Nostalgia & History > ATSF SF Chief emerging from Glen Frazier Tunnel

A major photograpic problem with the West portal of ATSF's Glen Frazier tunnel was that morning shots were backlit. I guess a backlit photo is better than nothing so here is ATSF 339 leading the San Francisco Chief out of the tunnel one April morning in 1971. Just over a mile long, it was longest tunnel on the ATSF.

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>>Just over a mile long, it was longest tunnel on the ATSF.

I had no clue

john1082 Wrote:
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> >>Just over a mile long, it was longest tunnel on
> the ATSF.
>
> I had no clue


I need to thank PDG for that info

Did they have a ventilation system for that tunnel?

I know that sun-on-the-nose is the name of the game in railfan photography, but I always liked "backside" lighting as shown in the shot of the Chief above. I always thought there was something neat about the headlights standing out against a darkened nose, especially so when the rest of the train is well lit from the side.

Art House

No, not that I recall. The wind could really blow through there sometimes. There were three niches inside tunnel three...just in case you got caught in there when a train came along. You had to rotate a metal staff in the shanty on either side of the portals...this would lower the semaphore arm on both ends to "stop" trains from entering. Even in July, I carried a jacket with me to work in there...got real cold. Lots of dead animals, as I recall. I hit a few with my motor car, on occasion. We often had to clear out the canal trench to allow water to run off...year round. The tunnels (1, 2 & 3)were built under the supervision of William Storey, Chief Engineer, AT&SF Railway. He later became President of the company...before Rippley. Not a great location to work...changing ties, etc. But a nice place to cool of...very quickly...on a summer day.

Damn...I'm really rambling like an old man...sorry.

drew1946 Wrote:

> A major photograpic problem with the West portal
> of ATSF's Glen Frazier tunnel was that morning
> shots were backlit.

Today, the major photographic problem is that there are so many scrubby trees on the slopes of that cut that it's next to impossible to get a shot like that anymore. It was pretty bad ten years ago, and it's only gotten worse.

Well here it was back in June with the family special. Taken from down trackside due to all of the brush.

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Thanks for posting that photo.The F-units are the best match for the warbonnet paint scheme.I wish BNSF would bring back an A-B-B-A set for their business train fleet!
Colin Johnson

It should be pointed out that the usual name for this tunnel is the Franklin Tunnel.

Whiskers73 wrote:

>You had to rotate a metal staff in the shanty on either side of the portals...this would lower the semaphore arm on both ends to "stop" trains from entering.


Pg. 23 of "Valley Division Vignettes" has photos of the staff machine and shanty at one of the ends of the tunnel.

Both images are a joy to see. Thanks for sharing with us.