Vintage work crew photos

[Jon]

Workers building the Berlin Wall.

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...l_fullsize.jpg

[12bolts]

They sure dont look like happy workmen

[IntheGroove]

Two guys working and three guys with guns...

[MeJasonT]

I was looking at the blocks and had to question the authenticity of the photo as the blocks look like modern breeze blocks not the ones used in Germany during the war. Ii haven't researched when the wall went up 1050's i guess
but my research on blocks was fruitfull

The first hollow concrete block was designed in 1890 by Harmon S. Palmer in the United States. After 10 years of experimenting, Palmer patented the design in 1900. Palmer's blocks were 8 in (20.3 cm) by 10 in (25.4 cm) by 30 in (76.2 cm), and they were so heavy they had to be lifted into place with a small crane. By 1905, an estimated 1,500 companies were manufacturing concrete blocks in the United States.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/manufac...concrete-block

So yep blocks look genuine to me

oooh interesting

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a wall that separated the city of Berlin in Germany from 1961 to 1989. It separated the eastern half from the western half. Many people thought it was a symbol of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was taken down on November 9, 1989.[1][2] The Berlin Wall was about 168 km (104 miles) long.[3] It was built to prevent people from escaping from the eastern half of Berlin.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

I knew that Germany was divided up between the west and Russia our then allies just after the war and then at some point thereafter the boundary was marked but didnt know when.

[MeJasonT]

Soviet building gang seeks work
looking for anything along the US Mexican border
will need papers

[Toolmaker51]

The Berlin Wall was about 168 km (104 miles) long.[3] It was built to prevent people from escaping from the eastern half of Berlin.
Despite imposing size, concertina wire, guards and weapons; not entirely successful at 'preventing' just curtailing. We Yanks aren't the only inventive culture, many persevered and managed escape.
Freedom may be the strongest magnet of all.
Even those with 'freedom' still desire individuality and freedom of choice. How about pirate stations XERB and Radio Caroline for example. Some are comfortable with what is fed to them; real freedom is more like a buffet.

[skibo]

This picture say's to me what the Socialist Left and Millinnials will have us be like today or the near future,just saying! I have read many books and watching many war videos about the German Jews in the middle Thirties and Fortes! I was a kid watching on TV in the Fifties about the Eastern German people didn't think it would happen to them by their own Government, and how their thinking proved them wrong! I'm not trying to be real Political here, but the hand writhing is there for us in the USA! My Opinion!

[Jon]

Installing gas pipeline, Boston, 1890s.

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...e_fullsize.jpg

[Frank S]

I am wondering if they are installing or taping into an existing line This is what it looks like to me.
From my perspective it appears that they dug a huge hole around the existing pipeline then shored up the hole with timbers and planking then laid a huge bridging timber over the pipe and supported it with the chains and rods as would be done in today's world by turnbuckles winches, excavators or a crane, Now that the pipe is supported they will probably clean it then install a saddle clamp with a nipple and Tee with a valve and piercing cutter connect the spur line to the branch of the tee the valve on the run then place the piercing cutter through the center of the open gate valve cut the hole in the pipe back the cutter out close the valve remove the cutter then cap the open side of the valve. More than likely there will be 2 valves one on the branch between the tee and the spur so that can be left closed until the rest of the spur line is completed.
I helped weld a 10" Tee to a 12" line one time. Only I wasn't told it was a hot tie on a live line until after we had finished welding the flange for the Tee to the line. Some of the insane things welders do in their lives.

[Moby Duck]

Talking about the Berlin Wall:-
They were not forced labour workers. There were permanent workers, but they actually employed casual labour every day from both sides of the wall. Two oppos of mine whilst on annual leave from the Navy, were tripping around West Germany and actually worked on the wall for 3 days around 1964/65 to get some extra money. They were paid daily and the contractors were paying better money than the Navy at the time. No, they didn’t have Naval permission to step into an Eastern Block country, but the Navy never found out and they all lived happily ever after.