I’d do the same thing, I’d definitely take a peak. I’d also be willing to bet, since 1877, at least someone has ran from one end to the other on a bet from their buddies 😂
@@j.r4985 I have walked completely through the Hoosac Tunnel twice, the last time being in mid 2008. My earlier walk, going west, I experienced having a WB Guilford train, also going west. Back then, trains seem to travel through it going some 35mph. As you so accurately state those trains do push the wind through it. Before I ever saw its headlight coming at me I did feel a definite change in air movement, that blowing on the back of my neck for at least some 5 minutes! I believe that I had me plenty of warning here! This tunnel is numbered every 100 feet inside, with that number 251 at its east portal meaning 25,100 feet, going down as you go west. So to avoid problems I hid inside one of those niches blasted into the north face every 300 feet as that WB passed me so to avoid being seen inside, remaining there for at least 1/2 hour afterwards. What light I was able to see, at each end, from the middle was blocked from its diesel exhaust. When I arrived at a food establishment in North Adams I did have to wash my sooty black face, as I so noted in the restroom's mirror. There was no train coming at me for my return trip. My final walk through it I would experience no train was the tunnel's west portal storm door was down. I had to crawl under this door. It was just like crawling under a motor vehicle so to do maintenance on it. The door comes down only to the top of the rail.
@@williamh.jarvis6795 thank you for sharing your experience! That’s wild. I’d be so creeped out. I’m not one to believe in ghosts, but…45 mins to an hour of walking might cause anyones mind start to wander in that tunnel lol
Just out of interest how far does the crew travel on a shift , so they also overnight at a motel do they do a week or 2 out at a time similar to OTR truckers
I worked in the Hoosac for over a month back in the 1990s, we were cleaning it and installing equipment prior to the install of fiber optic equipment. I was a mechanic responsible for the Hi-railers, compressors, generators etc. Since the tunnel had never been cleaned to my knowledge, imagine the accumulation of soot and diesel smoke from over 100 years of trains. The vertical shaft(s( are still there and open AFAIK. Some of the tunnel pressure you are seeing is going up that vertical shaft. The tunnel as originally built had TWO sets of tracks in it, but the downsizing of rail traffic and maintenance resulted in going to a single-track setup. Another possible problem was the closeness of trains passing, with people running the risk of hands or heads out of windows getting struck by passing trains. COFFINS (personnel refuges) are cut in the sides of the tunnel, to permit individuals to duck into when trains approach. Ask about the blind mice that live in there..... EDIT: The temp you experienced is pretty much year round. it's gets pretty damned damp and cold in there. SECOND EDIT: No, they do NOT grind the rails like you said...the crown allows the wheels to find their center as they roll. Early rails had flat tops, and derailments were common. Crowned rails permit high-speed traffic. Look this up on RU-vid and other places for comfirmation. They DO grind the rails when crown is diminished due to wear. Look up VIRTUAL RAILFAN here in RU-vid for videos of that.
Crowned rail and tapered wheels for better rolling and cornering. Just watched a great video on that whole subject with illistrations , cannot find off hand and dont remember the channel. Beleive it was one from a museum somewhere. Still looking.
Wow, Claeaing 100 yrs of soot and debris out of the tunnel must have been an awfully dirty job. Did you find any interesting or unexpected discoveries? i wonder if there are any tales of people having to use the “Coffin” cut-outs.
In early 1980's I hauled logs off the mountain above and to the left of the tunnel entrance for W J Cowee of Berlin,NY. We could look down onto the tracks from the log landing. LOUD was 6 or 7 B&M F's and GP's at full throttle headed west! Once the engines entered the tunnel it was almost dead silence, all you could hear was the noise of the rail cars. There was a dirt road off MA 2 just before the steep grade warning sign. Great video that brought back many memories of hauling off that mountain for 6 months.
The tunnel is nicknamed "the bloody pit". It has taken around 180 lives during its construction. When completed it was the largest and longest tunnel in the Western Hemisphere.
A Great Video ! Awesome ! Air gushing out ! Coolest Tunnel! Longest Train ! Scenic view ,the Brook,Rocks blast ! A Hand Made Tunnel , the. 👍🙏 All who worked and lost lives for building It ! Thanks Hudson! 👍🌹❤️🇮🇳🙏
I have been driving school bus in Pennsylvania (Pa) over past 10 years. Pa law states ALL school buses must stop at all RR x-ings. And in this case, the driver would have to call-in VIA the radio & get approval to proceed from the bus garage before the driver can proceed over ANY railroad x-ing that had lights flashing, even if the train is stopped (as seen in this video). Or the driver could proceed if the crossing was guarded by a police officer or railroad employee who clearly signaled the driver to proceed. My wife & I share the same run & take turns driving each day. We cross active railroad tracks 10 times each day we drive school bus. I'm NOT familiar with the school bus laws in Mass.
We have the complete stop, open the doors to look at xings in Illinois, and being a brakeman, I've protected xings and signaled traffic past flashing lights and raised the gates when stopped, and gates that were supposed to raise and shut off, but didn't (oh, that NEVER happened). Open a locked box @ xing, and shut off the lights and gates. I don't know if drivers have to communicate with their dispatchers, clearly something that developed with cell phones, plus I've been retired for over 10 yrs, don't know current laws or practices for school busses. PS don't be dropping a dime on that bus, should've edited that!
I have driven buses, school, Greyhound and school, totaling 51 years. Technically I agree. If there is only one track, it is a rural freight line visible in both directions. Stationary is one locomotive. I would defer judgement to a dispatcher before proceeding.
Great video, 8 year old son has watched a couple times. This video started him wanting to learn further about this tunnel and the area in our homeschool so we’ll be digging deeper. Thanks for the inspiration.
I thought it was taking the train a long time to get through that tunnel. They were going slow they knew they were going to be stopping. Yes very cool video
Great video, but you would have been more impressed if you were here at the tunnel in the early 1970's. The B&M trains used to come out of the tunnel going at least 40 mph and the wind was strong enough to blow out my Zippo lighter.
My Dad was born in nearby Shelburne Falls in 1910. We were railroad hobbyists and I have known about Hoosac Tunnel from a very early age. Dad told me that the construction of the tunnel was started at both ends, and they met somewhere in the middle. It seems to me that he said they were just off a fraction of an inch when they met.
Awesome video! We got lucky with 2 trains when we were there in Sept 2021 and I didn’t even know it was an active line. We were there to check out the tunnel and hike a trail to the right of the tunnel. There are really cool, quite large, twin waterfalls less than a quarter mile up the trail above the spillway. Thanks for the rail and tunnel info!
very cool. my surname has been in that town for a very long time. my great and grandpas are in a cemetery there. I explored once, but never got to see this. thanks for sharing.
What an awesome video, man that is crazy how that fog just pushes out of the tunnel like that!!! Really cool to think how old that tunnel is and that it was hand dug, really cool video, truly enjoyed, thanks for posting! -Ken
Hiked the full length of the tunnel several years ago. Had a train pass while we were in there. There are places to hide so the engineer doesn't see. The fan in the center shaft is still working and is needed to clean out the diesel fumes. We also went there one night at 12;00 midnight and walked halfway.
WOW... This is a Great Video. I Loved how you described everything that was happening, and the train pushing the air was really something. But we all know it has to displace it, and at the same time it is pulling in fresh air from the other end as well. This was very interesting to say the least. Thanks so much for sharing it. Stay safe and keep up the great work. God bless & Godspeed my Friend...
@@hudsonvalleyrailandriverandair Good day to you too. I absolutely love everything trains and your trains and railroads fascinate me! Your description of the building of the tunnel and the dynamite blast marks is excellent. Those brave men who built your infrastructure are of course long gone but they live on. We here had Isambard Kingdom Brunel who built Great Britain's transport system from the Victorian era. I'll be watching more of your videos for certain. Have a good weekend.
The Hoosac tunnel is unique in that it was started with picks and shovels and some gunpowder, continued with nitroglycerin, moving to dynamite, and finishing with TNT. The attempt at using gunpowder required so much product and did not yield expected results. Nitroglycerin became available in the early 1860s but its instability made it so difficult to transport and use that it was replaced as soon as the much more stable dynamite became available in 1867. Shortly thereafter TNT became commercially available and was even more stable - and helped finish the tunnel in 1875.
Nitroglycerine is nitroglycerine(!). Dynamite is nitroglycerine with stabilizers, as stabilizer traditionally diatomaceous earth, "Kieselguhr", a Swedish patent. TNT is Trinitrotoluol.
That was an awesome video. Finding NS power, Union Pacific, a crew change all wrapped into catching a train pushing air out of the tunnel...wow! Nice commentary and history.
Really enjoyed your video about the Hoosac tunnel in the beautiful mountains of Massachusetts - no wonder the founding fathers were so inspired - the beauty of North America!
Norfolk Southern is half owner of this line. NS units are very common here. The UP is a run-through unit and while not common they do show up from time to time. This tunnel was originally double track and had overhead catenary for electric locomotives to haul the trains just through the tunnel. The grade is about 1% and crests in the middle at Central Shaft. Full track speed was 35/40 MPH when I ran trains there in the early 90's. Probably 10 or 25 MPH now. Clearance was increased to allow a domestic/international container stack (one 9'6", one 8'6") but not two domestic containers.
Norfolk Southern owns 100% of this line they purchased the entire B&M West End. They also have all intermodal and automotive rights while, their subsidiary Pan Am Southern operated by ST has operating and industrial traffic.
Thanks for taking the time to record the Hoosac Norfolk Southern Crew Change along with the phenomenon that precedes the portal being breached 😮 BTW - Greetings from New Zealand 🇳🇿 ❤
This was an awesome video, I have heard others talk about this tunnel & how double stacks must remove their top container to get through it. Now I see why. Thank you for all the info on the building of it, Our ancestors were so much better at building things to last the test of time, where did that work ethic go?? I am in awe of the things they did by hand that we can not do with modern equipment! I really enjoyed this video, & will come back for more. Good job!
The NS train you Videoed is probably a former Pan Am Southern,now Berkshire and Eastern train after the sale of Pan Am to CSX......As such it's destination is probably Ayer Mass. The giveaway is the empty trash containers moving back east to heir loading point at Ayer.
I sure enjoyed this video. As a kid, I went to summer camp in Palmer. A track came right behind our cabins. We could literally catch the train for a short ride to Rondeau's Dairy bar. That tunnel must be pretty high to be able to run double stacks through there.
That tunnel wind ain't no joke. I work on commuter rail systems and spend a fair amount of time in the tunnels. The wind a lot of times can blow you over or just as easily suck you into a passing train. Definitely no room for daydreaming when you're 3 or 4 feet from a train passing at 60 to 70 mph in a tunnel, even 30 mph.
This tunnel was originally double track and electrified during the era of large steam locomotives. Single tracking was one of the measures to improve tunnel clearances, but it is STILL not double stack clearance!
The tunnel hieght clearence was increased in 1997 by lowering the track, and agian in 2007 by removing around 15 inches ( 38cm ) from the roof of the tunnel
Hey, "HVRR", you definitely hit the trifecta with this video. Fall colors in the Berkshires Mts of Western Mass, a Norfolk Southern and two Union Pacifics on the head end , and a crew change to top things off. Damn fine videography ! A+++ . Subscribed ! :-)
My wife and I watched this video together. It was really good. It was anticipatory to wait for the train to come. Good footage. And not too much talking either. Thanks for shooting it.
Another bonus here in this video, being described around the 27:15 mark, is information about the partial wall collapse that occurred back not long ago and how the repairs were made. Basically, it was a "cut and re-cover" type of repair. Is it said to be that there is a small brook passing over the top if the tunnel in this area? (Another video producer, posting a silent video of a cab ride going west through this tunnel, replied back to me as to exactly where in his video this collapse was taking place. I saw it where it was starting its slow collapse.)
That was fantastic!! I am a recent rail fan, love to see those trains. I never got enough watching at RR crossings when I was a kid., counting the cars as they went by, then they were gone. Sincei discovered WWW of trains, I can really appreciate all that goes into “catching” a scene ike this. Thank You. I think i will subscribe.Edited: BTW, so i counted the cars as the train moved on..not counting the locomotives I counted 133, probably not entirely accurate considering the shifting view., and trying to pay attention to the scenery. The close up views of the tunnel showed the beauty of the stone work and design in the arch and stairway.,gving a glimpse into a more elegant age gone by. Once, I rode Amtrak from Seattle to N. Dakota, We had to pass through a long tunnel under the Cascade mountains, I suffered from claustrophobia during the 20 or so minutes that we traveled through complete darkness. What a relief it wasto emerge into the light of day.!! This video was very interesting and enjoyable. The fall colors and the landscape were beautiful 🌲🌲😎
Interesting video. I’ve never heard that all rail cars have to fit Hoosac, and I’ve been a B&M fan for 60+ years. Actually, the floor of the tunnel has been lowered a few times to allow taller cars to run through, like the auto racks and double stack container cars.
@@larryc8568 About 10 years or so ago the top of Hoosac was ground to provide more head room. Interesting equipment used, looked like your dentist drill on an upside down excavator only 10,000 times as large. If you walk in a ways from the east portal you can see the carving marks. It provided more clearance, but not enough for true double-stack. The grinding process also plugged up the water drains with stone dust and they had to be cleared running up project cost, but typical Gilford OP.
@@larryc8568 yes, they most certainly can. Double stack international containers or an international and a domestic container stack will fit with no issues. You just can’t run two domestic containers through it.
@@larryc8568 : Definitely some double stacks on that train. . . I never knew the difference between domestic and international sizes. . . so I learned something as the result of your comment. “Even when you’re wrong, you’re right”😉
The spillway is not to keep water out of the tunnel. It is literally a spillway from the hydroelectric dam above the site. Take the trail up and you can still see what is left of the dam and lake.
Cool Video! Railroad Line lease engines from other Railroads is why there's always mixed Engines on Railroads. I see UP engines all the time on CSX lines.
I walked through the Hoosac Tunnel in the mid 1970s with a group of friends from MIT, starting at the East Portal. Dinner at McDonalds in North Adams and a taxi back to the East Portal
I think the word your looking for is flange squeel. Great video just as you were saying hobo shoestring i was actually thinking of him 😂. Our trains in the UK are very boring these days 🚂🚂🚂🚂😁🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🛤️
