Big Pipe in Ground Zero
 

A friend took the Path train with me into NYC to where I had previously bought my first transistor. But everytime we walked to where that store was, we kept returning to a big deep hole with a pipe across its middle; the pipe suspended by stilts.

That pipe was the tunnel we had ridden to Hudson Street. I returned to ground zero a few years ago to see that hole still there in the east wall - to better grasp what I have viewed 40 some years ago. Hudson Street Terminal was closed where the WTC replaced it.

So many denied I had seen this 40+ years ago. I specifically remember what was a subway tunnel instead looked only like a pipe suspended on stilts with steam shovels working beneath. Well that hole was removed. See Another Ghost From Ground Zero’s Past Fades Away from the NY Times of 26 Oct 2008.

Ah, so that's what is meant by 'pipe dream'. :)
And no worries, ghosts are still at the WTC site. I saw a photograph taken after the towers were detroyed that showed the buildings' 'ghosts' still in place, so perhaps the tunnel has a ghost remaining, too.

Smoke the pipe if you got one.

That must have been quite a sight, but are you sure they were steam shovels being used in the 1960s? Seems a little antiquated.

I really didn't understand the first post.
Red it three times now, still don't.

I think it's a cultural thing, sorry.

It can't be entirely cultural, Sundae, because it made almost no sense to me either. :) But the NYTimes article he linked makes it much clearer what he's talking about.

Steam shovels could even use diesel. Steam shovels dug by pushing the bucket out. Backhoes dug by pulling the bucket back in. WTC was dug out using steam shovels (and dynamite).

Post was intentionallysketchy until reading the NY Time article. Back then, it was so deep that a pipe on stilts was actually a subway tunnel - the unique subway called PATH.

The remains of another tunnel was also observed in ground zero. Not sure. But could have been the original subway tunnel that moved trains using fans.