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ST - Hoosac Tunnel
Photos
East Portal - Flordia, MA
Photo by Katie from New England Oddities - 5/24/08
View this photo at newenglandoddities.com
BH Photo #181251
Description
The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a 4.75-mile-long (7.64 km) railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts which passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. Work began in 1848 and was finally completed in 1875. At the time of completion, it was the second longest tunnel in the world (after the 8.5-mile-long (13.7 km) Mont Cenis Tunnel through the French Alps). It was the longest tunnel in North America until the completion of the Moffat Tunnel in 1928, and remains the longest active transportation tunnel east of the Rocky Mountains. Electric locomotives were used from 1910 to 1946 to reduce smoke problems. The tunnel's east portal is along the Deerfield River in Florida, Massachusetts (424031N 725953W / 42.675163N 72.997938W / 42.675163; -72.997938). The tunnel runs in a straight line to its west portal in North Adams, Massachusetts (424032N 730529W / 42.675447N 73.091376W / 42.675447; -73.091376.Facts
- Overview
- Tunnel under Hoosac Mountains on Pan Am Railways
- Location
- Flordia, Berkshire County, Massachusetts
- Status
- Open with daily traffic
- History
- Longest tunnel built at its time, 194 killed during construction, most important piece of railroad history.
- Builder
- - Benjamin Henry Latrobe II of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Railroads
- - Boston & Maine Railroad (BM)
- Fitchburg Railroad
- Guilford Rail System (GRS)
- Pan Am Railways (PAR)
- Springfield Terminal Railway (ST)
- Troy & Greenfield Railroad (T&G)
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 25,080.0 ft. (4.8 mi.)
Deck width: 60.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on November 2, 1973
- Also called
- Hoosick Tunnel
Death Tunnel
Hoosic Tunnel
Bloody Pit - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.67538, -73.09136 (decimal degrees)
42°40'31" N, 73°05'29" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/656388/4726533 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- North Adams
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 73000294 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 46385 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- April 17, 2022: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
- July 22, 2020: New photos from Chester Gehman
- July 6, 2020: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- October 31, 2019: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
- May 28, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- March 6, 2019: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
- November 8, 2018: New photos from Dana and Kay Klein
- May 21, 2018: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "Haunted"
- February 16, 2015: Photo imported by Dave King
- January 13, 2014: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Removed vidoes, all links were removed by Youtube as account it belonged to was shut down
- August 14, 2013: New video from Daniel Hopkins
- July 24, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
- March 8, 2011: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Updated details
- December 9, 2010: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Updated photos with a link to the page pictures were pulled from
- October 6, 2010: New photos from Daniel Hopkins
- October 1, 2010: Added by Daniel Hopkins
Sources
- Daniel Hopkins - chimera [at] clovermail [dot] net
- Wikipedia
- Central Shaft of the Hoosac Tunnel - Description of fatal accident
- Hoosac Tunnel Ghosts - The ghost stories
- Dana and Kay Klein
- Geoff Hubbs
- Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
© Copyright 2021, Historic Bridge Foundation and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ma/berkshire/hoosac-tunnel/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ma/berkshire/hoosac-tunnel/
The website in the comment below is a very interesting read with more links. This tunnel was quite a feat.