20 interesting boring machines

Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich, donated money for a giant tunneling machine to build a tunnel between Russia and Sarah Palin’s house when he was governor of the adjacent region to Alaska.

The Wikipedia entry for Tunneling Machines and the entry for Civil Engineers in the UK Yellow Pages have something in common, they both read: “see boring”. Doubly ironic, since boring is one of the most interesting projects for civil engineers, and the machines used to do the job are spectacular.

The set here includes a variety of shield tunnel boring machines, TBMs, including those for celebrated projects such as Yucca mountain or the Channel Tunnel. Perhaps the most ironic of all is the Air Force TBM, a machine for digging deep underground, owned by the people who defend the skies.

 

1

US Air Force Tunneling Machine

2

New York Subway (actually LIRR) Tunnel Digging

3

Nevada Nuclear Test Site Tunneling Machine

4

Giant Tokyo Bay Tunneling Machine

5

Worlds First Triple Face Tunneling Machine

6

James Bay to Lake Superior Tunnel Boring Machine

7

Swiss Alpine Pass Tunneling Machine

8

TBM emerging After 2.5 Years Boring Through Yucca Mountain

9

Original Machine from 1922 Channel Tunnel Attempt

10

Enormous 50ft Groene Hart TBM

11

Worlds largest the 50ft TBM for tunneling underneath the Yangtze River in China

12

Various Lovat TBM Tunnel Breakthroughs

13

19th Century Channel Tunnel Machine Proposal

14

Beautiful image of a Tunneling Machine in Iceland

15

Elbe Tunnel Head overlooking Flea Market in Hamburg

16

Tunnel Machine Cutter Sculpture in Yokohama

17

New York Subway Tunnel Machine Cutter

18

Head of Gotthard Base Tunnel Machine in Switzerland

19

GIant TBM, Possibly for Niagara Tunnel Project

20

Tunnel Linking Russia and Sarah Palin’s House