Hagerman Tunnel was a 2,161 ft (659 m)

railroad 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 ...

crossing the Continental Divide in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

at an altitude of 11,528 ft (3,514 m). Constructed in 1887 by the

Colorado Midland Railroad The Colorado Midland Railway , Railway Equipment and Publication CompanyThe Official Railway Equipment Register June 1917, p. 786 incorporated in 1883, was the first standard gauge railroad built over the Continental Divide in Colorado. It ran ...

and named for Midland officer James John Hagerman, it was replaced by the Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel in 1893. There was a 1,084 ft (330 m) wooden trestle built on the eastern approach to the tunnel. At the time of its construction it was one of the highest tunnels ever built. Following Colorado Midland's 1897 bankruptcy, the tunnel saw use again, but traffic returned to the Busk-Ivanhoe tunnel a few years later.

References

External links

Photos from a 2006 trip to the east portal of the Hagerman tunnel
Transportation buildings and structures in Lake County, Colorado Transportation buildings and structures in Pitkin County, Colorado Railroad tunnels in Colorado Tunnels completed in 1883 1883 establishments in Colorado {{Colorado-transport-stub