November 2008

We've had a glorious November in the southern California high desert. My only complaint is that I lost an hour of work time with the fall time change. The big news on the OM&D is the stone tunnel portal. But first, see the progress.

The north portal of Tunnel #5 got a retaining wall.

I thought I was finished with wooden portals when I did the north end of Tunnel #5. But alas, the builders decided it would be OK to have matching portals on that tunnel; so the south end of Tunnel #5 got a wooden portal, also. The retaining wall is still to be constructed.

Cribbing went up over the west entrance to Tunnel #2. The decision on what kind of portal to construct has not yet been made. Builders are leaning toward concrete. The portal height will be enough to hold back dirt to put some kind of cascading greenery in front of the cribbed wall.

Seen here is the back side of the cribbing. This will be buried in the hill which as of yet remains unnamed.

I spent an hour or so on a Saturday afternoon with a masonry chisel and a light maul splitting rainbow sandstone to make the pieces for this portal. Here the pieces are set in the framing. 1/2 inch wire mesh will provide strength to the concrete which forms the bulk of the portal.

Same job from a different angle

The pour is finished.

Screws through these angle brackets will attach the portal to the tunnel roof.

And there it is! My first rock tunnel portal.

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