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101
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Bridges
and Tunnels of the Montour
A Study By Bryan Seip
Tunnels
of the Montour |
The Montour
had 4 tunnels bored on its
main line - but only 3 were in existence at any 1 time. Tunnel #1 was
the 4th one bored, while Tunnel #2 was probably the 1st, in
1913.
Seven years later, #2 didn't exist except as a memory and a deep
cut. The 4 tunnels were known by 7 different names - and one
of
those had two spellings and then shared its name with another tunnel
that doesn't even belong to the Mighty M. Another with two
names
probably shouldn't have used either one and the name of the land-owner
where it was built was never mentioned. Three were curved and only one
was straight and one crested a hill in the middle of its bore, meaning
train crews had to transit under power in either direction - thus
running in smoke and exhaust fumes. (How long can you hold your
breath?? - Not long enough at 10 MPH or less.....) two were considered
wet and only one was dry. The shortest was 235 feet and the longest
623. - Bryan
Seip
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Jeffreytown |
Jeffreytown
Jeffreytown tunnel has 2 names. RR
aficionados refer to it as Jeffreytown, while the Trail community calls
it Enlow. As Bob Ciminel suggests, maybe neither is
correct, as the tunnel was bored on the granted property of Robert
McMin.
Bob calls it Montour Tunnel #1 as a reference, as it is the first
tunnel heading east from Montour Junction.
However, it was the 4th tunnel bored on the Montour main line.
Three
were bored during construction of the Mifflin Extension in 1913-14 and
this one was constructed as part of the realignment project from Cliff
Mine to Imperial in 1926.
The tunnel eliminated almost a
half-mile loop of main line that followed Montour Run around the rocky
hillside and also eliminated Milepost 9, which was included on that
track segment. Thus, MP 8 & MP 10 are only about a
mile &
a half distant. This tunnel was the only straight bore on the
Montour. The other 3 were all curved. It also has had
interior
lighting installed by the Trail Council to make it an easier transit
for Trail users. At 575 feet, it was dark, and exhaust fumes
& smoke were a challenge to train crews. (National Tunnel also
received interior lighting this summer, while Peacock Tunnel was
daylighted by 1920 and Greers Tunnel is much shorter, so does not need
lighting.)
Bob Ciminel:
I'll
call it Montour Tunnel No. 1 for starters, but the first tunnel on the
Montour has so many different names it confuses a lot of
folks. Let's start from the beginning before the Montour even
existed. Plates 27 & 28 of the Warranty Atlas of Allegheny
County, which shows the original owners of land grants in the county,
show the spit of land where the tunnel is located as being owned by
Samuel Jefferey. This would be on the original alignment of
the right of way before the tunnel was built in 1924. The
land where the tunnel actually went through the ridge was owned by
Robert McMin. You can see that on the attached map.
Samuel Jeffery's deed goes back to 1785, while Robert McMin's was
recorded in 1784. So, that would give precedent to calling it
McMin Tunnel.
If we move ahead to 1906, the Carnegie Quadrangle of the USGS
topographic map shows the area around the tunnel labeled
"McMinn." There's no mention of the Jefferys or any place
called "Jefferytown." The community of Enlow doesn't exist either.
Montour Railroad public timetable No. 16, which went into affect on
April 25, 1915, lists the station as "Jeffreytown." It's also
listed that way on passenger tickets. The 1940 Montour Railroad
employee timetable does not list the tunnel; however, the 1962 Montour
track chart identifies the tunnel as "Jeffrytown," without the second
"e" in the name.
Gene's book refers to the tunnel as "Jeffrey Town" in the
chapter titled "Montour Junction to Imperial Realignment" on Page
66. The "Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County" website
says the "official" name of the tunnel is either "Enlow" or "Jeffrey
Town."
So here's my argument: The name "Jeffery" is only mentioned in the
Warranty Atlas and is never seen again on any official
documents. The "McMins" actually owned the land the tunnel
was bored under. The names "McMin" and "Jefferey" have been
spelled "Jeffrey" and "McMinn" over the years. The Montour
railroad timetables and track chart list the station at the west end of
the tunnel as "Jeffreytown" and the east end is called
"Enlow." The timetables list stations from west to east, in
the direction of train superiority. So I will refer to it as
the "Jeffreytown Tunnel" until someone can provide solid evidence to
the contrary.
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Peacock |
Peacock
Very little hard information can be found about Peacock Tunnel - bored
through a hillside between Primrose and Southview during the 1913
Mifflin Extension project - east of MP 21. It was probably the first
tunnel built on the Montour. Like the others at that time, it was built
with a timber & wood lining. However, this hill was very wet
and
the ground was unstable and water and rocks falling inside the tunnel
hampered train operations almost from the very beginning. As the way to
rectify these problems, it was decided to daylight the tunnel and make
it a deep, but open, cut. The tunnel does not appear on the 1920 track
charts, so daylighting took place before that date.
Tim Sposato
has said that he heard comments from some of the "old hands" on the
track gangs that indicated the tunnel was only in existence for about 5
years - which would put the daylighting about 1918-1919. But
again, no
hard evidence and even the "old hands" would have had more than 55
years between the end of the tunnel and Tim's employment, so many of
the comments about the tunnel may have been passed down a generation or
two. Tim tells us Jim Lane talked about seeing timbers sitting on the
side of the cut when he started working on Montour train crews in 1936.
This
hillside still has water and rockfall problems. You may have
seen a
story in the latest Montour Trail newsletter about trail crews recently
working in Peacock Cut cleaning dirt, debris and rocks out of the
drainage ditches. Occasionally rocks will still fall off the
sides of
the cut and end up on the trail surface. Walking the cut &
checking
out the terrain & maps, it looks like the tunnel could have
been in
the 600 foot range, with a curve in its bore. It is hard to tell what
distance the right-of-way might have been cut into the hillside before
the portals were installed (similar to those at National Tunnel) and as
there is no indication where the portals were actually located, this is
an educated guess.
Peacock is the only Montour tunnel with only
one name - perhaps due to the short time it was in existence - but I
bet those early train crews and track gangs had a few other interesting
names they called this tunnel. - Bryan
Seip |
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National |
National
This
tunnel was known by three different names. Most railroad features are
named for a nearby landmark or land owner where a structure is built.
This tunnel was called National - for the nearby National Coal Company
mines that the Montour Railroad serviced. It was also known as Bishop -
for the near-by community of that name, and as McConnell - for the farm
land on which it was bored.
This was the longest of the Montour
tunnels, at 632 feet. The railroad grade was uphill from
either
direction into the tunnel and it crested the top of the hill inside the
tunnel. Thus, with a train stretched out behind them, the
train
crews had to keep full power as they transited the tunnel,
engulfed in smoke or exhaust from the locomotives. By the time half
their train's weight was over the crest and they could throttle back,
the engines would usually be outside the tunnel
portal.
Known
as a wet tunnel, water dripping from the ceiling still presents a
problem, as winter freezes create an impressive crop of icicles and ice
mounds inside the tunnel. Safety and visibility for Trail patrons was
addressed by two projects in recent years. The floor was
paved
with asphalt in 2008 and interior lighting was added in 2012. - - Bryan Seip |
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Greer |
Greer
The
fourth tunnel on the Montour Railroad was Greer Tunnel. The shortest of
the Montour tunnels at 235 feet, it goes through the sharp ridge-line
above Chartiers Creek on the Peters Township side of the creek. An
earlier tunnel was bored through the same ridge in the late 1800's, at
a lower level, to carry the PCC&StL (ex-PRR/Penn
Central/Conrail/now-Pittsburgh & Ohio Central) on its
Washington
Branch. As the land around this tunnel site was owned by the
Bell
families, it was called Bells Tunnel.
When the Mifflin Extension
was built in 1913-14, the Montour bored their tunnel at a higher
elevation to be able to cross over the PRR line on the east side of the
ridge. It is the only tunnel on the Montour to have bridges outside
both portals, with the spectacular view of Chartiers Creek on the west
and the through-truss over an active railroad outside the east. A
nearby land owner named Greer was used to indicate the newer tunnel.
Some
confusion over the names of the two tunnels remains, with some topo
maps mis-labeling the earlier tunnel as Greer and the later tunnel as
Montour Tunnel. Timetables from the PRR show their tunnel as
"Bells" - but the current operators of the line - Pittsburgh &
Ohio
Central's Arden Branch - call this tunnel "Greer", perpetuating the
confusion. Thus, while some other tunnels on the Montour were known by
two or three separate names, Greer Tunnel had its name at two different
locations.
The last railroad operations over this section of the
Montour were at the end of 1980. Rails were pulled up and the
line abandoned within a few years. Greer Tunnel and the
bridges
were closed and lay dormant until the Montour Trail Council re-built
and opened this section of trail in 2008, eliminating an important
"missing link" to the Arrowhead Trail in Peters Township.
Bryan Seip |
Bridges
of the Montour |
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Engine House |
Car Yard |
Groveton |
Shop Loop |
MP 2-3
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MP 3.8
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MP 4.0
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MP 4.2
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MP 4.8 |
MP 5.0 |
MP 5.2 |
Nelson
Industries |
MP 6.7
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MP 7.1 |
MP 8.2 |
MP 8.3 |
MP 8.4
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MP 8.5
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MP 9.8 |
MP 9.9
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MP 10.1
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MP 10.4 |
MP 10.5 |
MP 10.7 |
MP 10.8
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MP 11.8 |
MP 15.5 |
MP 15.6 |
MP 16.0 |
MP 16.4
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MP 17.2 |
MP
17.6 |
MP 19.5
McDonald Viaduct |
MP 19.5
McDonald Txfr
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MP 21.0
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MP 22.7
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MP 22.8
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MP 23.1
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MP 23.4
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MP 23.7
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MP 24.0 |
MP 24.5 |
MP 25.3 |
MP 26.2 |
MP 27.3 |
MP 27.5 |
MP 28.0 |
MP 29.1 |
MP 29.2 |
MP 29.5 |
MP 30.1 |
MP 30.6 |
MP 30.8 |
MP 31.5 |
MP 31.7 |
MP 32.3
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MP 32.4
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Pittsburgh
Railways
Interurban Bridge |
Pittsburgh
Railways
Thompsonville Bridge
Part 2 |
MP 32.6 |
MP 33.1 |
MP 34.1 |
MP 34.7 |
MP34.8 |
MP 35.7 |
Library Viaduct |
MP 36.5
Memories |
MP 38.1
Memories
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MP 38.8 |
MP 39.2
Logan
Tunnel Vandalizsm |
MP 40.7 |
MP 41.2 |
MP 41.3
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MP
41.4 |
MP 42.0 |
MP 42.1 |
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WESTLAND
BRANCH
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Westland 2.7
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Westland 2.9
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Muse Branch 0.6
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LIBRARY BRANCH |
MP 2.0 |
MP 2.9 |
MP3.0 |
MP 3.1 |
MP 3.7 |
MP 4.0 |
MP 4.3 |
MP
4.5 |
MP
5.2 |
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