Mass General subway station rust removal consult

1910-vintage subway station; engineering firm chipped half-inch-thick rust off structural beams down to white metal. Tom's recommendation: plug it back up — the rust was structural and stopping further corrosion.

They were redoing the subway station down here at Mass General right across the river. The guys doing it were at the firm I used to consult with — civil engineering, back 60 years ago — and they called me up. They said, this is 1910, they built this subway station, the old rhythms, sealants up. They had areas of rust that were half an inch thick. It replaced the beams — in some cases it held the concrete. They go in there and chip out all the rust down to white metal. They called me up, said, Tom, now what do we do? I said, you better plug it up with something, because that rust is keeping it from growing. It's kept it from growing for the last 18 years.