East Portal: (Satellite)
West End Tower is on the west side of this tunnel, and Tunnelton, WV, is on the east end.
The original bore broke through in 1852. Additional construction in the 1850's widened the tunnel and added an arch to stop cave-ins. And a second track was added to the tunnel. Soon after the Civil War, it went back to a single-track tunnel because of the increased size of rolling stock. In 1912, the B&O finished a second tunnel that was double tracked. The original tunnel was closed and sealed in 1962. [WVencyclopedia and HAER_data]
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| HAER WVA,39-TUN.V,1--1 1. Photocopied 1974, The Book of the Great Railway Celebrations of 1857, William Prescott Smith, New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1857 DRAWING SHOWING THE EASTERN END OF THE KINGWOOD TUNNEL. - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Kingwood Tunnel, Tunnelton, Preston County, WV |
"Significance: The Kingwood tunnel was the major tunnel on the B & O mainline between Baltimore and Wheeling. Its construction involved the invention of new tunneling techniques and the use of prefabricated iron arch segments. It was the longest tunnel in America in 1852."
Three shafts were used so that tunneling could be done on eight faces. "Holes were drilled by hand in the face and filled with
charges of black powder. Ignition of the "shot" by a fuse was a hazardous business and the source of numerous accidents. At 4,137 feet, the
Kingwood Tunnel was the longest in the country when completed (it was
soon surpassed by the Blue Ridge Tunnel [Blue Ridge Railroad, later C&O
Railway], 1850-1858, 4,262 feet; and the Bergen Tunnel [Erie Railway],
1856-1861, 4,300 feet). After the Civil War, these methods were supplanted by the invention of the power drill (first steam, then pneumatic), nitroglycerine, and dynamite blasting with electric detonation.
In all, Lemon, Gorman, and Company removed 90,000 cubic yards of material
from the bore and an additional 110,000 from the deep-cut approaches." The rock on the eastern end was incompetent. Even with heavy-timer centering, there were cave-ins....Latrobe's engineers—probably Bollman—developed a prefabricated arch which could be moved into place and installed
in a very short time. This cast-iron arch was formed in two quadrants
and rested on masonry side-walls; it was bolted together at the crown.
Each piece was 3/4 inch thick and 3 feet wide, with two lateral ribs
6 inches deep. By means of "an ingeniously contrived hoisting car,"
two of these quadrants could be moved into place and erected in 5 to 10
minutes. To prolong the life of the iron, it was then coated with
pitch and paint (probably pitch on the top and paint on the underside).
Once installed, wooden braces were placed on top of this arch to support
the tunnel roof while masons laid a second arch of sandstone between the
two. The remaining space, if "any, was filled with rubble. This second
arch of sandstone insured the permanence of the structure against the
eventual deterioration of the iron." [HAER_data]
A view of both western portals. The train was eastbound and we are looking at the DPUs going into the tunnel.
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| 1 of 5 photos posted by Greg Ropp West End, WV - 1998 CSX GP40-2 leading Q316 past WS tower and into Kingwood Tunnel on the Mountain Sub with a pair of then new SD70MACs on the rear. Randall Hampton shared Dave Kneisley: good old mtn. sub. |
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| 1960 Newburg Quad @ 24,000 |
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| HAER WVA,39-TUN.V,1--2 2. VIEW OF EAST PORTAL, ORIGINAL BORE AT UPPER RIGHT. |
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| HAER WVA,39-TUN.V,1--3 3. LOOKING WEST. APPROACH CUTS SHOWING DIFFERENCE IN GRADE OF EARLY (RIGHT) AND LATER LEVELS. |
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| HAER WVA,39-TUN.V,1--4 4. WEST PORTAL. ORIGINAL MASONRY PARTLY REVEALED |
This article is about the West End operations back in 1956, that is why the original tunnel is on the track diagram.
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