Old Tunnels

[vabiker23518]

http://thesquiresview.blogspot.com/2009/02/195-worlds-most-fascinating-history.html

Interesting story of a steam locomotive buried in a 1925 tunnel collapse in Richmond, VA. If recall correctly, a few years ago an attempt was made to reopen the tunnel but after land started to settle above, it was again abandoned.

 

[George Harris]

The ex-Southern Pacific main into San Francisco has 4 tunnels in the city built when a direct line was built into the city. All are double track. Tunnels 1,3, & 4 have portals on the west side for parallel tunnels that have never been built. Tunnel 2 has the second tunnel in place. It has never been used. It was built by cut and cover since it is not very deep. Most subway tunnels built cut and cover have a box shape, in other words square/rectangular in shape, but this one does not. It is built with the arch shape, in this case, double arch, that is normal for bored tunnels.

Washington DC: At the time that WMATA being built in DC the plan sets had sheet for existing conditions that included ALL underground facilities. The ones for the lines near the White House included those between the WH and adjacent buildings. There were several. You could go for several blocks without seeing daylight. There was one run in particular was referred to as having a "revolving door" for Kennedy's multiple short term female companions.

 

[Ispolkom]

In St. Paul, on the hill where the cathedral stands, there is an abandoned portal which I once noticed and have wondered to what it led or what sort of line served it. Speculation I heard from locals was that it may have been for coal service to the cathedral. But, even if this is so, via a regular railroad or streetcar service or just what?

It was a tunnel for the Selby Avenue streetcar line. The other entrance was near Nina Street, apparently.

 

[RampWidget]

I know that both Franklin Roosevelt and August Belmont had private tracks for their own trains. Anyone else?

Henry Flagler (Builder of the Florida East Coast Rwy., hotelier, and financier), had tracks for his private car Rambler at both Miami & Key West.

Edit: clarity

 

[RampWidget]

Anyone else know about cities with abandoned tunnels? I have all kinds of stories about psychiatric hospital tunnels around Michigan. I'll have to dig up some pictures.

It isn't really a city tunnel, but there was/is an abandoned railroad tunnel in Northwest Georgia in the town of Tunnel Hill (naturally!)

The original tunnel was constructed by CSX predecessor Western & Atlantic RR in 1840. It is 1477 feet long and tunnels through the base of Cheetoogeta Mountain. It played a part in the strategic Civil War Battle of Tunnel Hill, and then was abandoned in 1928 when a larger tunnel was constructed nearby. The old tunnel sat abandoned and empty for many decades until very recently when it was turned into a historical site.

 

[Bob Dylan]

In the same vein as the Georgia RR Tunnel, in the Hill Country of Central Texas on the Old SP Spur between San Antonio and Fredriksburg, there is an Old Rail Tunnel, circa 1880s (the Line had the Tracks removed in 1968!!) that Now serves as the Seasonal Home of a Colony of a Million+ Mexican Free Tail Bats! it is the second Biggest Bat Colony in Texas after the one in Austin under the Ann Richards/Congress Avenue Bridge and attracts Droves of Hikers and Campers during the ^ 8 Months they are there! (March-Oct.)

 

[SarahZ]

I love bats!

 

[GG-1]

I love bats!

Aloha

Most of us have a few in our belfry :giggle:

 

[JoeSF]

One of the Ohio cities has an abandoned subway tunnels of a system that war never finished.

Cincinnati started construction of a subway in the 1920's and finished several miles of tunnel and stations before the project was abandoned after the Stock Market crash in 1929. The tunnels still exist and there apparently was a proposal to run light rail through them but failed in the polls. Here is a link to Wikipedia's article about it; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Subway

In Marin County north of San Francisco, an old tunnel used by the Northwestern Pacific but abandoned for many decades was recently reopened as part of a multi-use route that includes a bike lane; eventually it may be used by the new SMART(Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit) commuter rail line. Another link: http://www.traillink.com/trail/cal-park-hill-tunnel.aspx.

 

[PerRock]

One of the Ohio cities has an abandoned subway tunnels of a system that war never finished.

Cincinnati started construction of a subway in the 1920's and finished several miles of tunnel and stations before the project was abandoned after the Stock Market crash in 1929. The tunnels still exist and there apparently was a proposal to run light rail through them but failed in the polls. Here is a link to Wikipedia's article about it; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Subway

In Marin County north of San Francisco, an old tunnel used by the Northwestern Pacific but abandoned for many decades was recently reopened as part of a multi-use route that includes a bike lane; eventually it may be used by the new SMART(Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit) commuter rail line. Another link: http://www.traillink.com/trail/cal-park-hill-tunnel.aspx.

Ah yes, I couldn't remember if it was Cincinnati or Cleveland.

peter

 

[Ispolkom]

A few years ago, I stumbled upon an old iron door in a cliff at the foot of the Presidio in San Francisco. While I was poking around, a GG Park worker came by and I asked him what was in there. He told me it was a cave used for ammunition storage during WWII, or perhaps the Civil War. He didn't really know much about the history of the place, but did say he thought there had once been tracks going to the door. I WILL go back and do some more exploring one of these days. I couldn't find anything on Google about it.

Here's a nice article about the coastal defenses of the Golden Gate. San Francisco is a coastal fortifications lover's paradise, with 18th century Spanish batteries right near Cold War era antiaircraft defenses.

On a trip to San Francisco early in our marriage, I attempted to see a few too many sites. Eventually, Mrs. Ispolkom wouldn't even get out of the car. She maintained that there were more interesting things to do in San Francisco other than look at disappearing gun emplacements. We now prenegotiate any visits to coastal cities.

 

[CHamilton]

Abandoned Subways in Cincinnati, Rochester, Chicago, New York (PHOTOS)

 

[CHamilton]

Okay, this is a crazy one.

The Lost Cow Tunnels of New York City

Like every other major metropolis, New York City has tunnels for people, tunnels for cars, and lots of tunnels for trains. But it also has something rather more unique: tunnels for cows. Or does it? This is the story of New York’s lost, forgotten, or perhaps just mythical subterranean meat infrastructure....

 

[the_traveler]

Spelunking (or Caving) is a weird one for me, I like the idea of it, but get cold feet

Wear warm boots!

 

[jis]

Okay, this is a crazy one.

The Lost Cow Tunnels of New York City

Like every other major metropolis, New York City has tunnels for people, tunnels for cars, and lots of tunnels for trains. But it also has something rather more unique: tunnels for cows. Or does it? This is the story of New York’s lost, forgotten, or perhaps just mythical subterranean meat infrastructure....

But the most enormous tunnels under New York, and also some of the deepest are for the life preserving critical item - water! Just a few weeks back a brand spanking new segment of Water Tunnel 3 was put into service. Eventually upon its completion, Water Tunnel 1 will be taken out of service for maintenance.

 

[CHamilton]

You Could Be the Proud Owner of These 19th-Century British Tunnels

 

[CHamilton]

Why are there so many tunnels under London?

 

[JeffW]

Abandoned Subways in Cincinnati, Rochester, Chicago, New York (PHOTOS)

I was a bit surprised that nobody had mentioned the Rochester NY tunnels. It was quite a system at one time, though parts were recently filled in. Every mayor has a different plan for them, nobody ever does anything. I've had a lot of friends make it down into the tunnels, but I haven't made it in yet (after living here over 5 years!). Here's more info on them if you're interested:

http://rocwiki.org/Abandoned_Subway

 

[TinCan782]

I'll chime in for Los Angeles...

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/lost-tunnels-of-downtown-la.html

and...

http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-los-angeles-abandoned-subway-2013-2

 

[CHamilton]

13 Abandoned Stations & Disused Platforms of the London Underground

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2013/11/13-abandoned-stations-disused-platforms-london-underground/

 

[FriskyFL]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knox%E2%80%93Henderson_Station

The Dallas DART "subway" has a ghost station, the proposed Knox-Henderson station which was excavated but never completed.

 

[CHamilton]

Visiting The Secret Train Platform Beneath The Waldorf-Astoria

 

[CHamilton]

Lost Tunnels of Downtown L.A.

 

[reefgeek]

This is minor but cool. Newark had a very small subway, the "City Subway" or as we called it "The Jolly Trolley." it used old Public Service trolley type cars and was sometimes in bad repair. When the put in the very successful light rail they have now, they reused part but not all of the subway tunnels. When they were working they opened a tunnel that had been bricked up since I think the '50s, and found there was an underground front entrance to the old JJ Newberry's department store, with all the 50's sale signs still hanging, and a rail snowplow rusted to the tracks!

 

[CHamilton]

Ride London’s abandoned underground “Mail Rail”

An underground railway that was formerly used to transport post across London is to be converted into a ride for members of the public.

The Post Office Underground Railway—AKA the Mail Rail—was the world's first driverless electric railway. It launched in 1927 and was used to transport tons of post from one side of London to another, with stops at large railway hubs such as Liverpool Street and Paddington Station, where post could be collected and offloaded for transportation around the rest of the country....

The idea is to create special battery-powered passenger carriages to take people from the car depot and some of the tunnels in a one-kilometer loop. Visitors will be taken 70-feet underground, through Mount Pleasant Station, and will stop to view audiovisual displays recounting the history of the network and what it was like to work down there.

In addition to seeing impressive feats of industrial age engineering such as thick metal flood doors, visitors will be able to see snippets of history spanning a century....

The railways have a 61cm gauge (the width of the track), on top of which small carriages traveled without drivers thanks to electric live rails. In the stations there are two tracks, with carriages going in each direction.

The service continued to operate until 2003, when it was closed down—it had become much cheaper to transport mail by road.

Since then, the trains and the tunnels have remained in place, but the goal is to turn a portion of the network into this public ride as part of plans to build a new National Postal Museum, which have just been approved by Islington Council....

Some of the most wonderful items in the collection include sick notes for horses (in Victorian times, Post Office animals had to be signed off sick) and employment records for cats, which were brought in to ward off mice.

There are also a couple of cars from the pneumatic railway—a Hyperloop-esque post transmission system that was powered by pneumatic air pressure—and a five-wheeled Victorian bicycle called a pentacycle that was another experiment that never took off.

"It goes to show how bureaucratic the Post Office was in late Victorian times. They needed cats to handle the mice problem, and they ended up 'hiring' them and giving them employee numbers. The cats were given a salary and pensioned off when they retired," Huskisson explains. The last active cat employee came out of service in the 1970s; "Tibbs the Great" (see gallery) served for 15 years.