Skip to main content

Brockville Railway Tunnel

Image
By
Recently, I had found out about a neat tunnel called the Brockville Railway Tunnel that was used for trains in Brockville, Ontario, located in the Thousand Islands region of the province. By chance, I decided to visit the tunnel on my way to Ottawa this past weekend.

An engineering marvel at 1730 feet in length, the Brockville Railway Tunnel happens to be the first railroad tunnel constructed in present-day Canada. The tunnel was built between 1854 and 1860 for the Brockville and Ottawa Railway to connect the Brockville waterfront on the nearby St. Lawrence River with the Ottawa River near Arnprior, Ontario to the north. Part of the tunnel is lined with brick, whereas natural stone forms the walls of the tunnel around its center portion. It should be noted that the plans to construct the tunnel was not without some public disagreement, as a number of people felt that it would be easier and more cost effective to build the rail line along the riverfront instead of building the tunnel under downtown Brockville. Supporters of building the tunnel prevailed, and as a result, trains traveled through the tunnel between 1860 and 1970.

The City of Brockville now owns the tunnel and it is used for recreational and tourism purposes. Recent renovations that took place in 2016 and 2017 (to coincide the Canada's 150th anniversary celebrations) to allow people to traverse the tunnel from end to end, as well as connect downtown Brockville and the city's waterfront with the Brock Trail system. With the renovations, there is a synchronized light and music show running every day of the year that you can enjoy if you are visiting the tunnel.

Historical plaque.

South entrance to the tunnel.

An alternate view of the south entrance to the tunnel.

Inside the brick lined part of the tunnel.

A section of the tunnel where natural rock is used for the tunnel wall. You may be able to see the transition to a brick lined portion of the tunnel wall in the distance, along with a change in the color of the light as well.

A section of the tunnel where natural rock is used for the tunnel wall.

Looking out towards the south portal of the tunnel.

Here are also a few YouTube videos to check out about the history and modern day renovation of the Brockville Railway Tunnel.



Sources and Links:
"The History of the Brockville Railway Tunnel" --- Brockville Railway Tunnel
"Brockville Railway Tunnel" --- Philips "The newly restored Brockville Railway Tunnel illuminated with Philips Color Kinetics dynamic LED lighting opens to the public this Saturday." --- Cision
"Railway Tunnel 2017 Preview" --- YourTV Brockville-Smiths Falls
"Brockville Railway Tunnel was Canada's First Railway" --- RailwayTunnel Brockville
Labels:
Location: 1 Water St W, Brockville, ON K6V 3L5, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

By
The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high
2 comments
Read more

Mines Road

By
Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County.  The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte.  The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom.  Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail).  La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora.  The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre
Post a Comment
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba
Post a Comment
Read more