Oh Becky, Oh Baby . . .
I didn’t believe in love at first sight until Big Becky and I crossed paths one wild, crazy weekend in Niagara Falls.
She said she was just a small town girl from Northeastern Ohio. But just one look, and you knew she was anything but shy. Her folks, the Robbins family, named her HP 471-316. Her Solon buddies nicknamed her “Big Becky” - what she’s affectionately known as today.
I said: “Hey, sweet thing – what brings you to the Canadian side of the Falls? Care to join me for a Maid of the Mist ride?
“Honey, I am here to work and I mean business,” Becky drawled. “Here’s what’s keepin’ me busy these days.”
Big Becky, a sassy 130-meter long Tunnel Boring Machine (or TBM, to her friends), was invited to Ontario by Austria-based Strabag AG to lend a hand to Ontario Power Generation (OPG). She’s the muscle behind an ambitious project to tunnel 6.5 miles from the Sir Adam Beck Generating Complex to above Niagara Falls.
With her help, some of the mighty power of the Niagara River will be diverted via an underground tunnel to the new power station, eventually providing more than 1.6 billion kilowatts of additional electrical power for the Province of Ontario. The project costs about $985 million – well worth the promise of future clean, renewable hydroelectric power. The U.S. has used the Falls and Niagara River to generate power for years, and now Canada will also benefit from this tremendous natural resource.
No wonder our Northern neighbors turned to Big Becky for help. Weighing over 2,000 tons, she stands a statuesque five stories tall. Becky also sports – count ‘em – at total of 85 disk cutters at 508 mm made of a special tool steel developed by the Robbins especially for high impact and high abrasion. Let’s just say that she’s built.
Not every guy can handle her. Instructors from the Robbins come on site teaching local workers. They study her for about a week and a half before doing anything “hands-on”. That continues for about two months before any guy even has a shot at taking Becky for a solo ride.
“Honey, I’ve got the power and I can excavate faster than anyone you’ve met yet,” chuckles Becky.
All the southern Ontario fellows ogle Big Becky, but anyone who wants to catch her eye has to work fast. She should be concluding her project later this year. “I’m doing my best to come in ahead of schedule so I can put in my request for a gig in Florida or Australia after this,” Becky adds. “I’m loving Canada – Mounties, Molson and the Blue Jays, y’all! – but this girl wants some fun in the sun this winter!”
As for me?
I’m unsure if I’ll ever have a chance with a gal like her. Becky’s in her own class: She’s the biggest and fastest, certainly one hunk of machinery.
As I try to win just a piece of her heart, I also learned something very interesting.
Becky has lots of sisters. She’s the queen bee, but her little sisters are nothing to sneeze at.
Sweet Sophia just returned from digging the sewers in Istanbul. Because of Lucky Linda, there’s fewer landslides in Hong Kong. And Mighty Maria burrowed her way through the Andes Mountains to relieve a drought in Peru!
Let’s not forget Immense Isabelle and her work in Iceland …