Rockland Tunnel on the Allegheny Valley RR - Day 115

  Today, I joined a long section of rail trail in Pennsylvania on the former bed of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, built in the 1850s. It was taken over by Pennsylvania RR in 1913. (then ConRail, then abandoned)

There are a number of beautiful stone culverts on the line. There must have been two tracks which were not parallel everywhere because I was also standing on a rail berm where the trail is.

This mile marker says 102, but I'm not sure where it is measuring to. The historic AVR only went to Oil City, about 60 miles north, so it must be from the PRR era. I saw one other of these stone mile markers, but it was broken.

The very best part of the walk today was through the 2868-foot (just over a half mile) Rockland Tunnel. The AVR wandered for four miles around the end of a long, narrow peninsula. It was often blocked by rock slides and ice, and it had too many sharp turns. The PRR immediately set about tunnelling through the hill to eliminate that loop.

You can see that the tunnel is lined with brick.

I believe these are safety alcoves where maintenance workers could crouch out of harm's way if a train came through.

There was a surprising amount of ice still in the tunnel. Water drips from the ceiling. I actually tripped on one lump- no fall, but I sure was surprised.

There is a slight bend in the tunnel, so you don't see the end until you have traveled part way through.

This was an incredibly cool experience! And there is an even longer tunnel tomorrow. This is all new trail to me, since the rail trail was not part of the NCT when I hiked here before (although a did a tiny bit of this a few years ago)

Miles today: 16.7. Total miles so far: 1515.

See The Magic Continues