Tunnels without built PORTALS


N

NP2626

Guest
I see many photos on the Model Railroad Forums of tunnels just being bare rock, without a built PORTAL. I do not live where I can actually see real railroad tunnels; so, have gone by what I have seen in the model railroad press and that is most tunnels needing; or, having built tunnel portals. I have seven tunnels on my layout, all but one have either; cut rock; or wood portals. The tunnel that dosn't have a built portal, is behind a structure and the portal can't be seen, that's why it doesn't have one. Also, I've noticed that many of these bare rock portals are huge, leading one to believe that the tunnel must have been a natural cave, arch; or, something, as boring a tunnel is hard work and the builders would have made the tunnel no bigger than is needed.

Not raining on anyone's parade! I simply do not know what is real and what has been portrayed as real in the model railroading press! However, the weather here in Central Minnesota is cold and snowy again after some days in the upper 60s and this does tend to make me irritable! I may be raining on a parade and not even know it!!
 
Built portals are generally built where rock or soil are unstable.
I've been thru and inspected many tunnels across Canada and the majority are cut into rock.
I can get some photos after work, I have a couple very interesting tunnel shots!
 
I have seen quite a few tunnels without portals but don't have any photos handy. Railroads really don't like tunnels because they can get expensive, but in most cases are necessary evils.
 
I just saw a story the other night ( on pbs) about the building of the transcontinental railroad. They showed a tunnel that took 2 years to build, it is now abandoned but went through some very tough rock. There were no portals. They only progressed 2 or 3 feet per day, they actually measured the progress in inches.
 
That tunnel was in Washington built by the Great Northern through the Cascades. The original tunnel was opened in 1900 and had to be accessed using a series of switchbacks. In places the grade was 4%. The current Cascade Tunnel was opened in 1929 with a current grade of 2%.
 
Here's some interesting portals on the Sparta Bike Trail in western Wisconsin. Wisconsin isn't known for railroad tunnels.

th


th


The right of way is the former C&NW and was the first "rails to trails" project in America. Sort of small portals since this is very hard rock, near the Mississippi River.

220px-ElroySpartaStateTrailSign.jpg


One of the tunnels was dug by hand and took three years.

Just a bit of C&NW history and tunnels in Wisconsin.
 
Here's one for you: It's on the 'Frisco' near Winslow, AR. I forget the length, but it is at an elevation of about 1700 feet.
Lots of shale in the Boston Mountains - The tunnel is lined.

Winslow AR 7-89 north end of tunnel.jpg
Winslow Tunnel no date.jpg
 
The Kettle Valley Railway in southern British Columbia was the most costly undertaking in rail in N. America per mile. At one point, The Othello Tunnels, there is a series of five bridges between tunnels. Some of the tunnels are concrete-lined and ported, while some are merely rock. Here is one of the latter. It's now a tourist site and part of the Trans-Canada Trail.

DSCF0618res_zps8xgy361t.png
 
logandsawman said:
I just saw a story the other night ( on pbs) about the building of the transcontinental railroad. They showed a tunnel that took 2 years to build, it is now abandoned but went through some very tough rock. There were no portals. They only progressed 2 or 3 feet per day, they actually measured the progress in inches.
Click to expand...
The show was Globetrekker. Saw that episode, too. I was a little disappointed they didn't spend more time on the Chinese story.

This signature is intended to irritate people.
 
Thanks Chet and Crandell, you have shown what I was interested in seeing photos of. I'm not going to tear out my tunnel portals; but, it would have been nice to have seen some of these previous to building my tunnels. Crandell, the other end of your photo shows a very symmetrical shape to the other end, could this have been a tunnel with a natural rock face on this end and a built portal on the other? Chet, same for your second photo?
 
Here is the first portal visitors see:

That's me on the concrete blocks.

DSCF0588res_zpsvslesqmf.png


It's seems unnecessarily high for a rail portal, but we should remember that there would have been ballast, ties, and rails taking up some of the overhead clearance.

Another tunnel in the complex. Though underexposed somewhat, it does a good job showing you the right-of-way through the various tunnels and their connecting bridges:

DSCF0613autoadjres_zpszvnk5hvm.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow there's some great tunnel shots posted! As promised here's a few I've been in.
These first ones would likely look unprototypical on a layout...
This first one is in Western Ontario towards Manitoba:

IMG_2148.jpg

IMG_2149.jpg

IMG_2150.jpg
 
Here's a few from British Columbia, I like the first one as it show two different examples of portals:

IMG_2156.jpg

Blasted rock portal:
IMG_2157.jpg

Cut stone portal:
IMG_2155.jpg

Concrete portal:
IMG_2154.jpg

A lot of these have been altered for clearance for double stack containers.
I have a ton more buried here somewhere...
 
Rico said:
Built portals are generally built where rock or soil are unstable.
I've been thru and inspected many tunnels across Canada and the majority are cut into rock.
I can get some photos after work, I have a couple very interesting tunnel shots!
Click to expand...


Great point.

Here are a few pics of tunnels on the west side of Marias Pass in Montana that illustrate your explanation.

P1050021.jpg

P1050023.jpg

And a snow shed from the same line just for fun.

P1050065.jpg

P1050067.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top