Train to the East Portal of Alpine Tunnel in Train-Time Video

[Kurt Maechner]

I've come across a number of online videos of the ride to the west portal of the Alpine Tunnel, but never the eastern approach, probably due to the fact that you can't drive the stretch between Hancock and the tunnel.  I really wanted to fill this gap, first for myself, because I love this side of the pass with its undisturbed grade, and also for others who haven't had the chance to see the stunning scenery and the courageous engineering of the railroad.  

I got ahold of a GoPro and a chest attachment in order to make this happen.  Walking with my family (and sometimes carrying one member of it-you will see her red raincoat-covered arm occasionally) I filmed the entire length from Hancock to the east portal.

This video was filmed in July 2018.  I chose to speed up the footage to mirror the same time (30 minutes) that it took a train to travel the same distance according the C&S's schedule of October 1910.

I hope you enjoy it.
Kurt

[Robert McFarland]

I keep getting a message saying the video is not available

[Kurt Maechner]

Just fixed it.  Not sure why that happened, but it should be okay now.

[Al Pomeroy]

Kurt,

Interesting to see it today. in 1972 we drove a VW microbus up to Hancock, my father deemed it too rough to go further. in 1982 I returned in my then new Toyota 4wd pickup truck and drove to close proximity of the portal. there were a few tight spots with rocks, but in far better condition then. I will have to see if I can find the slides I took @ that time.

AL P.

[Kurt Maechner]

Al, I would looove to see those slides.  I've done the trek a few times since the 1990s and the remaining ties get more and more crumbly.  I can only imagine what things looked like back in 1982 or before.  Do you recall what the portal looked like back in 1982?  The whole thing seems to have collapsed some time in the early 2000s.  In the 1990s someone had done some digging and I could see several rows of the wooden support beams at the top of the portal and in a few feet.

My dad had a 1979 VW microbus.  I can't imagine that thing driving over ties for 3 miles!  On the other hand, those buses did have a lot of clearance underneath.

[Al Pomeroy]

Kurt,

I think I have found them. the actual trek was 1986, and I only took a couple of slides. the portal was much more in evidence at that time. there was a lot less scrub brush as well. need to purchase some new scanner software and give it a go.

AL P.

[Paul R.]

Hello Kurt,
I tried the link this morning, worked a charm. Shows the work that was done to carve that track, must have been sensational being on board a train then. Thanks for uploading the video. Paul R.

[Al Pomeroy]

Here are a cople of images from 1986





and proof that I drove up there in my 1984 Toyota fourunner

[South Park]

  If I might offer a minor constructive suggestion ... should anyone
do this again, point the camera a little more upward to show the
adjacent terrain and less at the footpath.  Much of the vistas and
rock work was skipped by, while the dirt of the path was in the
frame the entire time.

  What is it that kept the trees and brush small and from engulfing
the ROW like it looks to have done in the past 25 years or so ???

  Who sterilized the portal area of timbers and debris ?  Another
do-gooder bunch of schlubs that think we all need to wear helmets
and hold safety meetings every morning ?

  Recently, an area near me was "discovered" by local hiking enthusiasts.
It was a close-in chunk of land, quite rugged and wild, that bore the
wonderful scars and detritus of human activity when it was "way out"
....  dumped cars, equipment, trash ....  but all from 100 years ago.
Cool stuff that was really neat to see with rust and lichen amongst
the rocks and pine trees.  Guess what ?  Now that these folks have
built trails and put up signs and markers, all the cool old history is
being packed up, bit-by-bit, often in organized "work parties" to
cleanse the forest of all the history that sat there for a century and
told such a tale of what used to be.  Such a shortsighted shame.

  I am astonished by the changes up there.  I have not been back
since the 80's.  At the time, it still looked much like it did when trains
ran, minus the rails and broken state of the portals.  It was a real time
capsule.  Even now, neat to see, but I hate to see history get "cleaned
up" for the sake of "tidying up the place" for the accident prone or
those who prefer sterile "landscaping".

  Thanks for sharing the video.

[Kurt Maechner]

I agree completely with the clean up aspect.  I much preferred the west portal cut being left with all the snowshed timbers and rail still beneath to the cleaned out version of today.

As regards the angle of the video, I didn't have many options.  The GoPro mount that I had only allowed me to point straight or down.  Admittedly, I find myself mostly interested in the ROW.  However, the camera still had more of a downward tilt than I would have preferred.  I'm new to the GoPro world so there may be other means of mounting them.  Many use a helmet mount which would get a higher angle, but I didn't like that it would turn every time I would turn my head.

[Fritz 52]

This video is so amazing to me. What is mind blowing is just how many ties are still in place after 108 years. The ROW truly hasn't succumbed to the surrounding area is truly beautiful.
I do like how the NFS has erected some barriers to limit fourwheel drive vehicles beyond a certain point. It would be fascinating to take my fat bike up there.
Is there anything like this video done for the west portal. I remember running across a you tube video of the town of Pitkin and where the ROW is in relation to modern pitkin .

[Kurt Maechner]

Hi Fritz,
I'm delighted you enjoy the video!  It was exciting for me to do it.  My GoPro camera battery was at 4% by the time I reached east portal.  My 11 year old and I prayed it would make it and we hustled our way for that last mile!

There are a number of west portal videos online.  Here's one I found going downhill.   Here is another: Part 1 and Part 2.  I'm sure there are more, mostly from ATV and Jeep folks.

This one is a video I did driving the old ROW through Pitkin.

[Kurt Maechner]

Al!  What great photos!  Man, I would have loved to squeeze into that portal opening!  Did it go very far?  I know most of that end of the tunnel is caved in, but it seems like there was a bit of an opening.  

What was it like to drive up there?  Was it pretty bumpy to ride on all those old ties?  

Thanks again for those pics!
Kurt

[snapped_bolt]

   Hi

      It's a good thing to have a record of this as the remnants won't remain forever!
      I am one of a few modeling Boreas Pass- any chance you will be flying a drone up there? I am working on Rocky Point- and though there are a lot of images online, nobody has scaled the rock face with a drone so I can get the "3-D" view. If I just splapped up some generic rock castings I would be working to model something that never existed.

      On a related note- has anyone scooped up "scenic material" in the area? I am first looking for basically a box of dust, with some debris up to 1/4" diameter. I am going to make some rock molds for this, we have some shale in the area that is fine enough to do the
rock face that is facing northeast; the other rocks appear all as sedimentary in nature, and variable in appearance, I may have to make a road trip to make molds for those; but I indeed am looking for some of that dusty natural light tan mountain side material. Anyone got an excess they can part with? This would mainly be for ground cover/texture.

       Cheers!

          Stan

[Todd Hackett]

Here's how it looked on October 18, 1988:


I climbed over the rock, but the tunnel didn't go more than a few feet back, and it was too dark to see what was inside, so I took a few blind photos. That was back in the film days, with manual focus, separate flash head, so I guessed on the focus and exposure, shot a few photos, and waited to get them developed to see what was inside.






Over on the west side, I was able to get inside on July 12, 1992, but didn't have my flash, so the photos were too dark to be of any use. Then, during a Passport-In-Time work week in August 2000, the Forest Service let us remove the rock blocking the top of the west portal (the Forest Service had recently removed enough debris to see the stone above the portal, but left a large rock on top to keep people out).


We weren't allowed to go in (and even I wasn't skinny enough to try anyway), but Ray Rossman let me stick my camera in the hole and get a few blind photos. Here's how it looked:

[Kurt Maechner]

Todd, thanks for those photos!  I've always wondered what the east portal entrance looked like before it was blocked up on the outside.  I really enjoyed seeing these.  

[ComoDepot]

Boreas Pass is closed to vehicle traffic, they have in past years opened it up in December to go and get trees, I do not know if they will this year but will have a look see. I have looked over the edge and down the rock scree but not something I can readily remember in detail. Seems like they blasted and shoved everything loose over the edge.

I have a friend with a Drone, problem in winter is the wind, will he be around when it can be flown. He was over at Dickey a month or so back filming the old grade as the reservoir is so low.

How much in weight do you want? We have 2 semi's coming up tomorrow with ties going back empty!

[snapped_bolt]

   Hi CD-

      Could you end me a message with your email? My Yahoo Mail can't handle much through this server.

       Cheers!

         Stan

[Kurt Maechner]

I tracked down another one of my shots inside the east portal from the early 1990s.  You can see similarities between it an Todd's 4th photo from 1988.