New Hamburg Tunnel Hudson River Railroad History

[Jeff Smith]

Interesting background: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/arti ... beginnings

Apparently, it's still extant. Brief, fair-use quote:

While hard to detect in summer when leaves and brush tend to obstruct it, a long-abandoned railroad tunnel in New Hamburg that was constructed in 1849 is easily viewed this time of year.

The tunnel, a short distance beyond the northeast section of the hamlet’s Metro-North station parking lot, behind a security gate, once served the Hudson River Railroad’s New York City-to-Albany line.

[RussNelson]

Drove past it a bunch of times before I took the time to look at it closely. It's just gorgeous. You can park in the Metro-North parking lot (if you can find a spot! -- better luck on a weekend). Then, just walk to the north end of the parking lot. There's a gate which keeps MN customers from driving down the ROW into the tunnel, but there's no signage or attempt to exclude pedestrians.

I took a bunch of photos in and around the tunnel: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelson ... 131025690/

One of the vertical shafts used to remove rock from the tunnel face is now a waterfall. It's pretty *darned* cool.

[RussNelson]

Here's the tunnel's location: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/83530375 -- click "View Way On Larger Map" to see it full-window.

[metrony]

This is where it is? Very interesting! I hope Metro-North doesn't start putting up no trespassing signs now!

[RussNelson]

Yep, that's it. They use the tunnel for something, which is why there's a gate. The red sign says something about not blocking the gate. Doesn't say anything about people not walking through the tunnel.