Top Mill, North Portal: (
Satellite)
WB&T = Wheeling Bridge & Terminal Railway [ArchivedBridgeHunter_bridge]
The bridge that was the namesake for the WB&T was probably the one over the Ohio River, not this one.
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| 1956/58 Wheeling Quad @ 24,000 |
The 1994 topo map shows that the route was abandoned, but the Ohio River Bridge was still standing.
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| 1994/98 Wheeling quad @ 24,000 |
But a 1994 satellite image shows the Ohio River Bridge is gone. I've noticed a trend that topo maps are quicker to add new things than to remove old things.
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| Google Earth, Mar 1994 |
Dave Kuntz Drone Photos
posted photos with the comment: "The ground around the Mount Wood Tunnel in Wheeling WV is also being raised, hence you can look down on it from the landfill that will someday bury it."
[I presume this is the north portal because I can't imagine them building a landfill on McColloch Street. It appears they are filling the valley between Top Hill and Mount Wood with trash. Even though there was a ceiling collapse in the middle of this tunnel, people were talking about the WB&T becoming the Wheeling Heritage Trail. If they are covering the tunnel portal with trash, I presume they gave up on the trail.]
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The south portal of the Mount Wood Tunnel connects with the north end of the bridge.
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| 2009 photo by Joshua Collins via BridgeHunter_mount_wood_south_portal |
The south portal is in the trees on the left.
Dave Kuntz Drone Photos
posted five photos with the comment: "Look carefully - there is a tunnel at the edge of this bridge. This structure in Wheeling WV goes straight into the Mount Wood tunnel in the left of the second photo but is so overgrown it can barely be seen."
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For the Mount Wood Tunnel, BridgeHunter_north_portal specifies a length of 537' (164m), but BridgeHunter_south_portal specifies 1203' (367m). I included the scale in this map excerpt that has all four tunnel portals labelled. The 1203' length looks more correct. Actually, 537' is probably the length of the Top Mill Tunnel.
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Photo via Bridge & Tunnels and BridgeHunter_mount_wood_north_portal
B&T specifies lengths of 1,226' and 587' with a reference to a plaque. |
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