New Portage (NP): (Bridge Hunter; Satellite: West & East Portals)
I'm supposed to document railroad towers in the other blog, but I'm putting UN Tower here because the post contains a lot of information about the original Allegheny Tunnel.
At 3,612', the first bore, which was opened in 1854, was the longest tunnel in America.
This is a view of the west portals. The tunnel on the right (south side) is the Allegheny Tunnel, and it was the 1854 bore and it accommodated two tracks when it was built. The tunnel on the left is the Gallitzin Tunnel, and it was opened in 1904. When the Gallitzin Tunnel was built, the Allegheny Tunnel was converted to just one track so that trains could traverse it at higher speeds. This 1993 photo was taken two years before the Allegheny Tunnel was enlarged and the Gallitzin Tunnel was closed.
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| Photo by Sean Lamb, 1993, via BridgeHunter-AG, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA) "Conrail 6169 exiting Gallitzin Tunnel in 1993." |
I'm supposed to document railroad towers in the other blog, but I'm putting UN Tower here because the post contains a lot of information about the original Allegheny Tunnel.
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| Darren Reynolds posted PRRs " UN" tower.. Gallitzen,Pennsylvania 1891 Gilbert Porter: Is that a double or single track portal? |
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| Dan Davidson answered Gilbert's question When initially opened in 1854 the plan was for a double track but work was required to stabilize the roof and a sinking road bed caused by coal veins. It was a single track until this was complete and by 1855 it was double tracked until 1904. When the second tunnel was complete it was then reduced to a single track as trains were getting bigger with clearances being compromised. The new tunnel brought relief but it too was without construction issues. |
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| Dan Davidson answered Gilbert's question |
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| AltoonaWorks added This c.1902-1904 view shows the Gallitzin Tunnel project underway with SF tower on the left. Allegheny Tunnel came first and is two tracks. The Gallitzin Tunnel was completed in 1904 and was a single track tunnel primarily for westbound trains. It was closed in 1995 when the Allegheny Tunnel was enlarged for doublestack trains. PRR 1699 in the photo is a few years old H6 class 2-8-0 built at the Juniata Shops. Darren Reynolds shared |
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| Christian Axsiom posted Gallitzin Tunnels, Gallitzin, PA, looking east. October 4, 2021. These are just west of Horseshoe Curve on today's Norfolk Southern. Built, of course, by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Clyde Hughes: Thanks for the great photo! What was the tunnel on the left? I can see that the wall was extended for the tunnel on the right. Trenton Dominy: Clyde Hughes that was the original Gallitzin tunnel and the Allegany tunnel the right tunnel was enlarged so double stacks could fit through it and a second track could be added the left tunnel was then abandoned and recently was closed up according to my brother there is an endangered species of bat that lives in the tunnel. |
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| Photo taken by Geoff Hubbs in May 1981 via BridgeHunter-AG, License: Released into public domain "east portals" [Note the red-eye single. See below concerning the fan ducts.] |
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| Photo taken by Geoff Hubbs in Jun 1979 via BridgeHunter-NP, License: Released into public domain [New Portage is the tunnel on the left.] |
RailPictures has another view of all three eastern portals.
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| Thomas C. Avers contribution Here is an image showing the western portal of the Pennsylvania Railroad's New Portage Tunnel in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, c. 1900. This bore was completed in 1856 for the New Allegheny Portage Railroad, later owned but little used by the PRR, and virtually abandoned for almost 50 years. Around 1903, however, it was renovated and double-tracked, and became the PRR's primary tunnel for eastbound traffic. The photographer's name and the exact date are not recorded. |
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| Woldwide Railfan Productions posted Amtrak Exits New Portage Tunnel Amtrak's Pennsylvanian exits the eastern portal of the New Portage Tunnel. This single track tunnel was constructed just south of the Gallitzin Tunnels for the New Portage Railroad. Location: Tunnelhill, PA By: Brandon Fiume Taken on: November 08, 2020 |
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| MP Rail Photography posted NS manifest 36A emerges from the New Portage Tunnel Tunnel as it heads eastbound on the NS Pittsburgh Line in Gallitzin PA. October 6, 2023 Gallitzin, PA Power: NS 8156 - ES44AC NS 6341 - SD40E Matt Hicks: New Portage Tunnel. Once double track and now single track. Brian Litzinger: Nice shot! On a technical note though the PRR did not originally construct it, but rather the state of Pennsylvania as part of the revisions to the mainline public works in removing incline planes. |
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| map at Horseshoe Curve park / RWH via HawkinsRails |
The above map taught me that the "OLD RAILROAD GRADE" near the bottom of this topo map was the Allegheny Portage Railroad.
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| 1963 Cresson Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
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| SpeedShot Train Photography posted [I've been passing up photos of the tunnels because this is a popular railfan spot, but this one teaches about track maintenance in a tunnel. Normally, they replace just the ties that are marked as bad. But I tie is replaced by shoving the old one to the side and shoving the new in from the side. There is not enough room for that in this tunnel.] Morley Daehn: What's with the panel track? Mike Benzie: Morley Daehn we laid panels through the tunnel on both tracks, and then came back and laid ribbon rail. There is not enough room to replace the ties in the tunnel so this is the only way to do it. You can't keep the panels because there are to many bonds that will break and lose the track circuit. StormySky Rail Productions: Mike Benzie How long did it take to replace all the track in the tunnel? Mike Benzie: StormySky Rail Productions 36 hours continuous per track. There was a couple months of prep work |
To better understand the three Pennsy tunnels, we need to understand Pennsylvania's state-owned Main Line of Public Works that was begun in 1826 and that followed portions of the Indian trail of Kittanning Path through the Allegheny Mountain. Philadelphia merchants and the iron industry in Southeast Pennsylvania lobbied the Pennsylvania legislature to build a state-owned transportation system to Pittsburgh so that they could access the Midwest markets. This was to allow Philadelphia to compete with other eastern ports that had canal or rail access to the Midwest. It was a "transportation system" because it was done with a combination of canals, inclines and railroads. "A short-line railroad, the Philadelphia and Columbia, formed the first leg of the Public Works. From Columbia a system of canals along the Susquehanna River extended to Hollidaysburg where the canal boats were loaded on the Allegheny Portage Railroad (APR), over the Allegheny Mountains to Johnstown, and then launched back into a canal for the last leg to Pittsburgh. The canal system consisted of sixty-four locks, sixteen aqueducts, sixty-four culverts and 152 bridges. The APR opened in 1834 and consisted of a series of inclined planes, level railroads and the first railroad tunnel in America (Burgess 1949:10-11; Fitzsimons 1990:101; Klein & Hoogenboom 1973:137; Tripician 1959:2-3)." It was successful enough that the inclines could not keep up with the traffic load. Furthermore, canals freeze, flood and dry up depending on the weather. In 1846 the legislature chartered the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. (PRR) to build a railroad between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. In Sep 1850 the PRR was completed from Harrisburg to the east end of the APR in Hollidaysburg and in Dec 1852 the line was completed from Pittsburgh to the west end of the APR in Johnstown. Construction began on the Allegheny Tunnel in Oct 1851, and it opened to rail traffic in Feb 1854. In the meantime, the APR started a new route in 1852 that would use a tunnel to eliminate the need for inclines. But the Pennsy moving their trains from the APR to their own route in 1854 greatly impacted the revenues of the APR. As their new route, the New Portage Railroad, was finished in Jul 1855, the legislature was under pressure to sell the Main Line. The PRR was the only bidder and got it for $7.5m in May 1857. The PRR used it as a source of rail to help build the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago and the New Portage Tunnel was abandoned. [HAER-Allegheny-data]
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| SpeedShot Train Photography posted Gallitzin Pennsylvania - A three unit hot intermodal exits the tunnel Westbound in Gallitzin on a dreary Fall day in October / October 16 2021 Roger Riblett shared |
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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. [And the train is westbound.] [Update: A comment on Spruce Creek Tunnel confirms this is Gallitzin: "Yeah, that photo by Robert Wanner is the "Pennsylvanian" headed westbound at the east end of the Allegheny and Gallitzin tunnels, not Spruce Creek."] |
"By 1870 the Northeast and Midwest had become saturated with railroad lines. Fierce competition led to many consolidations, allowing weaker lines to survive and stronger lines to tap new territories. From 1860 to 1900 business on the Pennsylvania Railroad system doubled approximately every ten years. [My bold] Branch lines were continually being built to serve coal, timber and industrial interests. In 1885 the PRR ranked as one of the most efficient railroads in the world. The PRR's total cost of operating expenses to move a ton of goods one mile was forty-one cents, less than one-half the cost in England, and the lowest of any railroad in the United States (Dorsey 1887:112; Tripician 1959:11)." To accommodate this traffic, at the beginning of the 20th Century, PRR expanded its main line across Pennsylvania to four tracks. As part of that effort they built the Gallitzin Tunnel to improve westbound traffic and reopened the New Portage Tunnel to handle eastbound traffic. The Gallitzin Tunnel did not increase the number of tracks because the Allegheny Tunnel was reduced from two tracks to one. But it did increase the speed limit of the tunnels. [HAER-Allegheny-data]
I quote this information about the fan ducts directly because some of the details don't make sense to me.
In 1941, a need arose to detour freight trains through the Allegheny Tunnel so that Gallitzin Tunnel could be closed for repair work (Leonard 1941). Due to the steep grade on the approach from the east, freight trains could not reach a speed sufficient to stay ahead of the smoke accumulation in the tunnel. Train engineers were sometimes overcome by the gases, losing consciousness on the trip through the tunnel. The Gallitzin Tunnel was equipped with a steam powered blower in 1905 after two track men were run down and killed in thick smoke. The Gallitzin system consisted of an immense 200 horsepower steam driven fan with a 50' long sheet iron nozzle attached to the east end of the tunnel. The fan was started when a train entered the tunnel and pushed 502,000 cubic feet of air into the tunnel per minute (c.f.m), propelling the smoke ahead of the train and providing the operators with fresh air (Engineering News 1899:65; Railway Age 1907:643; Railway Gazette 1906:246; Swenk 1941). The 1941 plan called for four new electric motor driven fans, two for each tunnel, each capable of 320,000 c.f.m. The fans were housed in masonry buildings with glass block windows. The system went into operation in 1945, was present in 11963 as evidenced by photographs, but has since been dismantled (Somerville 1946). [HAER-Allegheny-data]
As part of an effort to allow double-stack trains on the PRR main line, in 1995 Conrail finished enlarging the Allegheny Tunnel. Since that tunnel now accommodated two tracks, they closed the Gallitzin Tunnel. [Gallitzin] We can see the expanded bore in this HAER photo.
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| HAER PA,11-GALL,1- Elevation view of west portal, looking due east. Eastbound train entering tunnel. Westbound conrail locomotive emerging from tunnel. Allegheny tunnel at right; Gallitzin Tunnel (Haer no. PA-516) at left. - Pennsylvania Railroad, Allegheny Tunnel, Beneath Allegheny Mountain, east of Railroad Street, Gallitzin, Cambria County, PA Photos from Survey HAER PA-515 |
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| Construction Closeup via gallitzin An early view of the Allegheny Tunnel as 1993 the enlargement project began. Note the size of the inner, original tunnel; compared to the size of the new bore. This project took the life of one construction employee. |
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| I Love Trains posted photo courtesy of Scott Crotwell - A double header at the Gallitzin, PA tunnels on 08/02/2016. Randall Hampton shared |
The Allegheny Tunnel is the summit to which trains climbing the horseshoe curve are headed.
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| Satellite |
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| Ronald Portash posted The original Gallitzin Tunnels was set of two railroad tunnels. The first to be completed was the Summit in 1854, now known as the Allegheny Tunnel and is still in use today. It was then and still is a marvel of engineering with ashlar masonry portals and a brick arch lining typical of mid-19th century work. Begun in 1851, and when completed three years later, it was the longest railroad tunnel in America, at 3,612 feet in length. |
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| 1 of 3 photos posted by Rust Belt Railroading 22M passing through Allegheny Tunnel. They gave quite the horn show, too bad bad my iphone is a snowflake and can’t handle cold weather. |
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| Rust Belt Railroading posted Gallitzen Tunnel , built in 1904 and was in service until 1995. With its interior deteriorating and the tracks sinking into the ground and being over taken by a stream formed by leaking ground water, I fear this tunnel may not be around much longer. |
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| 1 of 2 photos posted by Rust Belt Railroading Mark Petrishen: I thought the abandoned side was sealed off. Is this tunnel possible all the way through? Rust Belt Railroading: Mark Petrishen the side in town is sealed, the other side in the game lands isn’t, I would walk too far into it, it’s collapsing pretty bad. |
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| Dennis DeBruler posted Note the telltales as well as the semaphores. (In my draft, it displayed the photo in the link. But not when I posted. So I now include it explicitly.) |
Dennis DeBruler posted six photos with the comment:
I remember someone asked for some interior shots. This is a Pennsy caboose preserved in Gallitzin, PA.40°28'55.3"N 78°33'04.6"WThe first photo was uploaded by Joe Sekowski, Sep 2019The second photo was uploaded by Shawn Bakaj, Aug 2020The remaining photos were uploaded by Dan Zunko, Jul 2021
(new window) I didn't watch much of it. I live near The Racetrack in Downers Grove, IL, and I'm used to freights rolling by at 45 mph. And I learned that I prefer a view from the ground rather than from overhead.
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