Eastern Railroad Discussion > West Portal of the Hoosac Tunnel

Finally got to the west portal of the Hoosac Tunnel on Friday... I've been to the east portal many times. I met a couple of friendly Pan Am (aka Guilford) employees in a track inspection truck. No trains unfortunately.

---

---

---

Anyone have any idea if the storm door still works? And if it does, do they still use it?

rfprr

The sliding door over the west portal (which conceals the original stonework which appears to still be largely in tact behind it) looks like an over sized version of one of those rolling steel shutters that inner city shop keepers use to protect their stores when they are closed. There is no such covering on the east portal (which is far more removed from any population, although easier to access by public highway). I couldn't see any evidence that this gate was actually still in use but other readers of this site are likely to be far better informed on this topic than I am. Indeed, I was glad simply to be able to reconcile the older pictures which showed the stone arch entrance with the more recent photos (like mine) that show this ugly thing (the gate) over the tunnel entrance.