Model railroad tunnels

Because they're cool.

TUNNEL TUESDAY!

Also because you can hide the train for brief moments from view.........Paul

I think one of the reasons is to give the appearance of "action" taking place. Train in, train out. On smaller layouts, especially, tunnels break up some of the monotony of watching a train(s)  constantly circling.

Not many but good replies.

Here is the Mahanoy Tunnel, still in use today by the Reading & Northern RR.  My WIFE grew up about 2 miles from here.  There are some pictures and a video of the tunnel in the article.

https://tamaquaarea.com/2014/0...4-and-interstate-81/

I, for one, don't particularly like tunnels on layouts. I had a mountain (hill) on my old 5' by 12' layout, where I cut a path through the hill instead of tunneling through it. There were steep walls at the sides of the track.

I think it kind of depends on where and what you are modeling. A tunnel on a layout based on central Nebraska or Kansas would be hard pressed to justify very many tunnels. On the other hand, mountain layouts  or rail lines that passed through rocky ridges or steep escarpments would fit right in.

Many years ago I walked both the Hagerman tunnel and the Ivanhoe/Busk tunnels. Really fascinating. I don't think either are able to be entered anymore.

Tunnels and bridges, two basic components of any layout.

Tunnels and bridges are useful ways of providing scene breaks as well as adding the sense of distance. This always being a problem for all but a few unusually large layouts.

Bogie

I am reading Stephen Ambrose' Nothing Like it in the World which describes the building of the US intercontinental railroad in the 1860's.  Though tunnels greatly added to the cost and difficulty of building this railroad the inability of early trains to go up a steep gradation meant the necessity of going through mountains and high hills rather than over them.  The author describes the use of immense amounts of blasting powder to create these tunnels. Maybe my use of tunnels on my 9' by 12' layout kind of commemorates these efforts .

In order to build straight runs with slight gradations, European rail lines utilized both tunnels and bridges. This has enabled the use of high speed trains in nations like France.

John

Jim 1939 posted:

 Why do so many model RR's have tunnels? It's almost a given while most real RR's have none at all except for underpasses. 

Punching tunnels in Styrofoam is a lot easier than making them in granite! As for why there are fewer on real railroads, tunnels are one more thing to maintain.

For me, I always wanted to build a layout that was scenic. I think mountains and hills add a lot to give a variety of scenery. I think each modeler may have their own preference as to what or how they want to model. There have been a lot of valid responses. Cool and fun are two of the best answers. 

This is my former layout.

This is the current layout with two of the three mountains with tunnels showing.

Rick

Aside from being examples of advanced engineering, I think that bridges and tunnels are the most interesting structures on a railroad. During the 19^th century, it was necessary to develop the field of civil engineering to build the early railroads, and especially their bridges and tunnels. Any interesting feature that attracts a viewer's attention, such as a tunnel, is a candidate for placement on a model railroad. My small home state of Connecticut, which is mostly hilly terrain, once had eleven railroad tunnels. Although only some remain in use today, Amtrak's main line to Boston still has two tunnels just east of New Haven, and the portals are impressive. One of these tunnels is short - perhaps 200 feet - about the same length as the one on my model railroad pictured below, in which a train exits the tunnel and proceeds immediately onto a bridge.

MELGAR

Speaking only for myself, they create a point of interest and also (again speaking only for myself) kind of create something to dream on, so to speak, the way that looking at real mountain landscapes, if that makes any sense, plus a tunnel kind of evokes 'real' railroads, even if a large percentage of railroad track never used tunnels through mountains, the view of trains going into tunnels and through mountains just seems routinely to be associated with trains, maybe because movies love them. Obviously if prototype railroading in the midwest or other 'flat places', it makes no sense, and most people don't have a large enough layout to truly recreate mountain scenes. Some of it too was that tunnels were heavily part of the toy trains in the past, some of the first accessories toy train makes made were mountains of various sorts

Speaking of first accessories for model railroads, my first accessory for my Lionel Warbonnet ABA’s train was a medium size box with portals cut in the sides.

I too think it goes way back to early toy trains under the Christmas tree and it just carried over onto the layouts. I rarely make a thread but thought this would be an interesting subject to discuss.

Maybe it's the quickest way to the other side of the mountain. And like GRJ said, they're cool.

It's like staging a play.......611 N&W enter stage right......you can hide that loop. 

We have plenty of rail tunnels here in WV

I grew up in PA where real railroads had tunnels; 'nuff said.

Rick; it appears I need to shame you into a waterfall feature on your new layout.  That was always my favorite part of your old layout.

Curt

Because the trains need somewhere to go to and somewhere to return from.

Curt, it is not as spectacular as on the layout in Atlanta, but you do not have to shame me, as I do have a waterfall on this one too. Kind of a twin falls that empties into a lake and then into some rapids. Getting older and two replacement surgeries this year has made it a bit more difficult!!!!!!! 

Rick 

Jeez Rick; its right next to an access hatch.  Besides; no pain no gain - even in model railroading! 

Looks great though!

Curt