The Illinois Railway Museum is proud to announce that the Canadian National Railway will donate its East Dubuque tunnel bore to the museum. IRM Executive Director Nick Kallas noted, "we try to obtain an example of everything ever used my any railroad, so the lack of a tunnel bore has been a real hole in our collection." Located on the flat prairie west of Chicago, the museum visionaries believe that the tunnel will greatly add to the scenic appeal of rides over its demonstration railroad. In keeping with company policy, CN specified that the bore must be removed from railroad property within 90 days.

Fred

Oooh an electrified tunnel!

LOL, just try getting quotes for moving a tunnel. Might be fun!

But here's another preserved railway tunnel headed for adaptive reuse, the 1860 Brockville & Ottawa/ Canada Central Railway/ Canadian Pacific tunnel under Brockville, Ontario:

http://www.brockvillerailwaytunnel.com/the-vision/

https://www.facebook.com/RailwayTunnel

Unfortunately, there's no 5'6" gauge 4-4-0 sealed up in this one waiting for next April 1st...

Steve Hunter

Oh, pshaw, that's just Nick looking for quick way to add even more undercover storage. I hear he can't get local builders to put up barns anymore--- "We can't make a profit negotiating with that guy!!"

50 points for this one Fred.

Howard P.

AMD's post brings up a question....

What's the longest rail tunnel that is now a bike path?

Perfect for your CTA cars!

Surprised this hasn't been moved over to the "Railfanning" page yet. . .

Some images from the curving tunnel in Wheeling, W.Va. (locally called "Tunnel Greene," officially "Tunnel No. 1," at least that's what's on the portals, and also called Hempfield Tunnel). This is on the line that used to run from Wheeling, W.Va. to Pittsburgh, Pa. Although quite wide, the tunnel was always single track.

In the tunnel, looking east towards Pittsburgh:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34878756@N ... otostream/

Rebuilding stone inside the tunnel:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34878756@N ... otostream/

West portal, looking towards Pittsburgh:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34878756@N ... otostream/

East portal, looking towards Wheeling. Part of I-70 visible at right. Level spot to right of tunnel portal once location of an interchange track from the B&O to the Pennsylvania Railroad at the now-gone Blaw-Knox works.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34878756@N ... otostream/

I couldn't locate any photos of it, but the approach to the tunnel from the Wheeling side is on a large curving stone arch bridge across Wheeling Creek. This bridge is visible from I-70 as you exit the highway tunnels on your way to Pittsburgh.

It should have tracks and trains. . .

About that new "bike" tunnel in Great Britain. . .the article with that photo says the renovations came to 4.2 million British Pounds, which is about $7 or $8 million for us, making me think what we could do with $7 or $8 million on the EBT. . .oh, the pain, the pain. . .

Makes me recall the story of the railroad manager who tried to report a salvage value for every part of an abandoned water well.

The auditor questioned how he could salvage the hole in the ground.

I agree that 7 or 8 milion could do wonders for the EBT. For whatever reason the Brits seem to care a lot more about history and preservation than we do. Perhaps because we are a 'melting pot' nation, and some of our cultures and traditions get lost? Wish I had an answer-

The Beatles found it useful to adaptively reuse a hole in a pocket as an escape route. Why not just pick it up off the ground, keep it in your pocket until you need it? Never know when it may come in handy.

dave

I don't know if it's THE longest rail tunnel now part of a bike path, but Big Savage Tunnel on the Western Maryland's Connellsville Extension is 3305' long. The rehab for trail use cost multiple megabucks.

No. For the umpteenth time, NO.

In any case like this involving "public" and privately-donated/granted money, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." Advocates need to make a case, a "sales pitch," as to why a potential project deserves public and private support. This needs to be done by parties adept at networking, socializing, "schmoozing," and financing, regardless of whether they can tell a Ps-4 from a GS-4 or a F7 from an E7.

We fail.

People, after the debacle of Steamtown's relocation and re-establishment in the mid-1980s, were fond of grousing about what "all that money" could have done for the likes of the East Broad Top, the Cumbres & Toltec, or the like. The mentality was that the monies spent in Scranton were "stolen" from more "worthy" projects. Others pointed out that the political forces behind Steamtown effective "created" the money out of thin air. We know in the grand scheme of things that it came out of Federal and state monies, some of it deficit, that would have gone to other government projects, true, but that's not the specific issue here. The money-raisers convinced the money-brokers that their project was worthy of such funds, ultimately tens of millions. Those supporting the EBT, C&TS, etc. never even got into the building, aside from the NPS "Study of Alternatives" for the EBT.

Then there were ISTEA and TEA-21 grants. A whole 'nother round of discussion possible there.

Instead of lamenting the paucity of money and goodwill towards rail preservation projects, you should be asking why and how groups like the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy embarrass us in that department. I know that part of the reason is that perhaps too many of us are poor salesmen, or too wedded to truth and honest data, instead of being willing to shovel out consultants' reports claiming that "every dollar spent towards this railroad will result in five dollars pumped back into the local economy" and flowery seven-dollar-a-word prose of the likes uttered in Washington D.C. routinely. Maybe we all just need a giant ARM/TRAIN seminar on self-esteem.

But I'm sure that if we don't learn how to better instigate, "manipulate," and foster good public will and support, we're doomed to see a LOT more "Pembertons" out there, and watch our locomotives, stations, and cars get converted to displays, visitors centers and overnight hostels for the Rails-to-Trails crowd.

And besides which, who is to say that the tunnel linked to in that British report (which, for those asking, is just over a mile long) isn't destined one day soon to show up in a "The Fleecing of Britain" report on British telly, with someone doing the math to figure out that Britain spent £23 (or whatever figure) per cyclist that ended up using said tunnel? And people start insisting on "user fees" to pay for the lighting and paving?

More on that tunnel: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... lists-bath

No, it's not the longest. There's a 2.3 mile long tunnel at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass that is on a biking and hiking trail. (The Iron Horse Trail, former Milwaukee Railroad.)

All of the other tunnels on the line are closed, but summit tunnel is open seasonally.

http://www.wta.org/signpost/go-hiking/h ... rse-tunnel

What I don't know is whether it's the longest.

Google is your friend. Looks like the Snoqualmie tunnel is the longest, at least according to this website:

http://washcycle.wikispaces.com/Longest+Bike+Tunnels