Eastern Railroad Discussion > The ORIGINAL Sandpatch Tunnel Photos

I found a web page that has several recent (1 or 2 years ago) photos of the interior and exterior of the original Sandpatch tunnel. The place looks a little spooky. I saw the East Portal opening a few years back. But, I didn't have the nerve to go in because I was alone. LOL
http://www.steamphotos.com/gallery/3405984_hFJN7#201168208_Wj4CH

BaltoJoey

My first trip to the old tunnel was to the East end in March of '07 #1 and my first trip to the West end was in July of '07 #2. The East end of the tunnel looks as if the facade has fallen and blocks the water from flowing out. The water looks pretty deep now. Although the west hole is still out of the shot to the left after a few hundred feet had fallen in this is the opening now.

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Those were cool to see.

Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

There are a number of abandoned tunnels along the CNOTP but the longest is North from Robbins, TN to the New River. Very spooky to see such a large tunnel bore with so much water pouring out of it. I wish I had a digital picture. Maybe someone here does.. JReb? You have been down that way before.

Later...
Jollymon

Speaking of Sandpatch, are the tunnel portals (the current ones) still accessible? I drove all up and
down that area trying to find them. I did find the area where Sand Patch tower used to be (and got a
couple trains going under the overpass), and I also found Mance, so I think I was pretty close ;)

csxt4617 Wrote:
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> Speaking of Sandpatch, are the tunnel portals (the
> current ones) still accessible? I drove all up
> and
> down that area trying to find them. I did find the
> area where Sand Patch tower used to be (and got a
> couple trains going under the overpass), and I
> also found Mance, so I think I was pretty close ;)


The west portal is just around the bend (east) from where the tower was...

Al Moran,
The SD80MACKing

Here are some shots of the East Portal of the Sand Patch Tunnel. It is a easy walk from the Manila interlock on PA. state game land. In #3 shot the interlock is just out of sight

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and the West Portal

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Sorry to hijack the thread, but since I've been railfanning in the area, got a question or two.
How many trains use the low grade line at Confluence?? I saw several eastbounds today, and I don't
think they used it, (but I could be wrong.) Saw Q226, a coal train (with helpers), and a G388 grain
train (also with a helper).
Another question, did the line used to be double track from Fort Hill to Pinkerton? It seems silly
that it goes from 3 tracks (2 mains, plus low grade line) to 1 at Fort Hill for a couple miles,
then back to 2 at Pinkerton. The road underpass at Fort Hill was pretty wide, and it looked like
there was another track up there, but parts of it were missing.

csxt4617 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry to hijack the thread, but since I've been
> railfanning in the area, got a question or two.
> How many trains use the low grade line at
> Confluence?? I saw several eastbounds today, and I
> don't
> think they used it, (but I could be wrong.) Saw
> Q226, a coal train (with helpers), and a G388
> grain
> train (also with a helper).
> Another question, did the line used to be double
> track from Fort Hill to Pinkerton? It seems silly
>
> that it goes from 3 tracks (2 mains, plus low
> grade line) to 1 at Fort Hill for a couple miles,
>
> then back to 2 at Pinkerton. The road underpass at
> Fort Hill was pretty wide, and it looked like
> there was another track up there, but parts of it
> were missing.

I think there was a derailment in that area that CSX elected not to replace the second track. Much the same as on the Mountain Sub west of M&K Junction...

Al Moran,
The SD80MACKing

That area has been single track for sometime due to Shoo-fly and Pinkerton tunnels to get the higher loads through the holes. They just recently extended the single track to Fort Hill.