HS2

[Pete the Elaner]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Oh dear, it doesn't quite fit.🙂

 

Seriously what is that gap for?

 

Thermal expansion & contraction.

 

All rigid bridges are built in sections & have some sort of joins (often like 2 interlocking combs or sometimes like some sort of rubber). If not, they would crack when trying to contract when cold or crumble when trying to expand when hot.

[Ron Ron Ron]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

Oh dear, it doesn't quite fit.🙂

 

Seriously what is that gap for?

Apparently, there is a keystone section that is inserted to complete the span.

 

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

I might be drastically incorrect here, but surely there has to be a gap else how would you insert the last piece, it needs to slot in not be forced into a gap with no space to manoeuvre.

 

Are the two halves held apart under pressure until all the elements have been dropped and the final act will be to ease the pressure and them meet.

 

As I understand it, the viaduct segments are held together in tension. 
That tension will be maintained, when the spans are completed.

The keystone locks the whole thing together, but the tension is still required.

 

 

.

[APOLLO]

Examples of bridge section post tensioning.

 

Brother in law is a German engineer constructing miles of this in Thailand, both road and rail. Very complex calculations are required.

Incidentally he gets specialised steel fittings from Rotheram Yorkshire, he told me he got some to try from China, they were uncertified crap and were instantly scrapped on receipt. So Rotheram still supplies him as far as I last knew,

 

 

 

Brit15

[Ron Ron Ron]

On 21/09/2022 at 13:31, melmerby said:

Oh dear, it doesn't quite fit.🙂

 

Seriously what is that gap for?

The gap in the middle has now been filled by the keystone section.

 

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

At West Ruislip, the next pair of TBMs have been given names, prior to launching.

 

Caroline and Sushila.

 

.

[corneliuslundie]

Interesting that they all have female names. Where are the thought police?

Seriously, many thanks for keeping nus up to date with all the information and videos.

Jonathan

[jamie92208]

10 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

Interesting that they all have female names. Where are the thought police?

Seriously, many thanks for keeping nus up to date with all the information and videos.

Jonathan

I can now title a couple of empty columns on my spreadsheet ready for when they set off.

 

Jamie

[phil-b259]

3 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

Interesting that they all have female names. Where are the thought police?

 

 

IIRC the choice of female names was deliberate and part of the whole making the whole Science / engineering a more relatable career path for women. OK on the face of it having a female named TMB is not going to suddenly make a woman want to become a construction worker - but at a subconscious level its helps engineering seem less of a male dominate environment.

 

Its also why HS2 has had a big push to recruit and train up women within itself and with its subcontractors.

 

In time (and nobody is expecting it to change within years - its generational change we are talking about here) these attitudes will hopefully have an effect as it filters through the wider population - IIRC a recent survey showed that well over 50% of mothers were hostile to their daughters having careers in engineering type work, citing concerns over dirt, heavy lifting, lack of toilet facilities, shift work , etc despite them also saying that woman should be able to job anything they want job wise.

Edited September 23, 2022 by phil-b259

[martin_wynne]

35 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

IIRC the choice of female names was deliberate and part of the whole making the whole Science / engineering a more relatable career path for women.

 

So women joining the profession will be required to dig themselves into a hole?

 

[phil-b259]

14 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

 

So women joining the profession will be required to dig themselves into a hole?

 

Not literally of course.

 

Its about the overall vibe of the workplace. The theory is if everything you deal with is named in masculine terms it simply doesn't feel a welcoming environment to women.

 

Given research shows much of the barriers to women are not structural (employment law) or material (lack of PPE designed for womens bodies) but is actually people (particularly other women like mothers for example) thinking that engineering / science is not a suitable career path then what might seem trivial things to you and I assume a grater importance.

 

Being male I don't profess to know whether the theory works in practice (though even if it does we will only know by comparing the situation now and twenty years hence) - but the same will apply to you if you are male.

 

I imagine a similar sort of reasoning, albut probably more to do with community relations is the reason one of the names selected has Asian origins given I believe its building a tunnel under NW London which has a large Asian community.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by phil-b259

[nightstar.train]

7 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

Given research shows much of the barriers to women are not structural (employment law) or material (lack of PPE designed for womens bodies)

 

I’m not convinced about material barriers not being a problem. My wife and I are undertaking some house renovations. So far she’s had trouble finding boots that fit and any gloves that are a good fit, she ended up buying gardening gloves which are sized small enough. Similarly drills and impact drivers are generally too large for her to grip properly and strain her fingers. 

[figworthy]

21 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

At West Ruislip, the next pair of TBMs have been given names, prior to launching.

 

Caroline and Sushila.

 

.

 

The names are clearly visible from Chiltern services as you go past.

 

Adrian

[phil-b259]

3 minutes ago, nightstar.train said:

 

I’m not convinced about material barriers not being a problem. My wife and I are undertaking some house renovations. So far she’s had trouble finding boots that fit and any gloves that are a good fit, she ended up buying gardening gloves which are sized small enough. Similarly drills and impact drivers are generally too large for her to grip properly and strain her fingers. 

 

Granted it may still be an issue in terms of 'off the shelf' items but when it comes to firms which by law must provide PPE most of the major suppliers offer a full range of items specially designed for women.

 

https://ballyclarelimited.com/high-visibility-workwear-c8/womens-hi-vis-workwear-c10

https://bcsgroup.co.uk/womens-workwear-and-ppe/

https://www.greenham.com/Clothing/Women-s-Workwear~c~AC

 

Even the retailer Screwfix offers these..

 

https://www.screwfix.com/landingpage/womens-boots

 

Tools are a harder thing to crack but in time even that may change.

[Ron Ron Ron]

The Long Itchington TBM, Dorothy, has had it’s cutting head dismantled and moved by road, back to the starting point at the northern portal of the Long Itchington Wood tunnels.

The rest of the 130 metre long supporting rig, is being towed backwards through the newly completed tunnel bore, to the same starting point.

Dorothy will then be reassembled, ready to commence digging the second tunnel bore, sometime in the next couple of months.

 

 

 

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

 

 

 

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

On 23/09/2022 at 20:30, figworthy said:

 

The names are clearly visible from Chiltern services as you go past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

More photos of Dorothy's cutting head, on the move, in this article....

 

https://www.bdcmagazine.com/2022/09/giant-hs2-tbm-cutterheads-impressive-journey-back-to-start-second-dig-in-warwickshire/

 

 

 

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

 

 

 

 

 

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[lmsforever]

Thanks Ron thats is up the road from me  when you drive past the works its amazing how little interruption  there is .The extent of the works toward london on HS2 is amazing its just not visible from ground level .It will be an interesting place in about a years time but the bypass between Lower Rd and Wendover Rd is being used as usual for more house building .A quite large estate is to be built adjacent to the Wendover Rd this will increase traffic into Aylesbury a town that is not prepared for the expansion arriving daily.  

[jamie92208]

More tunnelling info was posted yesterday. Florence is 6230 metres in and Cecilia is right alongside at 6201. I suspect that they are at a ventialtion shaft and are stopped for a maintenance  period. Very little progress in the last fortnight.  

 

Whilst updating the spreadsheet I was able to put innthe names to the columns  for the West Ruislip TBM's.  They are no longer Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.

 

Jamie

[Arun Sharma]

16 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Whilst updating the spreadsheet I was able to put innthe names to the columns  for the West Ruislip TBM's.  They are no longer Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.

 

Jamie

Interestingly I was reading an article on the US Supreme Court's ruling on Abortion. It seems that while unknown males in the US are referred to as 'John Doe', unknown females are referred to as 'Jane Roe' - Hence the courtcase known as 'Roe vs Wade'.

Afternote: By 'unknown' I also mean 'generic' in this context.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Arun Sharma
clarity

[rogerzilla]

The Jubilee Line extension TBMs were Tracey and Sandra, the two main characters in a "Viz" strip which I had better not name here.  Let's just say they were a morally flexible and well-upholstered pair.

Edited September 29, 2022 by rogerzilla

[Ron Ron Ron]

 

[Arun Sharma]

Whilst it isn't exactly on the formation of the old GCR, it isn't all that far away!

Apropos of nothing whatsoever, 'Tracy' and 'Sandra' were also the names given to the two brand new somewhat bulbous TIALD sensors fitted to RAF Tornado bombers at Tabuk [Saudi Arabia] during the 1991 Gulf War...

Edited September 29, 2022 by Arun Sharma

[Ron Ron Ron]

4 hours ago, Arun Sharma said:

.............Tracy' and 'Sandra' were also the names given to the two brand new somewhat bulbous TIALD sensors fitted to RAF Tornado bombers at Tabuk [Saudi Arabia] during the 1991 Gulf War...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.