Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX Pinkerton Tunnel....."Decommissioned"

After serving faithfully for 135 years, the 1081' Pinkerton Tunnel on the CSX Keystone Sub in PA passed it's last train around 9:30 pm Sunday night, November 11, 2012. Yes, this veteran tunnel was "decommissioned" on Veterans Day as a bypass track was connected overnight and eastbound S276-12 made its way around the tunnel in a deep cut at 10am this morning, November 12. The following pictures were taken on Sunday afternoon, a perfectly perfect "Indian Summer" day in western PA. The temperature was 65-70 degrees and kayakers, bikers, hikers, and railfans were plentiful at Pinkerton.

Picture 1: Kayakers paddle in the white water of the Casselman River adjacent to the east portal of the Pinkerton Tunnel while Q138 heads east in the background around 1:30 pm.

Picture 2: A look west into the dark, dank, deep cut which will be carrying 25+ trains per day in less than 24 hours. Note the "tourists" who made Pinkerton a defacto "open house" on Sunday afternoon.

Picture 3. A look east from above. The bypass track on the right will be cut in to the single main at both ends of the tunnel overnight.

Six more pictures to go.......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 16:01 by cinder.

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Picture 4: More tourists swarming over the construction site.

Picture 5: Looking west from the east end of the cut......Geology 101.

Picture 6: A look at the east portal and its replacement on the left. Westbound Amtrak 29 was the last train to pass through the tunnel around 9:30 pm on Sunday night.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 16:28 by cinder.

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Picture 7: Q216 exits the east portal as the RJ Corman "claw" waits for the curfew to begin at 10 pm.

Picture 8: Q359 west exits the west portal in sweet late afternoon light.....the last train through Pinkerton in daylight.

Picture 9: A look into the cut from west to east. This rivals one of NS's "ratholes".

On Sunday night, the 14-hour curfew was imposed, and by 10am on Monday morning (two hours ahead of schedule), traffic began moving through the cut on a 10mph slow order. Q216 followed S276 east. Q015 was waiting at the Pinkerton signal to be the first westbound. Q353 was the second westbound.

The cutover warranted a visit from CSX's "Director of Project Management" for the "National Gateway Initiative". Thanks veteran Pinkerton for 135 years of service.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 16:34 by cinder.

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How long is this a single track portion of this line ? I thought these portions were going to be double tracked with the daylighting?

Well done. By you and CSX.

The single-track of about four miles will be double-tracked. The Pinkerton Tunnel will now be daylighted, thereby widening the cut to accomodate the second track.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting the great pictures. Lots of earth moved on this project.
John

Yes John.....over 1 million cubic yards.... to be inexact.

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like a monumental project.

What a major scar on the landscape.

How far is this from mance...Scoob

22 miles from Mance

Interesting photos. Thanks for the excellent coverage.

Rob Smith
Hamilton, ON

Very interesting. I like the layers of rock and coal in the open face. What a huge project.

Nice.........very nice photos.......

Hey that was me on that Q138 in the 1st pick- I will not miss going through that tunnel, all the blasting has left it in sad shape, always had to wonder when going through it if it would cave in on you, tunnel always had water problems making it a slow order nightmare, RIP Pinkerton.

Being unaware of the area snowfall totals,
I hope they will not have to deal with
any snow avalanches when the job is finished.

Excellent work, Best post on TO in a long time... POSTERS take note of how roger reported this event. with class and clear writing,
sad to see but if the trainmen wont miss it, then it was time to go.
dave j

Then this would be the reason the Eastbound Amtrak 30 Capitol Limited passed through Versailles PA yesterday about 10 AM. It normally passes by here about 5:30 AM.

cinder Wrote:
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> Yes John.....over 1 million cubic yards.... to be
> inexact.


What did they do with the overburden?