The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-12-25
Written For the SIFTER.l
RAILROADs-PAST AND PRESENT.
No. 10,

The longest railroad tunnel in tn,
world is the st. Gothard. 1t is nine
and one-half miles in length, twenty,
six and one-half feet wide, and eighteen
feet and ten inches from the floor to the
crown of the arched roof. The summit
Of the tunnel is nine hundred feet below
the surface at Andermatt, and six
thousand six hundred feet beneath the
peak of kastlehorn, of the St. Gothard
group.
The next largest or longest tunnel in
the world is the "Mount Cenis," seven
and one-half miles long, which was CON
structed by the governments of France
and Italy.
With the exception of the above two
tunnels, "Hoosac Tunnel" in the state
of Massachusetts, comes next. 1t is
four and three-quarters of mile in
length.
The history of this tunnel is remark
able. 1t was first projected as far back
as 1925, sometime before railroad CON
struction had begun. Work on the
tunnel was commenced by the "Troy
and Greenfield Railroad Co.," in 1851.
They failed to complete it, however, and
after years of delay, both the railroad
and tunnel, with all their accumulated
debts, were assumed by the Common
wealth of Massachusetts. A contract
was then made with F. Shanly & Co.,
Of Montreal, who finally completed the
tunnel in 1875.
The width of the tunnel is 26 feet,
and it is from % to 26 feet high. 90
100000 bricks were used in arching
it, the average thickness of the arch be-
ing about two feet. The west shaft is
31S feet to the outlet at. the top, and
the central shaft, measuring Is by q
feet, is 1923 feet from the bed of the
tunnel to the summit Of the mountain.
The original estimated cost of build
ing "Hoosac Tunnel was put at ST.
942, 557.00 The actual cost was S20,-
241, ,S42,31, a slight difference of s1S,-
291, 1,2S5.31!
The first train of cars run through
the tunnel was February 8, 1875.
The first regular trains, however, did
not begin running through until the
fall of 1876. The tunnel has two
tracks, and is now lighted throughout
by electricity No train is allowed to
enter the tunnel on the same track I'M
til the train preceding it has passed out
at one end or the other, although two
trains are permitted to pass through at
the same time but in opposite directions,
one on each track.
The "St. Clair Tunnel" under the
St. Clair river between the United
States and Canada, at Sarnia, Ontario,
and Port Huron, Michigan, was open
ed for railroad traffic this year at a
cost of $2,000,000. The total length
Of the tunnel and approaches is 11,553
feet. The actual length of the tunnel
itself under the river is 6,026 feet.
The interior is 20 feet in diameter. 1t
is lined with solid cast-iron plates, weigh
ing, all told, $4,000 tons The bolts
and nuts used in putting the plates to-
gether weigh 100000 pounds. The
road under the river is practically level.
1t is laid with steel rails weighing 100
lbs. to the yard.
Previous to the building of the St
Clair Tunnel all trains had to be fer
ried across the river. The distance is
now shortened six miles and the time
saved thereby is two hours.
OF course there are many smaller
tunnels of less note in the world, but
these comprise the principal railroad
tunnels.
There is, however, tunnel in Hun
gary, built especially for draining the
Schemnitz mines, that is said to be ten
and one-half miles long, with a height
of nine feet and ten inches, and a
breadth of five feet and three inches.