Fig. 3. K 148. P.R.R. Tunnels, N. R. Div. Sect. K. (Bergen Hill Tunnels) Weehawken. View showing method of placing concrete in forms. Hoisting apparatus and bucket in background. Sept. 24, 07.
Fig. 4. K 154. P.R.R. Tunnels, N. R. Div. Sect. K. (Bergen Hill Tunnels) Weehawken Shaft, North Tunnel. Method of placing concrete in bench walls. Top of waterproofing suspended from top of sandwall. Oct. 21, 07.
During the time the excavation was being carried on simultaneously with the lining at the Weehawken end, the rock packing was loaded at the working face and sent out to the point where it was to be used; after that the rock packing was sent in from outside from the reserve pile on the north side of Baldwin Avenue.
At the western end the larger part of the rock packing was sent in from outside, but occasionally, during the time the excavation was going on, the cars from the heading were stopped at convenient points, generally under the gantries, where the lining was being placed, and whatever stone could be utilized was sorted from the top and passed up to the platforms above.
After the headings were holed through, there was considerable difficulty at times in getting a sufficient supply of concrete and rock packing into the tunnel at the time it was required, and while undoubtedly the transportation facilities may have had some influence in this, the principal trouble lay in the difficulty of securing a sufficient supply of proper stone for rock packing, and for the crusher.
While the excavation was progressing, the cars of muck, as they came from the headings, were taken directly to the crusher and dumped into it, the proportion of fine material being fairly constant and the supply regular. At this time, also, a portion of the rock not required at the crusher was dumped along the edge of the bank on the south side of the approach, the larger stones rolling to the bottom where they were easily available to be loaded into cars for rock packing, being entirely free from the fine material; as this stone at the bottom of the bank was used up, the supply was renewed, the rock suitable for rock packing being automatically separated from the fine material as it rolled to the foot of the slope.
After the excavation was completed, however, it was necessary to go into the bulk of the storage piles to get material for the crusher and for rock packing, and then the difficulties were materially increased by the large quantity of fine material encountered, the proportion remaining after the rock packing had been sorted out being too large to send through the crusher. It was not only the handling over of this fine material which caused delay, but the difficulty of disposing of it. On rainy days the trouble was increased by the difficulty of getting men to work in the open.