Tunnel under a town prototype: Yes, there is at least one U.S. example of railroads going underneath small towns. And here it is: Boston & Maine’s single track line through Bellows Falls, Vermont.
Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library has three photos in the Boston & Maine tunnels folder that show off this specimen in the late transition to early diesel-era.
The first is an excellent shot of the tunnel’s north portal, shot from a train, over a bridge and straight through — a bullseye rail photograph, if ever there was one.
Notice the details: power lines and utility poles, riveted girder bridge, late 19th century brick buildings. Let us state for the record, that very few items appear to be “squared” and perfect. Yet the visual items are lined and straight.
David K. Johnson photograph
According to BridgeHunter.com the bridge first opened in 1851 and had its “floor lowered” in 1897, 1977, and 2007. Fortunately for modern-era modelers, the New England Chapters – Society for Industrial Archeology published a document concerning the most recent project in PDF form.
The projects goals included reducing truck traffic on Interstate highways and improving the state’s “transportation system”. In effect, it made it practical for double-stack containers to move through the tunnel.
The PDF includes during construction photographs as well as basic drawings showing the project’s work scope.
Today, you’ll see branchline traffic courtesy of Genesee & Wyoming’s New England Central Railroad and daily passenger service with Amtrak’s Vermonter.
Yes, Bellows Falls’ unusual tunnel, coupled with rail activity show that indeed, there is a prototype for everything!
Ben Bachman photograph
In the more common “tunnels under cities” department, Seattle’s wasp-waisted downtown created the need for not one but three tunnels. In reverse order of construction: a four-lane bore for state highway 99; a double track light rail transit tunnel for Sound Transit; and the century-old BNSF bore from King Street Station to the waterfront near the Pike Place Market. It is said that you can hear the rumble of the passing freight trains in the basements of certain downtown buildings. The three tunnels actually cross over one another at different levels under downtown.
There is another one in Greenfield, Massachusetts that goes under some businesses that Amtrak uses to to get to Bellows Falls.
Are there any pictures in the collection of the tunnel under Frostburg, WV? I have seen the north portal often while watching engines turn at the end of Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. I do wonder where it went.
Another is in Spartanburg SC. The well-known tunnel under the old Southern connecting the Clinchfield with the P&N/ACL that was built to avoid the switching charges that Southern charged to move cars between the others.