The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a active

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 ...

in western

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

that passes through the

Hoosac Range The Hoosac Range is a mountain range that forms the western edge of the northwest Berkshire Plateau of western Massachusetts, an extension of the southern Green Mountains of Vermont, which are part of the greater Appalachian Mountain chain. The mo ...

, an extension of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is in ...

. It runs in a straight line from its east portal, along the

Deerfield River Deerfield River is a river that runs for from southern Vermont through northwestern Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. The Deerfield River was historically influential in the settlement of western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and its n ...

in the town of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, to its west portal in the city of North Adams. Work began in 1851 under an estimated cost of $2 million and ended in 1875, having used $21 million. At its completion, the tunnel was the world's second-longest, after the

Mont Cenis Tunnel Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, Sa� ...

through the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

. It was the longest tunnel in North America until the 1916 completion of the

Connaught Tunnel The Connaught Tunnel is in southeastern British Columbia, on the Revelstoke–Donald segment. The tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) main line under Mount Macdonald in the Selkirk Mountains, replacing the previous routing over Ro ...

under Rogers Pass in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It remains the longest active transportation tunnel east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, and is the sixth-longest railroad tunnel in North America. The

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

made the tunnel an

Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

in 1975. "Hoosac" is an Algonquian word meaning "place of stones".

Construction

Proposal and beginning

The tunnel project was originally proposed in 1819 as a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

to connect

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

via the Deerfield River on the east of the

and the

Hoosic River The Hoosic River, also known as the Hoosac, the Hoosick (primarily in New York) and the Hoosuck (mostly archaic), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed October 3, 2011 tri ...

on the west. That project was shelved, and later reborn as part of the new

Troy and Greenfield Railroad The Troy and Greenfield Railroad, chartered in 1848, ran from Greenfield, Massachusetts, United States, to the Vermont state line. It was leased to the Troy and Boston Railroad in 1856, then consolidated into Fitchburg Railroad 1887 which in turn ...

. The project was nicknamed "The Great Bore" by its critics, including future

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...

, who said that he would like to "wall up a dozen lawyers at one end of the tunnel and put a good fee at the other." The most important proponent of the northern route and the Hoosac Tunnel was

Alvah Crocker Alvah Crocker (October 14, 1801 – December 26, 1874) was an American manufacturer and railroad promoter. He served in the Massachusetts General Court and was U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Biography Born in Leominster, Massachusetts, ...

, a self-made paper mill owner from

Fitchburg, Massachusetts Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private e ...

. The project, which was promoted by Crocker but mostly organized and engineered by others, notably Hermann Haupt in the early stages, and several other firms under contract, under the direction of several head engineers assigned by the state of Massachusetts, which took over the project after it initially failed and went bankrupt. In 1841, Crocker formed the

Fitchburg Railroad The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main li ...

(chartered 1842, opened 1845) between Boston and Fitchburg. In 1844, Crocker incorporated the existing

Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main li ...

, which ran from Fitchburg west to Greenfield, as well as northward (from Millers Falls) to

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about no ...

. In 1848, Crocker secured from the legislature a charter for the Troy & Greenfield Railroad (T & G), with provisions for a tunnel through Hoosac Mountain. The first chief engineer of the tunnel project was A.F. Edwards. In 1854, the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

provided $2,000,000 in credit to Edward Wellman Serrell and Company, which began work in 1855. In 1856,

Herman Haupt Herman Haupt (March 26, 1817 – December 14, 1905) was an American civil engineer and railroad construction engineer and executive. As a Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Nort ...

took over as chief engineer. The Western Railroad, led by Chester W. Chapin, which ran a southern route through

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

and

Pittsfield Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

, opposed the Hoosac Tunnel and its northern route through the state. It successfully lobbied to block state funding of the tunnel in 1861, which bankrupted Haupt and temporarily stopped the project. Haupt had excavated , or about a fifth of the distance, at that point. He left and became a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

railroad engineer and general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Completion

In 1862, the

defaulted on its loan from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which foreclosed on the mortgage and took control of the railroad, including the tunnel project. The state sent engineer Charles Storrow to Europe to study modern tunneling techniques, including the use of

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating g ...

and compressed air. In 1863 the state, with Alvah Crocker now superintendent of railroads, restarted the project and made Thomas Doane the chief engineer. In 1868, the Massachusetts state legislature appropriated $5 million to complete the project. Canadian engineer

Walter Shanly Walter Shanly (11 October 1817 – 17 December 1899) was a Canadian civil engineer, author, businessman, and politician. He was known for his work on railways and canals but was overshadowed by his brother, Francis Shanly. Born in Stradba ...

(sometimes spelled Shanley) and his brother Francis took over the project from the state and remained through the completion of the tunnel boring. Among the consulting engineers at the time was Benjamin Henry Latrobe II, a noted civil engineer who was serving as the chief engineer of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

. The final chief engineer was Bernard N. Farren, who took over on November 19, 1874, and on Thanksgiving Day that year, the last of rock was removed beneath the town of North Adams. Farren completed the work, including enlarging sections of the tunnel, reinforcing weak areas with arching, completing drainage systems and completing the east tunnel facade. The first train passed through the tunnel on February 9, 1875.

Technology

The tunnel construction project required excavation of of rock. On March 16, 1853, "Wilson's Patented Stone-Cutting Machine" (a

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore throu ...

) was used; it failed after excavating of rock. Tunnel builders resorted to hand digging, and later used th
Burleigh Drilling-machine
one of the first pneumatic drills. Construction also featured the first large-scale commercial use of nitroglycerin and electric blasting caps and the first such use in the United States. Digging the Central Shaft also allowed workers to open two additional faces to excavate: once the shaft was completed in 1870, workers dug outwards from the center to meet the tunnels being dug from the east and west portals. Engineers built a

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

to hoist the excavated rock from the Central Shaft. One of the many engineering challenges posed by the project was getting the proper alignment between the four tunnel segments that were being dug: the east and west portal tunnels and the two tunnels dug outward from the central shaft. Engineers cleared a path through the forest over the mountain and strung a straight line from the east to west portals through "sighting posts" on the east and west peaks of Hoosac Mountain. In 1866, Thomas Doane took over as chief engineer. He resurveyed the alignment of the tunnel by constructing six towers. Hoosic Tunnel alignment tower

The alignment towers served to make sure the tunnel stayed true to its course. Grooved iron markers were originally used instead of these towers. Each tower, except the Rowe Neck tower, consisted of a transit scope, a sloped wooden roof on the top of the stone structure. Repeated surveys verified the line ran true between the posts, and steel bolts were installed at fixed intervals along the line. Only four of the towers remain today, in ruins, and can be found by using old roads and some bushwhacking through the current forest overgrowth. On December 12, 1872, workers opened the east portal tunnel to the Central Shaft-dug tunnel, which were aligned within : a tremendous engineering achievement at that time. On November 27, 1873, the remainder of the tunnel was opened to the west portal tunnel. The Hoosac Tunnel allowed the summit of the Fitchburg's route to be lower than the Boston and Albany, which only had one short tunnel. Lewis Cuyler of the Hoosac Tunnel Museum Society described the project as the "fountainhead of modern tunnel technology". The

made the tunnel an

in 1975.

Accidents and working conditions

Deadly accidents during construction killed or seriously injured 195 workers with 135 verified deaths. Survivors to dubbed the Tunnel the "Bloody Pit." Workers died from explosions, falling rock, and accidents involving ladders or scaffolding. In 1865, workers went on strike and burned buildings in protest. Fourteen men died or were injured working on the tunnel in 1866. The deadliest accident was the explosion in the Central Shaft on October 17, 1867. Workers were digging the tunnel's vertical exhaust shaft when a candle in the hoist building ignited

naphtha Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ''n ...

fumes that had leaked from a "Gasometer" lamp. The ensuing explosion set the hoist on fire, and it collapsed into the shaft. Four men near the top of the shaft escaped, but 13 men working below were trapped by falling naphtha and pieces of iron. The pumps were also destroyed, and the shaft began to fill with water. A worker named Mallory was lowered into the shaft by a rope the next day; he was overcome by fumes and reported no survivors, and no further rescue attempts were made. Several months later, workers reached the shaft's bottom and found that several victims had survived long enough to fashion a raft before suffocating.

Operations

US Troops guarding Hoosac Tunnel circa 1917-1918

The Troy and Boston Railroad and its Southern Vermont Railroad and

opened in 1859 from

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, on the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

and

Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

, east to North Adams at the west portal of the tunnel. The 1863 state buyout of the

opened the way for competition through the tunnel. The Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway was organized in 1877 to build from near the

–

border, where state ownership ended, parallel to the Troy and Boston Railroad to near Johnsonville, New York and then west via

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

Rotterdam Junction Rotterdam is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 30,523 at the 2020 census. The town of Rotterdam is in the south-central part of the county. It was founded in 1661 by Dutch settlers, who named it after th ...

on what became the New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railway in 1883. The line was being planned as a part of the Delaware and Hudson Company's system and as part of the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

system via the Delaware and Hudson Company's

Albany and Susquehanna Railroad The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad (A&S) was a broad gauge railroad from Albany to Binghamton, New York, operating 1851 to 1870. It was subsequently leased by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and later merged into the Delaware and Hudson ...

. East of Greenfield, the east end of state ownership, the BHT&W would have built its own line to terminal facilities at Winthrop. The first train passed through the tunnel on February 9, 1875. Regular service via the tunnel between

and

began the following year. The tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad were bought by the

in 1877, which year is inscribed on the East Portal entrance arch. The

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

bought the Fitchburg Railroad in 1900. Competition between the two companies caused various court challenges to be made. In late 1878, the T&B attempted to evict the BHT&W from the roadbed of the abandoned Albany Northern Railroad between Hart's Falls and Eagle Bridge. The BHT&W lost that case, but continued to use the

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

. The case lasted until late 1881, when it was overturned. In May, 1879, a

frog war A frog war occurs when one private railway company attempts to cross the tracks of another, and this results in hostilities between the two railways. It is named after the frog, the piece of track that allows the two tracks to join or cross and ...

was feared at Hoosick Junction, where the BHT&W was to cross the T&B's Troy and Bennington Railroad. In July,

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

, who owned the

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

, acquired a controlling interest in the T&B, threatening to build a branch to

Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...

unless the BHT&W/D&H alliance was ended. In November, an

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

ruled that the application to cross the Troy and Bennington was improperly made to the Troy and Boston, and the T&B claimed that the improvements, including a stone bridge, were forfeit. The first train ran over the full BHT&W to Mechanicville on December 6, 1879, and revenue service began December 20, with general offices at North Adams. In 1881, the BHT&W was being planned as part of a larger system west to Oswego and Buffalo. The line was not built, but the BHT&W opened an extension west to Rotterdam Junction on the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway. The

took over the NYWS&B in 1885, and in 1887 the

bought both the T&B and the BHT&W, as well at the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, including the tunnel, ending the rivalry. In 1910, the tunnel was electrified with the goal of reducing smoke and increasing the speed of traffic. Three years later, traffic within the tunnel was so heavy, at 70,000 cars a month, that the power plant in Adams, with its 6000 kW generator, could not keep up. Power was then drawn from a nearby dam north of the eastern entrance. In 1926, of the western end of the tunnel were deepened by . Electrification ended in the tunnel in 1946 with the advent of diesel locomotives, and a fan was installed in the Central Shaft to remove Diesel exhaust fumes. Today, the Central Shaft system remains in place; however, ventilation relies on a single fan operating on low power due to the low number of trains on the line. The last regularly-scheduled Boston and Maine Railroad passenger train, the ''Minute Man,'' passed through the tunnel in 1958. In 2009, ownership of the tunnel was transferred to

Pan Am Southern Pan Am Southern, LLC is a freight railroad jointly owned by Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and CSX Corporation subsidiary Pan Am Railways (PAR). After the June 2022 acquisition of PAR by CSX, PAS will be independently operated by the Berkshire ...

, a 50-50 joint venture of

Pan Am Railways Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR) is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation that operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. Pan Am Railways is primarily made up of former Clas ...

and

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

. Freight trains through the tunnel are operated by Springfield Terminal Railway, the train-operating subsidiary of Pan Am Railways. The route is currently used to transport freight but has seen passenger excursion trains on rare occasions. It was converted to a single track in 1957. Clearances were increased in 1997 and 2007, the former by lowering the track, the latter by grinding 15 inches (38 cm) off the roof, allowing trailer on flat car (TOFC) and tri-level automobile carriers to pass. In March 2012, the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

awarded a $2 million grant to the

Massachusetts Department of Transportation The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...

for preliminary engineering on further increasing clearance in the tunnel to allow double stack container trains to use the tunnel. As of 2019, MassDOT, with FRA support, has surveyed the Patriot Corridor, including the Hoosac Tunnel, and identified 19 improvement projects needed to achieve double-stack clearance. MassDOT is preparing needed environmental reviews. As of 2020, eight freight trains per day operate through the tunnel. On February 12, 2020, the tunnel collapsed approximately from the West Portal. Subsequent collapses occurred in the following days. Crews were able to repair the tunnel. Freight traffic was detoured over the New England Central Railroad and Vermont Railway while Intermodal traffic was detoured via CSX during the closure. The tunnel reopened on April 4, 2020, after a two-month closure.

Footnotes

References

* * *Hampson, Rick. "Tunnel a Wonder of the 19th Century", ''

Chicago Daily Herald The ''Daily Herald'' is a daily newspaper based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The newspaper is distributed in the northern, northwestern and western suburbs of Chicago. It is the namesake of the Daily Herald Media Group, a ...

'' (August 24, 1980) p. 42 * *"The Story of the Hoosac Tunnel", ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', (March 1882) *"The Hoosac Tunnel Tragedy", ''The Defiance Democrat'' (Ohio) (November 16, 1867) p. 1 *"Fighting for Eastern Traffic", ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' (January 2, 1879) p. 5 *"Railroad Rioting Feared", ''

'' (May 25, 1879) p. 1 *"The Hoosac Tunnel Route", ''

'' (July 5, 1879) p. 1 *"Railroad Methods", ''

'' (November 26, 1879) p. 1 *"Railroad Management", ''

'' (December 7, 1879) p. 1 *"First Train Over the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western", ''

'' (December 21, 1879) p. 2 *"A Great Railroad Project", ''

'' (April 11, 1881) p. 1 *"Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Victory"', ''

'' (October 5, 1881) p. 2

External links

HoosacTunnel.net
- a website dedicated to the Hoosac Tunnel
Hoosac Tunnel information
- from the Catskill Archive

- Exploration of the tunnel, October 14, 2002
Western Gateway Heritage State Park
- Learn about the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel. {{Fitchburg Railroad Railway tunnels on the National Register of Historic Places Railroad tunnels in Massachusetts Boston and Maine Railroad Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Pan Am Railways Electric railways in Massachusetts Florida, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in North Adams, Massachusetts Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Transportation buildings and structures in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Tunnels completed in 1875 National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts