Comments on: General Electric – Conquest of the Cascades

By: Dick Eagleson

Dick Eagleson — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 08:08:06 +0000

Jeff Wright,

Using flames to spall off rock is not exactly a new drilling technique. Natural gas-fired “jet piercers” have been in use for decades to drill holes in taconite deposits for insertion of blasting charges. Taconite is quite a hard rock (6 on the Mohs scale) and quickly wears out even diamond drills or any other type of solid-contact drill bit. I believe a bit of water is also pumped in under pressure to flash into steam, enhance the spalling and flush the chips back up the borehole.

Perhaps Petra has worked up some sort of new wrinkle, but the basic idea – and real-world implementation – goes back to the 1960s.

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:59:46 +0000

And how–

There is a new drilling technology from Petra, which uses flames to spall off rock. That could be useful for Boring Co.

By: Dick Eagleson

Dick Eagleson — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 19:58:51 +0000

A somewhat more vintage version of the sort of short films that we used to be shown frequently in grade school when I was a boy. Different times.

By: wayne

wayne — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 19:38:59 +0000

Blair–
Good find!
(Excellent recent Posts at your Blog, btw. I do get your notifications; I just don’t like to sign-in all the time.)

Dave in Denver–
-I was not aware of that! Thanks.

Wellington Train Avalanche Disaster 1910
“Visiting the Remains of the Snowshed & the old Tunnel”
Mobile Instinct (December 2020)
https://youtu.be/y0KMNFpTs7g
(29:13)

By: Andi

Andi — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 19:00:57 +0000

And amazing that they were able to bore the tunnel in sections, and they all connected up cleanly.
Loved the urban scene with all those vintage cars (which weren’t at the time)!

By: Dave in Denver

Dave in Denver — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:54:00 +0000

Another motivation for the tunnel was the Wellington avalanche, 1910. Deadliest avalanche in US history. Amazing what they did 100 years ago. Tunnels, electrified trains, etc.

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:10:29 +0000

True. Just the title “CONQUEST of the Cascades” is enough to trigger Greens.

Progress wasn’t a dirty word back then.

By: Blair Ivey

Blair Ivey — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:36:49 +0000

This tunnel replaced a 2-mile long bore further up the mountain. The approaching grade, retaining the original bridges, has been turned into a trail, and you can walk through the tunnel. You will want a couple of good flashlights (per person), and some rain gear. The Cascades are wet, inside, and out.

Curious that Greens want to improve ‘the masses’ quality-of-life, by preventing the very things that would, in fact, improve people’s lives.

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 02:16:15 +0000

This should be taken out of local government hands.
Far too many Greens getting in the way.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:44:39 +0000

I remember some of this stuff. They got rid of the electrified locomotives in the 1950’s and they now use high powered fans to blow out the diesel exhaust. Amtrak still uses the tunnel from Seattle to Spokane on the “Empire Builder”.
The original plan was to have it as an electrified line from Seattle all the way to western Montana, but that never happened.

Three years for an environmental assessment in Washington State? More like 20 years for something like this. It took them over ten years to put the first track down for the light rail from King and Snohomish Counties (Seattle to Microso…err…Redmond). Sound Transit now goes down to SeaTac Airpot, but it has been a bloody battle to get that far. One of my co-workers was an electrical engineer for Sound Transit, so I have heard the horror stories.