The Simpson Tunnel, so named for the Simpson Farm it passed under, was a railroad tunnel originally built in 1903 by

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

and subsequently used by the Dunlap Creek branch of the

Monongahela Railway The Monongahela Railway was a coal-hauling short line railroad in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the United States. It was jointly controlled originally by the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central subsidiary Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Rail ...

. The tunnel was made of stone with a brick arch construction. The line was utilized both to serve coal mines and coke works in the area and to interchange with 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 ...

's Fairmont, Morgantown and Pittsburgh line and the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

's Coal Lick Run branch. The last move on that line, and thus through the tunnel, was on November 6, 1975.The Monongahela Railway: Its History and Operation 1903-1993 by Gratz, David E. and Arbogast, Terry E., p. 35 The line was subsequently abandoned by 1976 and the real estate disposed, however the tunnel was not destroyed or blocked at the time. At some point between 2008 and 2010 the tunnel was destroyed, likely due to the construction of the Mon-Fayette Expressway. It is not clear whether the tunnel was blasted or simply filled in.

References

{{Reflist Railroad tunnels in Pennsylvania Tunnels completed in 1903