(For future reference: Spruce (SC) Tower and Spruce Creek Depot has tower photo)
A topo map confirms that the hill slants downwards from south to north.
The southern bore was built in the mid-1800s. The northern bore was 950' [290m] long, and it was completed in 1899. The second bore was enlarged in 1994 to accommodate container trains. The original bore was closed in 1994. So a collapse on the western end of the original bore in the Spring of 2010 did not impact traffic.
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| Christopher Capobianco posted In 2013, I took Amtrak from NY to Pittsburgh and back in late September. What a beautiful trip! Robert Mishlan: Nice picture of east portal Gallitzin Tunnels. Do not see this side too often. Gordon Bjoraker: Looks like Spruce Creek tunnels rather than Gallitzin. Spruce Creek is in a more remote area. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Robert's comment I agree with Gordon, this is Spruce Creek. Since this photo was taken from the rear of a westbound train, we are looking at a western portal. The active route is on the south side in Gallitzin, but the photo shows the active route on the north side. That is consistent with Spruce Creek, https://www.google.com/.../@40.6011049.../data=!3m1!1e3.... I found a Google Earth image, Sep 2010, that has good sunlight in the cut. |
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| Robert Wanner posted Amtrak "Pennsylvanian" eastbound on former Pennsylvania Railroad (then Conrail) at Spruce Creek, Pa. Tunnels. Two Coaches and a Dinette car make up the consist from the early 1980's. Still two tunnel bores at this location in Norfolk Southern days. Spruce Creek is east of Tyrone, Pa. Photo by Robert Wanner. Everyone telling me this is east end of the Galletzin Tunnels west of Altoona, Pa. Twin tunnels, just like Spruce Creek. |
This is the original eastern portal because it is next to the Little Juniata River and the river is north of the tracks.
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| getarchive LibraryCompany_P.9644.23 ArtsAndCulture, Creator: William T. Purviance nypl |
Because of the slant of the hill, this would also be the eastern portal.
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| LibraryCompany_P.9058.105 Creator: Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917, photographer. wikimedia |
A topo map confirms that the hill slants downwards from south to north.
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| 1923 Tyrone Quad @ 62,500 |
This view has a steam locomotive emerging from the tunnel.
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| LibraryCompany_P.9058.104 Creator: Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917, photographer. |
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| TheRailWire "Digging around for info on Spruce Creek I found this postcard of what I believe are the west portals. In Triumph IV, David Messer relates that the number of tracks through these tunnels kept changing. There was only one two track tunnel here in 1949 [probably 1849]. By 1900 a second bore had been completed. While both tunnels could accommodate double tracks, Messer states that the fourth track was never completed. This image dates from around 1915 and shows four tracks. Go figure. Apparently the track on the far right is temporary. Don't know for sure. After a cave-in in 1947 the westbound main was moved to the center of the tunnel. This three track arrangement lasted until the 1960's. By then there were only two, one in each tunnel. In the mid 1990's Conrail abandoned the eastbound tunnel altogether. The westbound bore was widened and double tracked. I won't even get into traffic flow. It's even more befuddling." [The fourth track was not installed between Alexandria and Tyrone [TrainOrders]. It was completed in this area.] |
The similarity of this image to the above implies that both postcards were a colorization of a real photo.
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| AltoonaWorks posted Spruce Creek Tunnels c. 1900. Dave Hopson: Went to three tracks after a flood. Ashley-Kirk Marshall: Are these tunnels still there? AltoonaWorks: Yes Ashley. The one on the left was enlarged in 1994 for double stacks and the one on the right caved in at the west end a couple years ago, but was unused since 1994. [If you look at the topo map or a satellite image, the tunnels are not parallel. That is what allows us to look down both bores from a single vantage point that is not infinitely far away from the portal.] |
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| AltoonaWorks added Back in 1983, both tunnels at Spruce Creek were in operation with one track each. At one time both tunnels were double tracked, but as equipment got larger they were reduced to one track. In the mid 1990s, the #2 tunnel (left) was enlarged to fit double-stacked containers and doubletracked. The #1 tunnel (right) was closed at that time. The #1 tunnel suffered a cave-in just inside the western portal 10 years ago this spring. [The cave-in would have been Spring of 2010.] Photo by Dick Bregler Dan Geedey: Back in the 80's, I worked Spruce tower which used to sit just west of the tunnels. Really cool to watch the trains going westbound come out of the tunnel. Also cool was watching the fishermen catch fish out of the creek right beside me! Kevin Sanders: My uncle was on track patrol in that area one time on a hi-rail and had track authority through TUNNEL interlocking, but somehow the dispatcher threw a switch while in the interlocking and derailed the pickup. There was a train lined for that track, but they got stopped in time. |
Craig Holden provided three photos as comments on the above post:
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| pintereest |
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| 2:01 video @ 1:34 It looks like the inside is raw rock. |
I normally don't watch railfan videos. But this one provides a rare view of the eastern portal. It also shows that NS does left-hand running here. At 3:33, a BNSF DPU enters the frame at the bottom. At 6:32, a train is running right-handed with six locomotives. Those locomotives include one each of BNSF, CSX and UP. How many locomotives can one use before you start pulling drawbars?
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| 8:29 video @ 2:43 |
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