Flat Rock Tunnel

Flat Rock Tunnel
Stereo pair view
Overview
Location Lower Merion, Montgomery County, near Manayunk, Pennsylvania
Status Active
System Originally Reading Railroad
Now Norfolk Southern
Operation
Work begun 1838
Opened 1840
Technical
Length 940 feet (290 m)
No. of tracks Originally Double
Now Single
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The Flat Rock Tunnel is an active railroad tunnel near Manayunk, Pennsylvania, USA. The tunnel was built by the Reading Railroad for its line along the Schuylkill River.

Construction of the tunnel started in 1836 and it opened in 1840.[1] In 1858-9 the Flat Rock and Black Rock Tunnels were widened to accommodate the wider rolling stock from the Lebanon Valley Branch. The spacing between the tracks was increased from 4 feet (1.2 m) to 6 feet (1.8 m). The widening of the tunnel was the first project to employ electric detonation of multiple explosive charges.[2]

References

  1. ^ Treese, Lorett (2003). Railroads of Pennsylvania: fragments of the past in the Keystone landscape. Stackpole Books. p. 41. ISBN 0811726223. http://books.google.com/books?id=WU83s_xdIF4C&pg=PA41. Retrieved November 7, 2009. 
  2. ^ "From Branch Line to Main Line: The Story of the Lebanon Valley Branch". The RSME Timetable (Reading Society Model Engineers). May 2007. http://www.rsme.org/Timetable%20Issues/RSME%20Timetable%20May%202007.pdf. Retrieved November 7, 2009. 

External links