The Black Rock Tunnel is an active

rail road Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

of the old

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly calle ...

. The 1835 tunnel was the third rail tunnel constructed in the United States, and is the third oldest still in use. The tunnel is also notable as being the first for which

shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

s were sunk during construction. The tunnel is cut through a hill in

Phoenixville Phoenixville is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Philadelphia at the junction of French Creek and the Schuylkill River. It is in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population is 18,616 a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. The tunnel and line are now owned by

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

as part of its

Harrisburg Line The Harrisburg Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line runs from Philadelphia west to Harrisburg. The Harrisburg Line was formed the day Conrail began operations, A ...

. The Black Rock Tunnel was constructed between 1835 and 1837 and opened in 1838. W. Hasell Wilson was the resident engineer in charge. The tunnel was originally long, wide, and high. The tunnel passes below the top of the hill. A then-unique feature of the tunnel's construction was the sinking of six, diameter shafts, tangent to the tunnel cross section. These shafts were spaced at intervals to correct errors in the tunnel alignment. Construction of the tunnel cost an estimated $178,992, equal to $ today. Noted local

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and palaentologist

Charles M. Wheatley Charles Moore Wheatley (16 March 1822 – 6 May 1882) was an American miner and palaeontologist of the 19th century. He is noted for identifying several new fossilized species, some of which bear his name, and for his connection to the Port Ken ...

examined the rock excavated from the tunnel and identified many previously unknown

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

ized species, some of which now bear his name. In 1858 and 1859 the Black Rock and

Flat Rock Tunnel The Flat Rock Tunnel is an active railroad tunnel located on Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line near Manayunk, Pennsylvania, United States. The tunnel was built by the Reading Railroad for its line along the Schuylkill River. Construction of t ...

s were widened to accommodate the wider rolling stock from the Lebanon Valley Branch. The spacing between the tracks was increased from to . The widening of the tunnel was the first project to employ electric detonation of multiple explosive charges. The northern end of the tunnel is high on a steep bank of the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It fl ...

so the rail line makes a dramatic transition from tunnel to bridge. The ends of the Black Rock Tunnel are located at and .

References

External links

*
Black Rock Tunnel stereo image pair
at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Black Rock Tunnel on RailPictures.net
{{kml Railroad tunnels in Pennsylvania Reading Railroad tunnels Norfolk Southern Railway tunnels Transportation buildings and structures in Chester County, Pennsylvania Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania

See also

References

External links