Engineering – Page 2 – Geeky Girl Engineer

PPE Basics

Posted on March 21, 2020 by geek

People are scared by COVID-19. This is understandable. Some people have started wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), mainly masks and gloves, although some are going for bonus points PPE like protective overalls, because they think the PPE will help protect them from COVID-19. It may, but it may not. I thought I might present just a few basics points for people who don’t normally wear to consider about wearing PPE.

What do I know about PPE you may ask. I am engineer and scientist. I have worn PPE in the field when taking environmental and industrial hygiene samples including soil, groundwater, urine, blood, air samples, and more. To earn my Ph.D., I worked in a lab that handled both chemical and biological samples. That is, one day I might have been handling urine or blood and needed to protect myself from pathogens, and another day I might have been handling chemical samples (or more likely part of a biological sample that had been placed into a chemical for processing) and needed to protect myself from chemical hazards. I am also HAZWOPER certified, and as part of the training, you have to dress in Level A and Level B PPE.

The most basic thing you need to know about PPE is first that PPE is essentially anything you wear that protects you from a hazard. In some places, jeans and long sleeves are PPE because they cover your skin from minor hazards. Steel-toed, leather boots are PPE that I have worn on a frequent basis when in the field as they protect my feet from many physical hazards including in at least one location I was working, rattlesnakes. [Not a hazard I was expecting on that site inspection, but, well, Texas.]

The second most basic thing you need to know about PPE is that it is not magical. PPE has to be worn correctly, and the correct PPE must be worn. For example, not all gloves protect against all hazards. In most of my work, I have worn nitrile gloves. Nitrile tent to be preferred over latex. The minor reason is potential latex allergy. However the main reason is that nitrile protects against more chemicals than latex. For most of my work, it is chemicals for which I need to protect myself. Most gardening gloves will protect you against some physical hazards like prickly vines, but they will not in general protect you against chemicals like pesticides you might be applying.

On the subject of gloves, gloves do not kill bacteria or viruses. If you are worried about viruses getting on your hands because you are touching a grocery cart for example, and so you decide to wear nitrile gloves, if you dispose of the gloves after touching the grocery cart and don’t touch anything else, then gloves may have protected you. However, if after touching the grocery cart with the gloves, you then touch your phone or your face with the gloves, then the gloves have done you no good. You have just transferred any viruses from the grocery cart to your gloves to your phone or face, just as efficiently as if you had not worn gloves. A week ago, I went to Costco and went first to the bathroom. When I was washing my hands, I noticed a woman washing her hands while wearing latex gloves. I simply don’t want to know what else she touched with the gloves before doing this or after.

A final note about gloves, there is a definite technique to how to remove them. The goal is to remove them without touching the outside of them. There may possible be another way, but the best way I have found to do it, is place one gloved finger on the outside of the other hand’s glove, near the wrist and carefully pull that other hand’s glove off, sort of rolling it off. Then with the now glove free hand, place your ungloved thumb under the other glove near the wrist and pull that glove off. Easier to show than explain.

Masks and respirators are designed for different types of protection, and it is critical that they be worn properly and for the correct use. Surgical masks are really more to the protect the patient from the surgeon sneezing or coughing on them than to protect the surgeon from the patient. Surgical masks can protect the wearer from splashes or larger droplets or to a certain extent large particles, but that is about it. Surgical masks do not provide even a decent seal around the face, so they do not protect from airborne viruses, bacteria, chemicals, or even small particles. If you don’t believe me, believe the FDA.

The now popular N95 masks can protect against some particles, viruses, and some other things if worn correctly. First, it is important to consult the manufacture’s information as to what they are designed to do and not to do. Second, it is critical that the wearer has a good seal. What does that mean? It means the edges of the masks must fit snugly against the skin for the entire perimeter of the mask. Men, you have to be clean shaven. Even an evening stubble will prevent the seal. N95 masks have a piece of metal that goes over the nose. That metal needs to be adjusted to get a good seal over the nose. Both elastic bands for the mask must be used to increase the fitness of the seal. Finally, masks get saturated. They can only be worn for a certain period of time before whatever you are breathing in breakthrough the mask.

I can’t emphasize enough how critical seals are. When I was graduate school, for the field work I was doing, I needed to be able to use a half-face respirator. That required me to first get medical clearance to wear the respirator. Second, I had to be fit-tested for the specific respirator I was going to wear. Different manufacturers make different size masks, and they don’t generally agree with each other. Hence I was fit-tested to wear a specific manufacture’s specific sized mask, and that was the one I wore throughout my field work.

Finally with respirators and masks also, the manufacture will state what the respirator or mask is designed to protect you from. If you go to a hardware store and look at respirators, you will notice that some respirators are for lead, some for particulates, some VOCs, and some will do a combination. A mask to protect from VOCs and PM10 is common. If you are going to work with VOCs, and you get one that is only for PM10, you will not be protected at all. Cartridges for respirators have to be changed frequently. Every two weeks is a common changeout time.

Those are the basics. There is really a lot more to understand about PPE, but those of the initial basic critical points to understand if you are thinking about wearing PPE to protect you from a virus or other hazards.

COVID-19 Environmental Effects

Posted on March 17, 2020 by geek

For three days following September 11, 2001, civilian planes were grounded in the United States. It has been postulated that the diurnal temperature range in the U.S. was affected by the lack of contrails created by planes. Contrails, condensation trails, are formed by planes flying at high altitudes. It has been hypothesized that they can act as natural cirrus clouds for at least a short period of time after they form by absorbing long- wave radiation at night and reflecting more shortwave radiation into space throughout the day. Hence they can affect temperatures. The theory that the lack of contrails for three days following 9/11 affected the weather has been disputed though. The three days following the attacks formed a natural experiment that scientists looked at after the fact, but because the planes were only down for three days, that is not much time to have enough data.

Almost the entire world is in the middle of an unprecedented event because of the novel coronavirus often referred to as COVID-19. Anyone who can telework is. People are unfortunately getting either laid off or furloughed because the tourism and entertainment industries have taken such a hit. Restaurants are being forced to close or are only offering carryout service. People are not traveling if they don’t have to either to commute or to go to another city. Governments across the world are telling people to stay home if they are able, or in some cases are ordering them to stay home.

What effect will this have on the environment? Northern Italy has been hard hit by the virus. People in Venice are reporting that the water is the clearest it has been in decades. They are attributing that to the lack of boat traffic. At least initial reports seem to indicate that air pollution has decreased because of lack of vehicle traffic. I am curious though about all the impacts. Vehicle traffic would seem to be the most obvious. Most people are not leaving their house unless they have to, but deliveries may be going up. Airline traffic is definitely down. Train travel is probably down. Inner-city buses and subways are decreasing service due to decreased demand.

What are the other effects though? Water usage may not change in total, but I would hypothesize that it may change temporally. There is a general routine on weekdays. People wake up. Many take showers. They leave their house and go about business. They come home and then start housework among other things like running the dishwasher. Perhaps they do laundry, or perhaps like many the laundry is done on weekends. If a significant portion of the population is teleworking or just plain told not to come to work, they will probably run washing machine or dishwasher in the middle of the day between conference calls. Thus water demand instead of peaking in the early morning and then again in the evening may average out across the day. Same for wastewater flow.

Electricity may be even more interesting. In the early morning and late evening, more electricity is used by people in their residences. In the middle of the day, more people are at businesses or schools, so they are using more of their electricity there. Similar for telecommunications. What about when everyone is staying home and teleworking? In theory, the offices should use less electricity assuming there are smart devices there to not turn on lights if no movement or the HVAC reacts to need in the offices. However, the homes are probably using more electricity. How will this affect the electricity grid? Electricity needs will be more spread out around residences and less in concentrated urban areas. The high speed internet at the office is probably not going to be used as much, but will the internet from residences be strained from all the traffic? My employer has been having remote access issues, which I have no doubt stem from the number of employees working from home. How will this affect the telecommunications grid? Cellphone traffic will possibly go up, and landline traffic may go down.

Conversely, will trash be generate less, the same, or more trash? Not going out would in theory generate less trash. However, we are probably going to go through more gloves, masks, and other personal protective equipment in the coming months, and not just from medical personnel. Take out from a restaurant generates more trash at least from the consumer than eating in, but as people avoid restaurants in general, no trash is being generated there.

I am not in any way shape or form arguing that the virus may be good or bad for the environment. People are dying. I am not losing sight of that. However, I think it is likely that the virus will affect the environment, and I am curious how. It seems likely that self quarantines or at least staying home as much as possible may last weeks if not months, so that may be an adequate amount of time for an affect of some sort to be seen. Question is, what will the affect be?

Venice: Gondolas

Posted on February 12, 2020 by geek

Today in Venice was Gondola Day. We started the day by going to a place where they make gondolas, restore old ones, and do maintenance on them. Then we went to a shop where they make certain pieces for the gondolas. We followed it up with a gondola ride through some canal with musicians.

First, we went to Squero Tramontin (Domenico Tramontin e Figli) where they make new gondolas, restore old ones, and do maintenance on currently used ones. The company is currently owned by two sisters, who inherited it from their father. It has been a family business for five generations, since 1884. Elena Tramontin explained to us how they make a gondola and the history of them. Originally gondolas were used for everything in Venice including police, ambulance, etc. They were also originally operated by two gondoliers, but the shape was changed so that one gondolier can operate it. All gondolas are completely flat bottom, and in fact all boats that operate in Venice’s lagoon are flat bottom. The gondolas only need 10 cm of water depth. They are made of mahogany, cherry, and oak. The wood is dried naturally and needs about a year too dry. The wood is bent with water and fire. They are coated with six coats of paint, and finished with 24 carat gold leaf accents. It takes about five to six months to complete one. The government decreed that all gondolas be black centuries ago. The edging was brass, but now steel is used. The counterweight at the front is iron and has symbolic meaning (see photo below). The gondolas are built to last 30 years, but they need maintenance every 50 days or so to remove barnacles and such. However, in the shop when we visited were much older gondolas.

Domenico Tramontin e Figli, one of two squeros where they make gondolas completely by hand.

A 70 year old gondola in the squero being rehabbed.

A 60 year old gondola in for maintenance

The forcula is what the oar is placed against, and the shape of the forcula allows the gondolier to “change gears” including stopping, starting, going fast, reverse.

The counterweight at the front of the gondola. Otherwise known as the fero de prora. The shape has symbolic meaning. The round top represents the Doge’s hat (the Doge was the ruler of the Republic of Venice). The curve under the Doge’s hat is the Rialto Bridge. The six straight pieces to the front represent the six areas of Venice: San Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce, Castello, Dorsoduro, and Cannaregio. The piece that sticks out opposite the six represents the separate island from the main part of Venice, Giudecca. The shape of the piece from the Doge’s hat to the end represents the shape of Canal Grande.

After visiting the squero, we then visited an artisan who makes some of the special wooden pieces for the gondola including the all important forcula. They are made by hand. He now sells more of them around the world as art pieces than as their historical use in gondolas. He has another shop on the mainland, where once he acquires wood, he cuts it into smaller pieces and allows it to dry naturally. Each forcula is built specific to the customer, based on customer height and such. The pieces are finished with oil. The bottom part of the forcula is finished last once the gondola is built, so that is fits securely into the gondola.

He demostrares how he outlines the shape.

We then went for a gondola ride, and I started paying attention to how it was operated. The gondola ride was quite nice and relaxing.

The gondolier is the oar in the forcula to reverse the gondola and change direction..

Oar in the normal position to go forward.

A few final notes. There are 433 licenses for gondoliers, and only one is held by a woman. There is a waiting list to get one. We were told there are about 500 gondolas working now, which numerically doesn’t add up. We were told there are extra for loaners during maintenance. However, since we were told they are made specific to the gondolier, I am not sure how loaners work.

Gondolas lined up near San Marco waiting for riders.

Gondoliers in traditional dress near Piazzo San Marco waiting for customers.

Richmond Canal Walk

Posted on October 12, 2019 by geek

I am continuing my quest to see all the state capitols. I am in Richmond this weekend to see the Virginia state capitol. However, today, I just wandered around. I spent most of the day walking along and near the Richmond canal walk. Richmond has a couple of disjointed canal that were originally part of a large system so that ships could avoid the James River rapids. The canal walk is lovely. The original building of the canal and the restoration of it are impressive engineering projects. They have restored much of the system, and you can even take a boat ride along part of it. [I did, and some of those photos are included.] Railroads and then highways were built alongside and on top of parts of the canal system. My tour guide on the boat ride noted that there is one part where you can see 18th century (the canal), 19th century (the railroad), and 20th century (the highway) transportation systems all in a single frame. I thought that was an interesting and insightful observation. The canal also is both inside and outside the Richmond flood wall, which is another impressive piece of engineering. A canal was built to bypass the James River rapids, and a wall was built to protect against James River floods.

Entrance to the first (most downstream) lock in the canal system.

The first (most downstream) lock in the system. The lock is full and beyond is the James River. The area is now a park.

A pool just beyond the first lock, now part of a park

“The Lowline” is hike and bike trail along an elevated railroad next to the canal.

Part of the canal is inside the Richmond flood wall, which has a gate seen here for boats to pass in and out of the flood wall.

The canal is below railroads and highways in parts.

The turning basin where you can catch a boat ride, see to the left.

Pedestrian walks along the canal. Much of the canal is only a couple of feet deep.

Abandoned buildings are alongside the canal. This one has numerous original murals.

Manure Slinger

Posted on September 20, 2019 by geek

One of the things I like about my job is that there is never a dull moment, and I never know what I am going to be doing next. Will I be reading a toxicology assessment? Will I be tracking down a CASRN? Will I be trying to explain in plain English some highly complex scientific issue? Will I be doing a statistical analysis? Will I be trying to figure if some hazardous chemical may or may not be associated with some particle source of contamination? Will I be trying to cleanup a database that has 11 (11!) different valid and invalid synonyms for cis-1,2-dichloroethene? It changes everyday.

A couple of weeks ago though set a new level for “ok this is different.” There was an urgent request from a big wig where I work to do some quick calculations on biosolids. If you don’t know what biosolids are, they are essentially treated sewage sludge. Wastewater treatment plants, which treat domestic wastewater (i.e. the stuff that goes down your sink and toilet), generally have three types of streams that exit the plant. The first is wastewater effluent, which is treated water that is clean and can be released into a river or lake, or if it treated enough can be used to water golf courses or things like that. The second is the sludge. The sludge is generally water with some solids. Sludge is treated, watery poop. It depends on the wastewater treatment plant as to how much treatment and how watery the sludge is. Some sludge is dewatered and composted on site, such that by the time it leaves the plant, it is pretty much just compost. Some is treated less. It depends on the state and the degree of treatment as to what happens to the biosolids. The states have different regulations to the final disposition of the biosolids. Biosolids can be incinerated, landfilled, or land-disposed. The third stream that leaves the wastewater treatment plant is only a stream in an engineering sense. It is non-degradable solid stuff that is screened out as soon as the wastewater enters the plant. This includes condoms, “flushable” wipes, rags, and all the other weird stuff people flush down the toilet or down the drain because out of sight is out of mind. Seriously though why on earth do so many people think condoms are flushable? All that human-made stuff (ok stuff made by humans but not made by the human gastrointestinal track) that people flush down the toilet (because the police came busting in?) or pour down the sink (because clearly you are not thinking about how much your are going to have to pay the plumber to clear you’re drains?) is screened out and sent straight to the landfill or incinerator. This stuff plus the fat and grease people put down the drains are what forms fatbergs.

It is the land-disposal of the second stream of biosolids that was involved in the urgent calculations I needed to do. Essentially, if the biosolids are highly treated at the wastewater treatment, composted at high temperatures for a long enough period of time, and tested for certain contaminants, mainly heavy metals, as required by law, and the state allows it, then they can be used as fertilizer on land. This is not a new concept. For hundreds of years, night soil, as it was called then, was collected and used as fertilizer. It wasn’t even treated. The composting at the wastewater treatment plant, if done correctly, should kill the pathogens in the poop. The controversial question though is whether or not the biosolids contain chemical contaminants that would not be removed by composting. That is a whole other subject.

My task though was to do some calculations on scenarios involving biosolids. While I am familiar with the concept of biosolids and their final disposition, I needed to do some research on their physical properties. Turns out, finding an average density for biosolids is much easier said than done. The internet gave me answers that were all over the map. The other part of my calculations required me to make some assumptions about how the biosolids were transported to fields or farms if they are land applied. I had never actually considered until that moment how watery, treated poop is transported. As weird as I am considering I travel to visit landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and rail yards and considering how I eagerly read books about poop, I never really considered the transport of biosolids. [I cannot stress enough how much I loved Rose George’s The Big Necessity.] Time was of the essence, we needed some sort of estimate for the question presented, so I grabbed what seemed like reasonable numbers for the physical properties of biosolids and how they transported, and I did my best to calculate with some sort of reasonable confidence the numbers that would answer the question being asked by the big wig. I actually rather enjoyed this rather unusual request. I learned at least a little bit about the details of biosolids.

This week though, the same question came up. I was asked to confirm my calculations, but I was given more time to consider the question. Thus, I had been considering the question for a couple of weeks, and I had had time to ask colleagues as to good sources of information on biosolids. I was able to devote more time to finding good estimates for the information I needed. In the course of my research, I learned to my great joy that biosolids and regular manure are often (normally?) land applied using an invention called a manure slinger. I swear this is true. Humans invented a device called a manure slinger, and in the grand tradition of engineering inventions, it does exactly what its name implies: it slings manure. I hope you can understand my joy that this exists. It is similar to my joy when I discovered that humans had invented a fish cannon that true to its name is a cannon that shoots fish. Engineers aren’t really that creative in the naming department. Heat exchangers exchange heat. Catalytic converters use a catalyst to convert one thing to another. [In the case of your car, it uses a catalyst to convert harmful gases to less harmful gases.] Circuit breakers break an electrical circuit. This leads to my new favorite invention, the manure slinger which slings manure. Do an internet search on manure slinger. You will find photos and videos of them. Videos of a manure slinger slinging manure brought me even more joy. Yes, I am weird, but if you have ever visited my website before, you should know that by now.

Now I was armed with good experimental information on the physical properties of biosolids and with very good information as to how they were transported and land applied. I redid my initial calculations checking my work and with far more confidence in the answer. I could prepare an answer for management to send to the big wig with as much confidence as could be expected on the somewhat unusual question being asked. Further, today I was asked to help prepare communication material regarding the question that had been asked about biosolids. To my even greater joy, than simply learning that manure slingers exist, I was able to write (I swear) scientific information for the communication material that involved the phrase manure slinger numerous times in a paragraph. I have no idea if the communication material will ever see the light of day, and if it does, if the communication people or management will be fuddy duddies and remove the phrase manure slinger and substitute with something far more mundane sounding, but at least initially, I had the joy of writing a completely serious, scientific paragraph using phrase manure slinger. It was a great way to end the week.

Lawn

Posted on August 29, 2019 by geek

Every year the National Building Museum has a fun exhibit that takes up most of the atrium of their building. This year it is Lawn. They essentially built a giant sloping lawn on scaffolding, complete with hammocks, chairs, and lawn games. They made the building’s fountain part of the exhibit. They also piped in a summer soundtrack of noises like kids playing and lawn mower. I am not sure how I feel about the noises, especially the sound of a swarm of mosquitoes. However, it is a nice place to just chill out, and children clearly love it, especially the rolling down the slope part.

This year, they had tours of the exhibit discussing how it was built. Of course I had to go to that. We were able to go under the exhibit, which was rather cool. The structure is a giant scaffolding set that supports the lawn and observation tower. The structure is entirely self supporting. It is not supported by the building, except the floor of course. They also have hammocks that hang from the roof trusses. The hammocks are anchored to the lawn though, otherwise goodness how far people would try to swing them.

View of Lawn from the third story. The white panel at the back is an observation tower.

At the base of Lawn, watching kids roll down the slope

Hammocks hang from the roof, but are anchored to the structure

View from the observation tower at the back of Lawn

Walking up the steps to the observation tower

Back of Lawn where tickets are purchased

Underneath Lawn is a giant scaffolding structure

F.J. Horgan Water Treatment Plant

Posted on May 26, 2019 by geek

The F.J. Horgan Water Treatment Plant was one of my top two reasons for coming to Doors Open Toronto. Sadly, no wastewater treatment plants were open for the event, as I find them more interesting than water treatment plants. However, water treatment plants are still interesting. This plant was even more interesting than I initially thought it would be because I am fairly this is the first water treatment plant I have been to where they use ozone for the initial disinfectant. This is the second water treatment plant I have visited in Toronto. The first Doors Open Toronto I came to, I visited the absolutely magnificent R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant. F.J. Horgan Water Treatment Plant is not as beautiful, but it is interesting none the less.

The plant’s water intake is from pipes in Lake Ontario over 2 km from shore. It is then pumped to the plant and then up from the pipes which are (I think) nine stories below the surface. The plant sits on cliffs high above the water surface. Ozone is added to the water. Ozone disinfects the water. The ozone is made at the treatment plant from liquid oxygen. Before the water leaves the tanks where is contacts ozone, sodium bisulfite is added to remove any left over ozone.

Ozone generation unit from liquid oxygen and electricity

Coagulant is then added to the water. Coagulant causes certain ions and tiny particles to start to come together to make bigger particles, which are easier to filter out. The water is pumped to sediment filters. The filters have a lower sand layer topped with a carbon layer. The filter tanks are huge, but so are the pipes in the building.

Gigantic water pipe conveying water (I think) to the filter tanks

This is a horrible photo because is taken through glass with wire lining, but that is water in the filter tanks. The filters are at the bottom, and I think blue plastic thing is the trough where the backwash goes when the unit is backwashed.

Another horrible photo taken through glass, but on the left side is an empty filter tank, and on the right side is a filter tank with water.

Low pressure air pipes in the filtration gallery

Gigantic air pipes running through the main part of the building

After the water has been cleaned, chlorine is added. The water has already been disinfected at this point, but a residual disinfectant is needed to kill any bacteria the water may encounter in the distribution system on its way to customers.

Bay Lower Subway Station

Posted on May 25, 2019 by geek

Another site I visited with Doors Open Toronto was an abandoned subway station. When the Bay Subway Station was built, there was an upper and lower level. According to the Doors Open Toronto website “When Line 2 officially opened in 1966, Bay Lower was in full use. Alternate trains used the Wye connection, which allowed customers to travel from Line 1 to Line 2 without changing trains. The TTC tested this system for six months and also tested the two separate subway lines for six months. Following testing, the TTC decided that two trains worked best and Bay Lower was closed.” If like me, you do not live in Toronto, that means very little or nothing. Having studied the Toronto subway map for a little bit of time, I think I now understands what it means, but to be perfectly honest, it sounds like it was a dumb idea from the start. Yes, yes, hindsight is 20/20, but it just seems overly complicated, and I know how long it took me just to understand New York City’s local versus express lines, so this seems like it might have made things easier for some but confused the heck out of others. It also sounds like something that carried not insignificant risks for train operation and train traffic control.

The lower level was not used for very long, but it has been used ever since by TTC for testing and training. It has also been used by the television and movie industry quite a bit for shooting scenes. The signs they had displayed seem to indicate that it has been a stand in for many U.S. city subway lines. Ever since I visited the lower level, I have been trying to think how many U.S. cities actually have a subway, as in trains that run underground. There are not that many, and furthermore, not many look like this station. Then again, the movie industry may not always care about things like that. But I digress.

In any event, it was kind of neat to walk around the platform. They had a train on either track with all doors open, so you could walk around the trains. They also let people visit the conductor’s seat/booth/area/I don’t what it is called. Today I learned, when given the opportunity to visit this area, people both young and old, really, really, really like to honk the horn. How the employees watching everything were not developing headaches from the horns constantly going off in the confined station where the noise really bounces around, I have no idea.

One final observation. I am rather fascinated by Toronto’s subway trains because the individual cars are all connected into one true train where you can walk very easily between all the cars. I don’t how many other systems have cars like this, but I was fascinated by it. I am most familiar with the Washington, D.C. and New York City subway systems where walking between cars requires going outside and is rather frowned upon or difficult. It would seem likely this would make it rather difficult for trains to be taken apart should only one or two cars need service, but I am not sure how often cars are taken apart and reconfigured on other systems where visually at least, it would appear to be easier.

One of the trains at the Bay Lower Subway Station. You can easily walk the entire length of the train.

One of the trains at the Bay Lower Subway Station. In the foreground is where two cars are joined, and you can walk in between.

View from the end of the Bay Lower Subway Station platform into the tunnel.

Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility

Posted on May 25, 2019 by geek

I am in Toronto for Doors Open Toronto. When any city allows people to visit a rail yard or water or wastewater treatment plant, I will be there. One of the places that was on the top of my list to visit is the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility. It houses the Crosstown Light Rail Vehicles where they are inspected, cleaned and maintained. It only opened in January 2019, which was evident because it is still very clean and looks barely used. It is a well designed facility that appears to have been designed with the human worker in mind.

The facility has a train wash, paint booth, and numerous bay for maintenance. The maintenance areas have pit to work underneath the trains besides the platforms to work on the side or inside the trains, but it also has balconies so that the workers can get to the top of the trains.

In one area, there are several sand pumps. The trains carry sand, and if the tracks are really wet or if there is snow or ice, then the driver sprays sand to increase traction on the tracks.

The paint booth where two workers can work, each on their own lift.

The large maintenance bay with balconies

One of the trains in the maintenance bay

More of the maintenance bay. I did not find out what the green carriage is for.

Nicely labeled and color coded pipes and conduits

Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot

Posted on May 20, 2019 by geek

I recently got the opportunity to tour New York’s MTA’s Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot with the New York Transit Museum. It is the newest bus depot in New York, and it features many innovative and environmentally friendly design. It has a green roof. Stormwater from the roof in reused in the facility for bus wash. It has a thermal wall that absorbs heat in the winter. It is a really well designed facility, and it is huge. There are also many buses at the bus depot because of course the bus depot is for maintenance and repairs.