1930,1990 Guilford Avenue Bridge over I-83 & Northeast Corridor and 1873+1934 Union Tunnel

Bridge: (Archived Bridge Hunter; no Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Tunnel West Portal: (Satellite)

Tunnel East Portal: (Satellite)

Union Tunnel is a little east of Guilford Ave. Bridge.

The main span is over Pennsy's Northeast Corridor. It is 174' (41m) long, and the bridge is 321' (98m) long. [ArchivedBridgeHunter]

I learned of this bridge while researching Pennsy's B&P Junction Tower that is a little west of this bridge. I was going to skip another steel arch bridge until I noticed the 1930 date. It looks like a tied-arch bridge, but I have not been able to confirm that. I thought tied-arch bridges were a post WWII development. But this bridge indicates that they were used a few decades earlier.

Guilford Avenue Bridge

Street View, Oct 2023

Street View, Sep 2015

Street View, Nov 2020

Amtrak/Pennsy Union Tunnel

I Googled "Hoffman Tunnel" because it runs under Hoffman Street. The results indicated  thatthe correct name is Union Tunnel. I presume that is because the Penn Station was sometimes called Union Station.

I could not get a street view of the tunnel from the bridge because there is a solid wall on the outside of the bridge blocking the view. This view is from I-83.

Street View, Oct 2023

"The Union Tunnel is about 0.6 miles [1 km] long." [maryland]

"The tunnel consists of two parallel bores: the original bore from 1873 has a single track, while a newer bore from 1934 has two tracks." [wikipedia]

By Unknown engraver - Richardson, James. "Traveling by Telegraph, Northward to Niagara." Scribner’s Monthly, Vol. IV, No. 1, p. 4. (https://archive.org/stream/scribnersmonthly04newy#page/n10/mode/1up), Public Domain, Link

This is a 11:02 railfan video of trains going in and out of the west portal.

1910-82+2019 Trail/Pennsy Bridge over Big Walnut Creek at Sunbury, OH

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Brian Jules posted seven photos with the comment: "Sunbury, Ohio with the repurposed railroad trestle of the Ohio and Erie trail. This railroad  trestle collapsed in 1886 and again in 1910! Finally made right with an iron span in 1910. Trestle spans Big Walnut Creek, location of a Berea sandstone quarry just to the north. Info referenced from The Berea Sandstone Quarries of Ohio, Ralph Pfingsten. Historical photos Big Walnut Creek Historical Society."

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BridgeHunter

David Case, Nov 2023

Pennsy built the bridge.

1955/56 Sunbury Quad @ 24,000

"The Ohio to Erie Trail is a dedicated multi-use trail crossing Ohio from southwest to northeast, stretching over 326 miles of regional parks, nature preserves, and rural woodland. With the completion of this new Sunbury Trail section, the trail is roughly 85% complete. The trail, named after its endpoints, extends from the Ohio River at Cincinnati to Lake Erie at Cleveland, integrating former rail trails and multi-use trails into a dedicated route​​." [1808delaware]

1893 Aban/Pennsy Duck Creek Bridge

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Mike Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)
Revenue abandonment
The railroad bridge at Caywood Road, Washington County, Ohio. In 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with long time rival New York Central forming the Penn Central Railroad Company. The merger went bankrupt and in 1976 Penn Central, along with several other struggling railroads, was purchased by the Consolidated Rail Corporation, in hopes to transform the troubled railroad system into a profitable business. The merger created an ever lasting impact to our area when thousands of miles of track was abandoned, including the Marietta Branch, due to what was considered low revenue. After the last train crossed this bridge on its way to Dover Ohio, in May 1976, just about every mile of the entire line was abandoned.

2021 Photo by Mike Tewkesbury via BridgeHunter

Facebook Reel

1872 Aban/(Pennsy+P&S) 754' (230m) Tunnel and Bridges at Brookville, PA

West Portal: (Satellite)

East Portal: (Satellite)

P&S = Pittsburgh & Shawmut

Facebook Reel

In the above video, Linda says that this bridge is over the Redbank Creek. But since the bridge is straight, I think she is headed to the eastern portal and the bridge is over Sandy Lick Creek. The bridge on the west side is curved and is over Redbank Creek.

Satellite

The Pennsy route east of town is now operated by the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad. And the Pittsburg & Shawmut roundhouse is now used by Brookville Equipment Corp. The abandoned railroad west of the tunnel is now the Redbank Valley Trail.

1924/1957 Brookville Quad @ 62,500

Robert Hartloff posted five images with the comment: "I see a lot of pictures of the famous bridge in Brookville, Pa but never of the Pennsylvania RR tunnel. It appears it was built for 2 tracks. May have been originally Lake Shore and Michigan Southern? My pictures. 10-20-22"

Shane Rosencrance: That's the PRR low grade, nee Allegheny Valley Railroad, the NYC swung across the Coder Viaduct and met the Low Grade at Rose just outside of Brookville. Trackage rights were then shared until reaching the central PA coal fields.

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It is closed because of "structural issues."

BridgesOfTheUSA, this webpage has many photos of the tunnel.

Pennsy Bow Ridge Tunnels near Conemaugh Dam, PA

1864 West Portal: (Satellite)

The east portal is normally inundated by the Conemaugh Dam Reservoir.

1907 West Portal: (Satellite)

1907 East Portal: (Satellite)

Both tunnels now have concrete plugs. The 1907 east portal is inundated only when the dam is above normal pool level.

The 1864 tunnel was signal tracked. When Pennsy added a second track, they also relocated the track to higher ground to remove some of the curvature of the track.

The 1864 alignment:

1900/58 Latrobe Quad @ 62,500

The 1907 alignment is the OLD RAILROAD GRADE on this map. This map also shows how the 1952 alignment was built even further up the hills to avoid being inundated by the Conemaugh Dam Reservoir. Also, it shows that the tunnels are named after the peninsula that they bored through.

1964/66 Blairsville Quad @ 24,000

I've seen photos of two different portals, but I've also seen the same portal identified as 1864 and 1907. So beware, some sources are wrong. I'm using these two photos that have a sign and a portal to definitively document that the partially gated portal is 1864 while the fully gated tunnel is 1907.

Jftravels, Jun 2025

Note also that the 1907 portal is double tracked.

joe billy, Oct 2025

A readable version of the 1907 sign.

Jftravels, Jun 2025

Linda has other views that show that the pile we see in the tunnel goes all the way up to the ceiling. She says that her previous video is of the 1907 tunnel. Unfortunately, I have not been able to figure out how to access previous or subsequent Facebook Reels.

Facebook Reel

These two HAER photos must have been taken before the large gate was installed in the west portal of the 1907 tunnel.

"DESCRIPTION: The second of two tunnels cutting through Bow: Bend of the Conemaugh River, the Bow Ridge Tunnel measures approximately 630* in length, cut through the predominantly shale ridge. The west portal is 30' in height, 42' in width, and has a single span semicircular arch opening." [HAER_data]

HAER PA,65-NEWAL.V,1-
1. GENERAL VIEW OF WEST PORTAL OF TUNNEL, SHOWING KEYSTONE AND PLAQUE ABOVE ARCH - Pennsylvania Railroad, Bow Ridge Tunnel, Through Bow Ridge, 0.3 mile South of Conemaugh Dam, New Alexandria, Westmoreland County, PA Photos from Survey HAER PA-269

HAER PA,65-NEWAL.V,1-
2. GENERAL VIEW OF EAST PORTAL OF TUNNEL

I presume this is the eastern portal of the 1864 tunnel that was taken when the dam's reservoir was low.

Malinda Dunmire, Aug 2025

There used to be a canal tunnel between the two Pennsy tunnels.

Jftravels, Dec 2023

1913-1984 3,350' (1,021m) Allegheny River Trail/Pennsy Tunnel in Kennerdell, PA

(Satellite, the map pin is not positioned accurately. The trail marking is accurate.)

Harmony, Dec 2024

The tunnel has a curve, so the above photo was taken after they travelled past the curve.

Facebook Reel
The tunnel opened in 1913, and it was abandoned in 1984. It is 3,350' (1,021m) long.

1963/65 Kennerdell Quad @ 24,000

I started with an older map, but the tunnel wasn't built until 1913.

1911/44 Franklin Quad @ 62,500

I included the scale in this image because the above video says it eliminated 14 miles of travel. It looks like about a couple of miles to me.

Satellite

1882-1960s Pennsy Tuttletown Bridge over Allegheny River that was engulfed by Kinzua Dam

(Satellite, see Images "w" and "ac" below.)

30 of the 55 images posted by Bob Schmid with the comment:

The "Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge", that was also years ago referred to as the "Tuttletown Bridge" that carried the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks over the Allegheny River.

Construction was completed for this 4 span steel Railroad Bridge over the Allegheny River, back in March of 1882.  This 4 span RR bridge  was 600 feet long, with each of the 4 spans measuring 150 feet in length.

   Due to a big Railroad Train Wreck on the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, that is also known as the "Tuttletown Bridge", over the Allegheny River, that occurred on Tuesday, March 10, 1908, which is when the 4th(and last RR bridge span that was located on the eastern side of the Allegheny River) was smashed and crumbled into the river along with the RR tracks from this last span. This is the reason when you do see photographs of this RR bridge, it only has 3 spans on it.  "Tuttletown Bridge” was at one time located in the tiny community named Tuttletown, Pa., a slight distance from the community named “Big Bend”, which is where the sharp curve in the Allegheny River was at.

 Back in March of 1882, when this RR bridge was completed, the railroad line that was in service using this railroad bridge, was the "Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western" from Warren, Pa. to Salamanca, NY.  It later became the Pennsylvania Railroad that was in use, till it ended its Final Run on October 22, 1960. At that point, is when this railroad tracks & this particular railroad bridge, were then used in conjunction of the construction of the Kinzua Dam Project, used in hauling in landfill, gravel, machinery, equipment, supplies & materials to the Dam Site. This old Railroad bridge that spanned the Allegheny River for all of those years, was torn down in March of 1966, after the construction of the Kinzua Dam was completed.

[The images also included a lot of newspaper clippings that I did not copy. You can click the "posted" link to access them.]

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[I see gusset plates in this photo. Most bridges in 1882 would still be pin connected.]

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By overlaying the 1966 map over the 1941 map with about 40% transparency, we can see the black line of the Pennsy bridge & tracks and the light blue extent of the Kinzua Lake.

1941/41 Kinzua @ 62,500 overlaid by 40% transparent 1966/68 Cornplanter Bridge @ 24,000