The Rhyndaston Tunnel is a , 1-in-40-

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

(2.5%)

railway tunnel 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 ...

in southern

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. The northern end of the tunnel is from the

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

railway yards. It was built as part of the

Tasmanian Main Line Company The Tasmanian Main Line Company (T.M.L.) was a privately owned railway company that existed in Tasmania from 1872 to 1890. The company were the first operators of rail services between Hobart and Launceston, where it connected with the Launces ...

's track from Hobart to Western Junction which was completed in 1876.

International containers

The original tunnel was too small to take the original international containers. The tunnel was widened between 1964 and 1965 using a

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

mounted on railway wheels, nicknamed 'The Mole' and which was maneuvered into place between trains to excavate a few metres at a time. Enlarging the tunnel had the effect of creating a 'keyhole' shape, and also destroyed the original northern portal, consequently truncating its overall length by several metres. The later and larger containers may again be too big. Due to poor ventilation, diesel trains occasionally lose oxygen and fail to make it up the tunnel. In the 1920s M Class Garratt steam locomotives were banned from running north through the tunnel smoke box first, to prevent exhaust accumulating in the crew cab. The tunnel is located .

References

Railway tunnels in Tasmania Tunnels completed in 1876 {{Australia-struct-stub

International containers

See also

References