Sometimes on Lemmy these seem like the only jobs that actually exist, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people here with different and unusual lines of work.
Sometimes on Lemmy these seem like the only jobs that actually exist, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people here with different and unusual lines of work.
I’m in IT now, but before that, I worked in construction. I operated tunnel boring machines that dug tunnels for underground metros. It was super interesting work, and I’m glad I did it, but it was incredibly tough.
Do you operate those from above ground or do you operate inside of them as they move through the earth? Super interesting!
I did all sorts of work on that machine from electrical to building the rail the machine rides on to running the grouting machine that pumped grount to fill in the space behind the cutting head. But it’s operated on board. They are very slow moving machines the fastest I saw it moving was about 80mm per minute.
Oh, that is super slow, but very, very cool. What a view of the world that most people don’t get to see!
Do they call them subterrenes (similar to submarines) in the industry or is that term a ridiculous steampunk conceit? Big respect here for those who tunnel
Did your coworkers crack a lot of jokes about The Underminer from The Tick and Krang from Ninja Turtles?
lol, no it was just called the TBM (tunnel boring machine). Most of the jokes were around the graveyard we were tunneling under. We were 65 feet down so no worries of actually boring through any graves.