THE COMPRESSED AIR LOCOMOTIVE WHICH HAULED WORKMEN AND ROCK BLASTED FROM THE MOUNTAIN IN THE CUTTING OF THE LOETSCHBERG TUNNEL
WHAT THE WORKING FACE IN THE HEART OF THE MOUNTAIN IS LIKE
The gang and drills cutting the path for the line through the Loetschberg Tunnel recently completed.
BORING A GREAT ALPINE TUNNEL
Photo by E. Goetz, Lucerne]
THE LOFTY AMSTEG BRIDGE, 184 FEET HIGH, SPANNING THE MADERAN VALLEY ON THE ST. GOTTHARD RAILWAY
Three men attended to each machine, and by means of levers and wheels the height of a drill could be adjusted to a nicety. Movement was difficult, for the space was cramped. In the murky gloom the outlines of the men could be faintly discerned. The fitful glimmer of the oil-lamp which each carried—electric lighting had still to be invented—fell upon their semi-nude bodies and swarthy faces. The streaming perspiration mingling with the grime and dust, which strayed over their skin in fantastic streaks, gave the men a fiendish appearance. The temperature was that of an oven. As the men drew nearer and nearer to the heart of old Gotthard, the heat rose until the men laboured in an atmosphere of 90° or more. The only sounds were those of the hammering of the drills as they bored into the rock, and the hissing of the escaping air after it had completed its allotted task in operating the chisels.