The Hoosac Tunnel - the first longest railroad tunnel in the US

[JCitron]

http://bridge-line.org/blhs/HoosacTunnel.html

This is an article about walking and railfanning the tunnel and vicinity. This link came about as I was researching the route for a project I'm working on. I'll have some more details on the project when I have permission to release them.

John

 

[bendorsey]

I made some components that can be put together to make this tunnel but not without a bit of finagling. The original changed from raw rock to bricks part way through the bore. That's not possible in Trainz with a single tunnel spline so I made two which can be connected together. Its still a bit odd though.

Ben

 

[JCitron]

I made some components that can be put together to make this tunnel but not without a bit of finagling. The original changed from raw rock to bricks part way through the bore. That's not possible in Trainz with a single tunnel spline so I made two which can be connected together. Its still a bit odd though.

Ben

Hi Ben,

This was due to the tunnel caving in during construction. What was thought to be granite and schist all the way through turned out to be a clay deposit at that end. This was due to the area being a former alluvial plain from the old ice age. So for about 7500 feet of the 5-mile tunnel there's a brick lining at one end.

Mike K. (Steamboat) will be contacting you regarding the tunnels. Your tunnels work great now, but will need some adjustments due to added catenary supports, etc. that will need to go in there.

John

 

[bendorsey]

I looked into the catenary when I made them. Forget it, lol. Too complex and it was eventually removed (I think).

Ben

 

[JCitron]

That figures!

Mike will be contacting you eventually. He's been in contact with the local historian and is collecting images.

This area is not as easy as you think to model. There are not only unique buildings and bridges, but also odd track layouts as well especially in and around North Adams. The yard is a combination of B&A and B&M trackage with the B&M going over the B&A on a girder bridge. Both operations combine and then they cross a two-track bridge and into the little tunnel under Main Street. This will be another tunnel with catenary as well as the wires ended a short distance after this tunnel. The tunnel motors pulled the passenger trains up to the station platform then continued on through the little tunnel after uncoupling to get themselves ready for the return journey.

Oh to have been alive back then to see this in operation.

John

 

[bendorsey]

I'll be glad to send you the original Gmax mesh if you want to fiddle with it.

Be

 

[RoysTrainz]

Hi John, Mike

well see you talk about long tunnels I thought share with you the Mc Connaught and Mc Donalds tunnel I used in my Canadian routes.
14.7 km the longwest tunnel in the Americas.... I can confirm that espeically at the time when the spline beetle in trainz ruined also my tunnels, gone dissappaered both... Laying track or tunnel is not for the faint of heart and for sure not under towering high DEM's from the Mountain range on top makes the tunnel laying close to impossible. I ttook me almost 3 days of fiddling trail and error to get the tunnels back in place at the correct height/depth in the mountains.....

For sure John you have driven the CPR Mountain Sub near Rogers Pass already more than once and can confirm its a long drive both of them but I still like that with a long haul coal or mix goods keeping the correct speed.

Enjoy trainz during the holidays and seasonal greetings from all of us here with a spelling cold of 9C or 48F.
No heating in the tropics other than charcoal and double blankets for the cold month till mid Feb.


Ning, Djoetje and Roy (back home for the holidays finally):mop:

 

[JCitron]

Hi John, Mike

well see you talk about long tunnels I thought share with you the Mc Connaught and Mc Donalds tunnel I used in my Canadian routes.
14.7 km the longwest tunnel in the Americas.... I can confirm that espeically at the time when the spline beetle in trainz ruined also my tunnels, gone dissappaered both... Laying track or tunnel is not for the faint of heart and for sure not under towering high DEM's from the Mountain range on top makes the tunnel laying close to impossible. I ttook me almost 3 days of fiddling trail and error to get the tunnels back in place at the correct height/depth in the mountains.....

For sure John you have driven the CPR Mountain Sub near Rogers Pass already more than once and can confirm its a long drive both of them but I still like that with a long haul coal or mix goods keeping the correct speed.

Enjoy trainz during the holidays and seasonal greetings from all of us here with a spelling cold of 9C or 48F.
No heating in the tropics other than charcoal and double blankets for the cold month till mid Feb.


Ning, Djoetje and Roy (back home for the holidays finally):mop:

Roy,

Your route is absolutely gorgeous to see and experience and I surely was meaning to write you about it. There are a couple of things you need to fix which I will email you about when I get a chance. That is one long tunnel to drive! I sure have been through both of them more than a few times now. I have setup traffic in both directions with a nice looking all Budd stainless steel CP Rail passenger train pulled by a matching F-units, and a few mixed goods traffic trains running too with some CPR, and leasor units.

The Hoosac was the longest railroad tunnel in the world before the great tunnels were built to conquer the Rockies some 50 years later. At a smidge under 10km, it's still an amazing feat of engineering, and one wonders how it was done with the primitive technology. Seeing this tunnel in person would have been great, but due to bad icy and snowy roads, and having to drive Route 2 around the climbing Hairpin Turn to get there, put Mike and me at a disadvantage. We said we'll wait for the spring on that one! We're only 3 hours from North Adams and the vicinity so getting to and from there isn't so bad and we have a place to stay if we want to poke around for a few days.

Give my holiday hugs to Ning for me.

John

 

[jordon412]

Here's an interesting bit of info if you don't already know:
The person who created dynamite, which was first used during the building of the Hoosac tunnel, was Alfred Nobel. He later made an award for those who try to make the world a better place: the Nobel Peace Prize. How ironic, a person who created something to destroy things later created an award for those who make the world a better place. No joke.