Hint #2 The tunnel only had a thirty year life span, with the last locomotive passing through the tunnel on November 10, 1910.:tb-nerd:
Alpine tunnel - Denver, South Park and Pacific 38.6455, -106.4085 +38° 38' 43.80", -106° 24' 30.60" :tb-ooh: :tb-ooh: :tb-ooh: :tb-ooh:
WTG, Darren! I wasn't even IN Colorado... I figured some obscure Oregon shortline... The good old South Park Line! Just what is this tunnel'e elevation? I'm guessing much higher than 10,000 feet.
It was this hint that allowed me to find it so quickly after it was posted. Being at work I don't have Google Earth access so if it wasn't for the clue helping me zero in on the exact tunnel via searching on history I woudn't have found it that quickly. I hit a Wiki page that gave me the name of the tunnel and it's approx location so I could use Google Maps to find it's GPS location from there. :tb-nerd: :tb-nerd: :tb-nerd: :tb-nerd:
The Alpine Tunnel was "holed through" on July 26, 1881. Location of the tunnel portals and establishing a center line of the bore were completed in December of 1879. Construction of the Alpine Tunnel took place between 1880-1881, by Cummings & Co. Construction company. This was the highest and most expensive tunnel built up until that time. It exceeds two miles (3 km) above sea level, with it’s highest point at 11,523.7 feet (3,512.4 m). It is 500 feet (150 m) under Altman Pass, later to be named Alpine Pass to prevent confusion, with a 1,825-foot (556 m) bore. It took 18 months to complete, with most of the construction done during the winter months. The tunnel only had a thirty year life span, with the last locomotive passing through the tunnel on November 10, 1910. The line exited the west portal of the Alpine Tunnel, to Alpine Tunnel Station, the highest railroad station in the United States. There also was a turntable, water tank, and a two-story frame boarding house that replaced the stone boarding house and engine house, which burned down in 1906. Parlin, located at milepost 189.78 is where the tracks of the Denver, South Park and Pacific and the Denver and Rio Grande joined up and ran along each other to Gunnison. The land for the track was given to the railroad by local dairy rancher John Parlin around 1877, with the condition that the railroad would build a depot, and stop for at least five minutes so passengers could buy milk. The main line reached Gunnison the following year in 1882.
Winner GEC #I034 Congratulations! Stourbridge Lion :thumbs_up::thumbs_up: DSP&P Alpine Tunnel, Colorado
