Pipeline Construction

Overnight a crew completed the leak testing of the sections of 24 inch pipeline that will be pulled through the directional drilling bore hole on the Wilmot Pipeline. The leak testing of the pipeline required the displacing of all air in the pipeline with water and then pressurizing the pipeline to 2,000 PSI and holding the pressure for 4 hours.



With the leak test complete, another crew arrived on site with equipment to prepare for pulling the pipe into the bore hole.




Stacks of rollers are moved to the pipeline "pull-back" area.



Photo of pipeline rollers. These rollers will be positioned along the pipeline "pull-back" area and the "pull-back" pipeline will be placed on the rollers.



Excavators positioning the rollers through the wetland area of our woods. The excavator in the background is preparing the entrance to the pipeline bore hole.



Photo of the pipeline bore hole entrance at the top of the hill. The finial reaming of the bore hole is complete and ready for the pipeline to be pull through the 1/2 mile long hole.



Rollers placed in the right-of-way leading to the bore hole entrance.

Spring Flowers and Bees

The flowering Crab-apple trees in our lawn have started to bloom and a content buzz of honey bees is heard near the trees.



A honey bee coming in for a landing.



Some many blossoms ... so little time.

Spring Wildflowers

As I walked around our cabin I found a couple of common spring flowers that needed a closer look.

The Wild Strawberries (Fragaria vesca) are starting to bloom.



Soon these small flowers will produce a very tasty berry.



Many farm fields are starting to take on a yellow tint from the blooming Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris), a member of the Mustard Family (Brassicaceae).



The winter cress bloom is made up of many small, 4-petal flowers. A close up view of the small flowers.

Pipeline Construction

The sub-soil on the Wesauking Pipeline has been regraded on the east side of Joyce Road and a crew was busy spreading straw on the bare ground to control erosion.



The bales of straw are feed into the straw spreader, chopped up and blown onto the bare ground.



Today's wind didn't help in controlling the aim of the spreader.

Spring Wildflowers

Another warm spring day and I was easily distracted from yard work by some Yellow Dogtooth Violets (Erythronium americanum).



These wildflowers are also known as Trout Lily, Adder's Tongue and Yellow Adder's Tongue.



The Yellow Dogtooth Violet is a member of the Lily Family (Liliaceae) where as the Wild Violet (Viola papilionacea) is a member of the Violaceae family.



The small Wild Violets add color to springtime but are sometimes considered a weed when they take over a lawn.

Pipeline Construction

The welding crew continued to prepare the "pull-back" sections of the Wilmot Pipeline for leak testing. The team welding an end on the pipeline section.



Close-up of the special torch used to cut the pipe.



A couple of the ends welded on the pipeline for testing.



Before the pipeline ends were welded on, a pipeline "pig" was inserted into each section of pipe. A pipeline "pig" is a device that is moved through the pipeline by the flow of gas or fluids.



A photo of one of the "pigs" used for leak testing.

Toads

With near record temperature yesterday and warm weather today, the local toads have started their springtime courting and mating.

While walking the Wilmot Pipeline right-of-way I found these toads and a strand of eggs in the wetland area. An easy way to determine frog eggs from toad eggs, is the toad eggs are in a long continuous strand and frog eggs are laid in a ball like mass.

Pipeline Construction

The welding crew was back at the Wilmot Pipeline today preparing the 24 inch pipeline sections for pressure testing. These sections of the pipeline pulled through the directional drilling bore hole to get the pipeline across Route 467 and Johnson Creek.



End caps and fittings are welded onto the pipeline sections so water and compressed air can be used to test the pipeline for leaks before it is pulled through the bore hole.



Some of the end caps need to have the end of the pipe cut on a bevel prior to welding. These pipe cuts are make with a special cutting torch. Setting up the cutting torch.



Cutting the pipe.



Welding fittings onto the pipeline.



Welding an end cap on the pipeline section.



Somebody can't wait for the end of the day to play.

Spring Wildflowers

Not much happening with pipeline construction today, but I did find some flowering barren-strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) in the wetland area of the Wilmot Pipeline in our woods.



The small flower (1/3"-3/4" wide) looks like a yellow version of a wild strawberry but it doesn't produce any berries.

Spring Wildflowers

While wandering through the woods I came across the early spring wildflower Round-lobed Hepatica (Anemone americana).



This small wildflower comes in colors from blue to white and pink.

Pipeline Construction

The section of the Wesauking Pipeline east of Joyce Road is buried and the pipeline crew is quickly removing the timber planking from the pipeline right-of-way.



A continuous stream of trucks arrived all day and were loaded with the planking and hauled to the next work site.



Directing traffic as trucks were loaded.



With the planking removed from the right-of-way, a CAT D-6 dozer works on grading the sub-soil. Once the freshly graded soil has had time to settle the top soil, in the berm at the left of the right-of-way, will be returned to the right-of-way and the area reseeded.



On the west side of Joyce Road, on Maureen Brady's property, another crew works on rough grading the wetland crossing area.



At the west end of Maureen's property a crew was working on installing a section of the pipeline which had some challenging bends in the pipe.



The west end of Maureen's property looking north to where the pipeline makes a 90 degree turn to the west and heads down a very steep hill to Wysox Creek.

Pipeline Construction

Wilmot Pipeline
The Wilmot Pipeline boring project has reached another milestone with the 36 inch reamer reaching a complete pull to the top of the hill. After reaming the 1/2 mile long bore hole, the reamer will be turned around and pulled back through the bore hole to clean it.



The reaming tool is comprised of two cutters, the first cutter is 24 inches in diameter and the second cutter is 36 inches in diameter.



Close up view.



Wesauking Pipeline
After yesterday's completion of the wetland crossing on our property, a crew was busy backfilling and grading the pipeline right-of-way.






On the west side of Joyce Road another crew was busy working on grading the right-of-way through Maureen Brady's property.



With the pipeline buried, a crew was busy removing the timber planking used along the pipeline right-of-way.



The recent dry weather changed our clay soil to a very fine powder.



Removal of the planking was a little dusty.



It's not always the "boys" playing with the big equipment.



Open wide ...