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Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by Skyfloating
Wonder who uses it really?
S&F
Starting in 1899, the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Company dug under most of downtown Chicago, creating nearly 62 miles of tunnels, six feet wide by seven and a half feet tall. Their original intention was to house telephone cables, but the company also installed tracks to make getting around easier. Spotting an opportunity, they renamed their business The Chicago Tunnel Company in 1906 and became an underground delivery service instead.
At their peak use, the tunnels buzzed with around 150 small locomotives, hauling 3,300 miniature train cars that delivered 600,000 tons of freight every day. Using special elevators connected to the tunnels, businesses like Marshall Field’s would get new clothing and shoe shipments from the rail, but delivering coal for furnaces was the company’s bread and butter. However, by the late-1940s, most buildings were using natural gas for heat and those still using coal were getting it by truck, which was much cheaper. Business declined until the company went bankrupt, and the tunnels were sealed in 1959. Shortly after, scrap metal thieves cleaned out the tunnels, including steel doors that were meant to close off the passageways that ran under the Chicago River.
Read the full text here: www.mentalfloss.com...
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Scientologists among others, if the Cruise rumor holds any water.
Originally posted by Sambell
reply to post by Eidolon23
Scientologists among others, if the Cruise rumor holds any water.
It doesn't. Did you actually read the article?
I'm not trying to defend Tom Cruise or Scientology, hell, I had my own run in with them that could've ended much worse then it did, but please, read the article that the OP used as a source. Which he unfortunately also misread somehow.
www.history.com...
In a ceremony presided over by England's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel was officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age.
The channel tunnel, or "Chunnel," connects Folkstone, England, with Sangatte, France, 31 miles away. The Chunnel cut travel time between England and France to a swift 35 minutes and eventually between London and Paris to two-and-a-half hours.
As the world's longest undersea tunnel, the Chunnel runs under water for 23 miles, with an average depth of 150 feet below the seabed. Each day, about 30,000 people, 6,000 cars and 3,500 trucks journey through the Chunnel on passenger, shuttle and freight trains.
Millions of tons of earth were moved to build the two rail tunnels--one for northbound and one for southbound traffic--and one service tunnel. Fifteen thousand people were employed at the peak of construction. Ten people were killed during construction.
I could write for hours talking about all the facts and trivia concerning the never completed Cincinnati Subway tunnels, but instead, i’ll just post a few pictures taken from various other sites.
The reason I’m posting these pics, and not my own, is because it is IMPOSSIBLE to get into the tunnels and take any myself. You used to be able to sneak in, but all the entrances have now been secured, they REALLY don’t want you in there. There are occasionally tours given of parts of the tunnels, but even on those, no cameras are allowed.
The production company has even rented an entire subway train for $10,000 — which covers the cost of the motorman and conductor and about two hours of time — to take Cruise from Harlem to the official Midtown movie premiere on the last leg of his journey.
Although the “station” (it’s really an abandoned loading dock) predates the Waldorf Astoria
The basement subway access area was adapted and used to ferry dignitaries and other notable visitors upstairs in a large adjacent elevator.
Designed solely for movement of letters and parcels
• Operated 19 hours a day, 286 days a year
• 23 Miles (37 Kilometres) of 2 foot gauge track
• 70 feet (21 meters) below the streets of London
• Fully automated, computer controlled trains
• Carried the Capitals mails for over 75 years
• Once served 9 stations, including 2 mainline stations
• Once carried around 4 million letters every day
• Paddington to Whitechapel, with all stops, in 26 minutes
Originally posted by Skyfloating
I'm also surprised by how something like this tunnel from NY to London could have remained unknown to the wider public. I would assume that workers sign confidentiality agreements.
Or compartmentalization of information. As a worker you'd build a small stretch of a larger tunnel and never really question what its for. This would be faciliated by companies such as this: Robbins.
One proposed route for the transatlantic maglev train passes through northeastern Canada before barreling toward the British Isles and continental Europe, briefly kissing terra firma on Greenland and Iceland. Because aboveground sections would be cheaper to build than their underwater counterparts, such a route would be more economical than a direct shot through the Atlantic.
Ah, the costs: Estimates range from $25 million to $50 million per mile. Another hurdle: safety. But Davidson believes a test case might mitigate concerns. “Maybe a tunnel across Lake Ontario would show how it reacts to dynamic conditions and give us a better understanding of the costs,” he muses. “A transatlantic tunnel will be done. We just have to be as interested in it as we are in getting to the Moon.”
Originally posted by Asktheanimals
I have friends in the mining industry who have confirmed as much to me.