Schenley Tunnel (also known as the Neville Street Tunnel and Pittsburgh Junction Railroad Tunnel) is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tunnel in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The tunnel runs beneath Neville Street in the city's North Oakland neighborhood; the south portal is at the upper end of Junction Hollow emerging from under Filmore St., the north emerges from under Centre Ave. into a ravine that opens into Skunk Hollow, between North Oakland and Bloomfield. Schenley Tunnel measures in length and runs about beneath Neville Street. It carries

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

's P&W Subdivision. The Allegheny Valley Railroad, a

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

, uses the tunnel for regional services.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's ''Floridian'' also uses the tunnel when entering and leaving the city.

History

Excavation on the tunnel began about May 1883 and continued for nine months. By August 1883, a vertical shaft reached the tunnel's midpoint, and additional excavation began from the inside, working in both directions. In May 1884, brick masons were hired to build the arched passage lining the tunnel. The track was completed on September 24, 1884 and the ''Pittsburgh Daily Post'' reported that an informal opening for involved business leaders was held September 30, 1884, but noted that about of the tunnel remained to be bricked. The official opening was delayed until December 1884, when the Junction Railroad's bridge across the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ; ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River that is located in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. It runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border, nor ...

and Herr's Island was opened, completing the connecting railroad. Shaw, Stearns & Norris, railroad builders from

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

were the contractors. The entire Junction Railroad, about long, including the tunnel and a bridge crossing the Allegheny River at 33rd Street, cost about $1.9 million (equivalent to $ million in ). While the original Schenley tunnel is still in use, the bridge was replaced in 1920. Schenley Tunnel in 1914

References

External links

Schenley Tunnel
at pghbridges.com {{Pittsburgh Bridges and Tunnels, structure=tunnel Tunnels completed in 1884 Railroad tunnels in Pennsylvania