	1,028	2,278	0.79	0.65	1.44	0.83	0.68	1.51	41.98	34.53	76.51
	Removal				1,669	1,407				1,139	1,139		0.68	0.68		0.81	0.81
	Total	48,344	24,268	72,612	5,680	4,988	$2,176	$928	$3,104	$3,854	$6,958	$0.55	$0.68	$1.23	$0.63	$0.77	$1.40	$42.75	$53.09	$95.84
Ko	May	4,332	8,788	13,120	250	188	$175	$366	$561	$303	$864	$2.24	$1.21	$3.45	$3.00	$1.61	$4.61	$42.76	$23.10	$65.86
	June	7,132	10,017	17,149	496	347	324	396	720	562	1,282	1.45	1.18	2.58	2.07	1.61	3.68	41.98	32.77	74.75
	July	3,070	200	3,270	626	606	134	10	144	156	300	0.23	0.25	0.48	0.23	0.26	0.49	44.04	47.70	91.74
	August	10,704	2,102	12,806	718	709	481	80	561	727	1,288	0.78	1.01	1.79	0.80	1.02	1.82	43.80	56.77	100.57
	Sept.	2,400	245	2,645	396	324	108	8	116	400	516	0.29	1.01	1.30	0.36	1.23	1.59	43.85	151.23	195.08
	Removal				209	211				535	535		2.56	2.56		2.54	2.54
	Total	27,638	21,352	48,990	2,695	2,385	$1,242	$860	$2,102	$2,683	$4,785	$0.78	$1.00	$1.78	$0.88	$1.12	$2.00	$42.91	$54.75	$97.65
	Grand total	136,255	84,577	220,832	12,923	11,649	$6,121	$3,314	$9,435	$12,508	$21,943	$0.73	$0.97	$1.70	$0.81	$1.07	$1.88	$42.73	$56.65	$99.38

Work was begun on September 1st, 1904, immediately on the completion of the work on the shaft. The North and South Tunnels in this case are completely independent, as will be seen from [Plate XXXIV]. The procedure adopted was to drive a top heading on the center line of each tunnel and to break down the bench from this. The drilling was at first supplied with steam power from a temporary plant, as the contractor was at that time installing his permanent plant, which was finished at the end of November, 1904. At this time the rate of advance averaged 3½ lin. ft. of full section per day of 24 hours. By the end of January the Weehawken rock tunnels were completely excavated, and by the middle of April, 1905, the excavation for the shield chambers was finished; the erection of the shields was started at the end of that month.

TABLE 11.

Grade.	Total No.	Rate per day.	Drilling and blasting: No.	Mucking: No.	Timbering: No.
Superintendent	1	$7.70	½	⅛	⅜
Assistant engineer	1	5.80	½	⅛	⅜
Electrician	1	3.50	½	⅛	⅜
Engineer	1	3.50		1
Signalman	1	2.00		1
Foreman	3	4.00	1	1	1
Driller	5	3.00	5
Driller's helper	5	2.00	5
Laborers	14	2.00		14
Timbermen	3	3.00			3
Timbermen's helpers	4	2.00			4
Machinist	1	4.00	1
Blacksmith	2	3.50	2
Blacksmith's helper	2	2.00	2
Nipper	2	2.00	2
Waterboy	1	2.00	1
Total	47		20½	17⅜	9⅛