Saturday Survey

[BATMAN]

In the spirit of "Philiosophy Friday" tell me about your tunnel(s).

The reason this subject has leached in to my tiny mind is because a fellow model railroader that I know has seen things my way. He has started the task of removing some tunnels on his layout. When he began his layout and asked what I thought, I suggested that with the amount of time his trains will be spending inside tunnels, it will seem like there are no trains on the layout for our eyes to feast on. He is still tunnel crazy, however he also wants to actually see his pride and joys in action.

I have two tunnels, one about 18" and the other when finished will be about 3'. The 3' one was an after thought, it gave me a place for a small town I wanted but didn't know where to put. There are lots of places in the world where the railroad goes under the cities and towns.

So Saturdays survey question is..... How many tunnels do you have on your pike and how long is your longest tunnel? Do you go for lunch, knowing the train will emerge about the time you get back?

 

 

[rrebell]

I have 5 the longest being about 16', all my tunnels are for hiding track so that my dogbone dose not look like a dogbone for the mainline.

[Bob Schuknecht]

0(zero)

[davidmurray]

Likewise zero.  I have a four inch plus trees rock cut plus trees and a couple of other scenic blocks, but no tunnels.

Dave

[twhite]

I have six, the longest of which is about 4'.  I just 'daylighted' one because of access problems.  The others are to either hide return loops or necessitated by scenery concerns.  Actually, what I have more than anything on the layout is bridges.  I'm a bridge freak, lol!

Tom

[gmpullman]

I have one two tunnels. There is a coal mine that sits on top of it and the mine operator wouldn't be too happy if I dynamited the whole thing!

Daylighting tunnels has been practised on the 1:1 railroads whenever practical, sometimes at great expense.

Part of my reason for a tunnel is to allow the train to disappear from sight for a while then reappear in a different scene. It helps to eliminate the "spaghetti bowl" effect of watching trains run as if on a race track. I have a sliding panel on the side of the fascia if I need access for track cleaning or rerailing. There's also 2 video cameras watching the track in there.

I have two double track runs through the mountain with a combined trackage total of about forty feet of track.

I like having the scenic interest of the tunnel. All my rides on the old B&O and Pennsy, even the Wheeling & Lake Erie and N. Y. Central all included tunnels.

Here's a view of the coal mine, with one of the double track lines shown in the foreground, come to think of it, that would count as another tunnel to the right. There's also another main line loop under there. 

I think tunnels are great if you can justify one... Ed

[NittanyLion]

One, about 20 inches (of a 2x16' layout).  Its the portal to staging.  If the layout ever gets fully built to spec, it would probably reach close to 60 inches.

[BATMAN]

twhite

Actually, what I have more than anything on the layout is bridges. I'm a bridge freak, lol!

I was thinking (even before you posted) that the question could apply to bridges as well. Maybe next week.

Love the tunnel pic's Ed. Hope to see some from others as well.

[joe323]

One tunnel abouts foot long goesinto the backdrop to "connect" the layout with the rest of the world.

[csxns]

No tunnels here.

[skagitrailbird]

I will have five: one 6" to 8"; two about 18", one 2+' and one about 4'. Plus two tunnel portals leading to an adjacent space for two storage & reverse loops. These will be open in that unfinished space but unseen from my train room. The train room tunnels will cover about 15% of train room main line.

[GP-9_Man11786]

I have two tunnels on my layout. the Gallitzin Tunnel for the two west bounds tracks and the New Portage Tunnel for the east bounds tracks. Just like the prototype.

[BRAKIE]

I had my fill of  tunnels 44 years ago so,none of my few loop layouts had tunnels.

[angelob6660]

I don't have tunnels on my layout. I designed a layout with a tunnel in mind that was probably be 3 feet long. I believe.

[MisterBeasley]

I've got 1 tunnel.  It has an 8 foot long oval with a passing siding, a single-track spur and a double track siding off to the end for train storage, signals and 4 stations.  There are 4 portals.

It's a subway.  First I built the subways, and then I put a layout on top of them.

[BroadwayLion]

LION has tunnels. Lots of tunnels. Is SUBWAY LAYOUT. Has lots of tunnels, some of course are "cut open" so that the trains can be seen (and fixed).

On Route of LION is:

1) Elevated Structure

2) Open Embankment

3) Bridges

4) Ground Level

5) Open Cut

6) Cut and Cover

7) Deep Bore Tunnels

and

8) Under River Tubes

 

ROARING

[mlehman]

I think there's a distinction between in and out tunnels along the line and entrances to staging. I only have one in and out tunnel. It part of a turnback curve under Animas Forks that takes the lower level track to Red Mountain

I have one more tunnel portal, which is really only the entrance/exit for RGS staging west of Durango. The other end loops around to come in on the south side of Durango under an overpass to form a continuous run loop for HOn3 break-in and testing.

Then there is staging. My standard gauge is a giant folded dogbone, so the back half is underneath the narrowgauge upper deck along three sides of the room. My Chama staging for the NG is entirely hidden once it goes under the highway leaving the south side of Durango. There's also a loop that connect Red Mountain back to the wye at Silverton. So literally doezens of feet of hidden track. I miss seeing it, but I wouldn't have been able to pack everything I have  if I'd done without. The next layout will likely see a much lower % of hidden track. This has been a relatively trouble free installation, because I took great care putting it in, but it's better to have as much out where it can be seen as possible.

[ricktrains4824]

Current layout: 0(zero).

Future planned layout? TBD.... I'd like one, but we will see on space permitted........

[riogrande5761]

Does staging count as a tunnel if there is a tunnel entrance to where the track goes under?

[tomikawaTT]

My longest 'tunnel' covers about 60% of the loop that is the JNR's first main track, serves five different kinds of staging (all having additional track) and, officially, doesn't exist!  Two of the tunnel portals are on the Down main, the third is on the Up main and the master map says that the main doesn't connect back to itself.  The only time anything orbits is when I am running in a piece of rolling stock.

I have four additional short (>1 foot>) tunnels, and one longer (4 foot,) on the JNR main, simulating what my prototype had.  If you run up a canyon that has spur ridges and side ravines, tunnels (and intervening bridges) come with the territory.

The Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo also has several short tunnels, two of which hide one-turn loops and are longer than they look.  The prototype, the currently unused end of the JR-East O-me-sen, was built through what can only be described as broken country.

And then there's one tunnel that won't connect to anything.  When I build it, it will contain a working tunnel boring machine.

Most of the length of most of the tunnels can be accessed by removing lift-offs.

Because I consciously chose to model a prototype that needs lots of tunnels, having them doesn't cause any heartburn.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[IRONROOSTER]

I have no tunnels.  The Maryland & Pennsylvania did not have any and the layout is big enough that I won't need them.

That said, I have been thinking about one for my Lionel trains.  My 3 year old grandson tells me I need one, so I'll probably buy one of the prefabs.

Enjoy

Paul

[RR_Mel]

My layout is HO with a little over 100’ of main line, it is14’ x 10’ and consist of a large odd shaped double loop main line with one track climbing a 3½% grade to 11” through the mountains ending up in a helix returning to the main level. I have one very short 18” tunnel between a 18” long Warren Truss bridge and a 36” long 11” high trestle on the upper track. 

My longest tunnel is about 18’ long counting curved track across the entire back of my 14’ wide layout that has two hidden sidings as well as the main line.  That way my Daylight Passenger train can disappear in the tunnel and two fast freights can emerge before the Daylight.  Having two long hidden sidings is nice to store complete trains out of sight.

Visitors ask “what happened to the passenger train”, well it’s on it’s way to the end of it’s destination and will return later.  The large mountain also hides my helix.  I have a double crossover on my main line so I can run two trains at the same time, one on each loop.

Even only running one train at a time there is enough going on that visitors never miss a train being in the tunnel.

Mel

[Grampys Trains]

I have two tunnels. This is the short one, about 18".

This is the long one, about 3'.

[Onewolf]

My layout will have 4 tunnels.  2 are for return loops at either end of the mainline run, 1 is a helix between the lower and middle levels and the last one is a 3 footer on a canyon run nolix between the middle and upper levels.

[G Paine]

On my home layout there is 1 tunnel going to staging

On the Boothbay Railway Village layout there are 4 on the standard gauge and three on the narrow gauge. The longest is more than 10 feet. Another goes to hidden staging at the back of the layout. The others cover 180 degree curves where the tracks on the sides run to the center pennsula. A photo from a couple of years ago

A more recent one on our web page
http://railwayvillage.org/explore/model-railroad/

 

[Dusty Solo]

No tunnels at all. The geographical area I model is flat or rolling at best.

Dusty

[doctorwayne]

One tunnel, about 65" long.  It's an ess-bend on a 2.5% grade and connects the lower level to the main level of the layout. 

Here's the upper end of it, with the bridge over the Speed River:

...and the lower portal, at Elfrida:

Tunnels in southern Ontario, where the layout is set, are rather rare, but it was the most expedient way to accomplish the elevation change.
In the drawing below, the tunnel runs across the base of the peninsula, between the Speed River and Elfrida.  The perimeter of the peninsula carries the track which connects the main level at South Cayuga to the upper level, which is above the areas shown in grey.

Wayne

[rdgk1se3019]

My layout is based on a design that MR did in the late 70`s or early 80`s........it called for two short tunnels......I had to make one shorter and one longer due to the fact I did not build the layout in one solid 6' x 12' layout........I built it as 4 portable sections and the total layout is now 6' x 14'.......with a 2 x 6 add-on.........on both tunnels I can reach into from both ends and the middle.

[Santa Fe all the way!]

I will have one "tunnel" as the mainline passes threw the back of my bedroom closet. 7.5'

[Burlington Northern #24]

Dream layout will have atleast 3 tunnels, all under 150' scale feet. The SP&S 8mm film on YouTube shows a few of them, the ones I want are the riverside ones on the curve. A fellow SP&S modeler has them on his layout.