ATVOBSESSION

GG, heres the train tunnel i was telling about. Its 6145 ft long. The date on the entrances says 1892.







I hope this works.

Cool - where's the tunnel located?

If you want to inline the photos in your message, when you are at Photobucket, choose the "IMG Code" and it will copy the code to do that. Just paste it in the message.

Anyone else around here ridden thru abandoned "Tunnel 0" along the railroad between Clipper Gap and Applegate?



Driven in 1873 as part of the line change to eliminate Deep Gulch trestle. This tunnel is East of Clipper Gap, abandoned in 1942 because WWII landing craft on flatcars were too wide to fit through. It is horse-shoe shaped, lined with granite from the Rocklin quarries.

That's definitely a cool looking tunnel, mtrider! Please don't forget your video camera the next time you're out there.

Hey Dave, good to see you. I was just telling Trainman over here that I bet you knew of where all the old spur lines were in these parts. I was also telling him why I'm now scared to death of tunnels...

GPS coordinates please?

Thanks!

hemingway, tunnel is located in Montana. It is between Boulder,MT and Wicks,MT. It was part of the Milwaukee Line. The locals that work at the old Montana Tunnels gold mines use it as a short cut to get work during the summer months. In the winter ice builds up and blocks the south entrance until the middle of June or later.

You guys got me looking at the trail tunnel videos on youtube. Check this one out below. That train tunnel in applegate is cool. I have ridden my mountain bike through it before.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=6

Cool video - thanks!

For those that don't know, the place where the train was stuck is just east of where SR 20 meets I-80. After you pass the exit for 20 going east, up on the hill above the freeway is the spot. The track is gone from there, you can drive on it for a fair ways. It's the original Central Pacific alignment, which follows the contour of the mountain, while the later (and present) track goes in and out of several tunnels.

ATV'er wrote:You guys got me looking at the trail tunnel videos on youtube. Check this one out below.

That's cool! Our housing association's magazine had a story on that about a year ago. Who knew someone had newsreel footage. Awesome!

avejoe wrote:GPS coordinates please?

Thanks!

Approximately

38 58.939
120 59.597

The west end is hard to see unless you know where it's at. The east end is more visible. However, it's between the eastbound and westbound tracks. Be aware that west of the Applegate crossover (all the way to Rocklin), the trains run "wrong way" - they are going the opposite direction than you'd expect. Be very careful when crossing the tracks. (e.g. look *both* ways!)

That's a very cool video ATV'er. There is another video on that page,
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=6
that shows a train exiting tunnel #8 on Donner Pass. GG this should look very familiar to you. Especially the light coming out of the tunnel. Also, GG if you look very close, after the train exits, you will see a small bridge with a TRAIL under it. Seems like a good place to start next spring.

oops, I got the same link as above, Sorry about that. You have to play the video, and then look at the next link for the Donner Pass tunnel #8. Sorry, the link didn't change when I moved over to the next one.

trainman wrote:GG this should look very familiar to you. Especially the light coming out of the tunnel. Also, GG if you look very close, after the train exits, you will see a small bridge with a TRAIL under it. Seems like a good place to start next spring.

It does look familiar Trainman, and it looks SCARY.

The tunnel in that video would seem like an even worse one to get caught in as it seems narrower and the tracks don't appear to be up on a rock bed. At least in the Cuesta tunnel, the tracks were up a bit so we were able to lie with our butts maybe just below the level of the tracks. I imagine that is what saved us from whatever was scraping against the tunnel walls.

Yeah, I'll have to do some train-related exploring next spring. Might even be able to sucker Hemingray into going along.

Here is the direct link to that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmWGxJccx1I

Not that you'll ever do it again, but the semi-official method for protecting yourself in a tunnel with a train is to lie down on the floor of the tunnel, against the wall - with your feet towards where the train is coming. It's pretty scary, but it's unlikely you'll be struck by anything. As I think you found out, though, it's pretty yucky down there!

If your ATV's in the tunnel too - make sure the train passes you first before encountering the ATV!

[I'd never ride my ATV in a tunnel -- way dangerous...]

mtrider wrote:hemingway, tunnel is located in Montana. It is between Boulder,MT and Wicks,MT. It was part of the Milwaukee Line. The locals that work at the old Montana Tunnels gold mines use it as a short cut to get work during the summer months. In the winter ice builds up and blocks the south entrance until the middle of June or later.

Cool. I fixed your post to show the pictures. Click EDIT if you want to see how to do it. You'll see the IMG codes around your pictures.