Report - Glory Hole / Trafford Storm Relief - Manchester, 2015

[m9]

Thirteen Million Bowls of Cornflakes (shouldn’t they be using metric..?)
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This, according to the undoubtedly stoned United Utilities major projects division, is how many delicious bowls of baseline breakfast goodness you could put into their latest adventure playground offering at Trafford Park in Manchester. Upon completion, it will form the first line of defence in turd storage and wet-wipe collection to save the poor old ship canal from getting collectively shat into by the upstream population of Manchester.

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We’ve had our eye on this for quite a bit, and I remember back in January or something going for a nosy with suboffender, L and the late millhouse but all they’d really done by then was dug a big hole that didn’t really go anywhere. A few months later, I got a nudge from the Rt Hon. ConcreteJungle with a link to a big white round thing being lowering onto the main shaft on Fraser Place.

Yep. We’ll ‘av that.


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I checked it periodically for the next couple of months waiting for a night when they’d stop work, and one day, as if by magic, they’d downed tools and courteously built a massive staircase down into the 35m primary shaft.


“….You busy Friday?”​

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bish-bash-bosh.
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I was rather pleased with the results of this. The TBM, Gloria, was at right angles at the end of the first tunnel, about to begin boring the second stage into the last shaft by the roundabout on Europa Way. Pretty lucky tbh, as a week later, after Gone, Tweek and L went back, the stairs had gone and they were working proper shifts again.

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I then kind of forgot about it, only having the screening chamber in the back of my mind for a casual revisit for a chilled night, when morse decided he’d come pay us a visit and wanted a gander. I wasn’t busy and quite fancied a night out so happily obliged. The site was quiet, but there were no stairs this time. We’d have to faff about with the ropes..

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Down we go then.

I think we got even luckier this time. I’d been checking most days and they’d been working every night apart from the Sunday we went, and when we got to the end of the tunnel, it became pretty clear why. They’d broken through, and Gloria was on its blocks, ready to be lifted out and taken back to Murphy Tunneling Co for a holiday. Stoked we got this.

Anyway, bitch of a jumar out and we were off into the night, happy as you like.

 

[m9]

I did eventually go back, again, with CJ to check out the screening chamber on the night of a motherfucker of a storm, which provided an excellent fill flash to lighting up the main chamber.

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Here you can see the temporary pipe thats taking the weight of outfall A while they sort this thing out. You can see the weir that will overflow in heavy rain, which then goes on to the big screeners.


Poser, for scale.

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The murky water then flows through this indiana jones bit, into a big pressure surge tank then into the storage tanks. If it gets REALLY full, then it’ll probably overflow into lower lock stock and then head into the canal, but it’d have to be a motherfucker of a rain storm for that to happen.

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Good job UU, just don’t be putting my water bill up!

 

[GAJ]

I always thought Northern peoples had fry ups for breakfast instead of cereal, so UU have taught me something here

Very very nicely indeed!

 

[slayaaaa]

Sweet TBM! Always love seeing them.
Cheers for sharing that
Sick stuff

 

[Adders]

Boom, and the dirt is gone.

 

[coolboyslim]

Absolutely epic love the inside of this what a rush it must have been thanks for the report

 

[morse]

Ah nice, hadn't seen anything of the screening chamber before. Looks absolutely massive.

 

[Wevsky]

Outstanding effort and what a size that place is..That shot of the busines end of the tbm is banging mate

 

[Nickindroy]

Insanely ace!

 

[concreteJungle]

Writeup nailed. It was a decent project to do over the last few months, looking forward now to seeing after it's been broken in by a wall of shitty storm water.

 

[Camera Shy]

Its good, but it's no camelot. Well done for getting out there though.

 

[Monkey]

Proper bangin' that.

 

[Bigjobs]

did you drive the TBM?

 

[drhowser]

They crashed it I heard

 

[The Lone Ranger]

That's one proper nice hole