Tribute to James Thomson: Pioneer in Trenchless Technology Development

Many professionals throughout United States and around the world are pioneers in the pipeline industry and trenchless technology and we should be thankful. This month we are pleased to pay special tribute to Mr. James Thomson. I invited James to cochair with me the Pipeline Research Symposium, held on June 23, 2013, in conjunction with the ASCE International Pipelines Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, and he graciously accepted it. More than 85 researchers from the United States and several other countries attended this symposium. James conducted his first successful trenchless operation in 1958, 17 years before the concept of trenchless pipelines was introduced in the United Kingdom as a viable technology in 1985.

In 1958, when there was a need for installing a pipeline under the mainline rail tracks between London and northern England and the railway expected to remain open throughout construction, James was called in. Thomson’s crew installed the pipeline using corrugated pipes as a worker-entry sleeve with manual excavation at the face as the liner pushed in. This was one of his first jobs after taking on the position of contracting supervisor in his father’s company. Thomson continued his work throughout eastern England, which included many trenchless pipeline installations. Thomson’s description of the first trenchless pipeline operation follows (Thomson 1967):

We really had little idea of what we were up against—we had to purchase some ship jacks which you operated by hand and used Greenheart timbers to spread the load on to the tubes. We worked double shifts and encountered every difficulty possible. Our equipment was inadequate, the tubes were all wrong and not suitable and the ground conditions proved to be very variable including some limestone and some unstable sand pockets. I was down in the pit with my guys something like 18 h out of the 24 for about three weeks. We managed to get the tunnel though without causing any surface problems, but it was a close-run thing.

Soon, Thomson was getting more calls from others wanting to use the new trenchless technology. Thomson complied with improved equipment and steel tubes. In 1959, he designed and manufactured two auger bore machines for 12- and 36-in.-diameter pipes, respectively. Thomson’s trenchless technology became so popular that he traveled 50,000 mi a year setting up and supervising double-shift jobs with deadlines that required workers to live at the jobsites and, along with Thomson (Fig. 1), work 18-h days.

Thomson continued to develop and patent new pipeline techniques, particularly in jacking large boxes and tubes for road underpasses and subways. From 1969 onward, he developed his concepts of installing large noncircular rail and road underpasses in addition to developing multitier abutments. It was during this time that he patented his antidrag system (ADS), which involved feeding thin metal sheets for a shield over the box roof, which was anchored at the pit. This idea was to introduce a stationary layer between the box and the soil to stop it from being dragged along, which otherwise would have caused settlement.

Thomson has served as principal investigator for four Water Environment and Reuse Foundation (WERF) research projects and two USEPA reports in the field of water and wastewater assessment and rehabilitation.

Thomson has been author or coauthor of four books on trenchless methods of installation. These books are predominantly for new installation, with some material on rehabilitation and replacement of pipes. He is also the author of more than 100 technical papers and presentations. He has conducted many seminars for ASCE throughout the United States.