# Rail tunnels really are a bore! (Literally)!



## Shoestring (Jan 27, 2009)

_This was a grain-hopper rail car I rode from Vancouver, BC, to Calgary, Alberta Canada's Alyth Yard. This tunnel here is roughly 900 yards long._

I had been working at a tank-farm right off the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe railroad tracks in Minot, North Dakota, setting up concrete bases that would later sit under cattle watering devices. I had worked for two long days and had been paid in cash. I walked a short way to catch-out heading west. I rode on a gondola that had been loaded with steel beams that looked like they would be used in bridge work. This gondola on my train took me all the way west to the small ski-resort town of Whitefish, Montana. I got off the train here and felt that I may have eaten something that had gone sour. So after scouting for a while I found an old empty boxcar to sleep in for the night. I got really sick overnight, so I lay all the next day in my boxcar nearly motionless trying to get up enough strength to continue west. I didn't realize that I was in for several days of sickness.

Finally on my seventh day in Whitefish, my sweating and fever broke. I was starting to feel much better, so I had to now make tracks and leave this ski resort mountain town for the west coast. I gathered all my gear, walked down to the Amtrak depot, and ran fresh water into my gallon milk jug I used for a drinking water container. After being in that dirty old boxcar for seven days sweating, you can imagine how filthy I must have been. I proceeded on down to a small, clear stream that ran underneath the railroad tracks on the west end of the yard, undressed and waded out into the stream with a bar of "Lava" soap I had brought along with me. I washed off the grime that had built up over those past several days. Ah, I felt so, so, much better after this! Now I was ready to ride. After about an hour's worth of waiting, a westbound mixed freight train came in for her crew-change. I walked up to an empty boxcar and boarded. The crew-change only took about 60 seconds then we were on our way westbound. 

Now, riding west out of Whitefish there is the "Flathead Tunnel" that injects the mountains with a full and easy seven miles of mainline railroad tracks! This tunnel I knew was somewhere west between Spokane & Whitefish, but I wasn't exactly sure just how far it was to it's bore, so I rode the boxcar by sitting in the doorway, constantly looking ahead for the hole in the mountain. There it was, right outside the tiny roadside town of Happy's Inn, right at 33 miles east of Libby, Montana!

We entered the tunnel doing about 30 mph. I started hyperventilating because of my fear once we entered! I ran over to where my gear lay and shone my flashlight at my sleeping-bag zipper trying to find out why I couldn't get it un-zipped! I was panicking badly! I needed to get my sleeping-bag unzipped so I could dive inside and cover myself up! Finally I just ripped open my bag by pulling both ends of it as hard as I could, got inside, covered up fully, and prayed for 20 minutes until I came out the west-end of the tunnel. At last I was in the fresh air. It felt like I could breathe once again! I had made it through! Now I had to figure out how to sew up the huge, long tear in my sleeping-bag.

I hadn't realized that if I were going to suffocate, I would have already died inside the tunnel, since carbon monoxide molecules are smaller than any sleeping-bag material that I may have had. I have always hated rail tunnels not because of their length, or from being all closed into a small area, but because of the diesel exhaust that pours out from the locomotive units inside them while riding through behind these heavily exhaling beasts. Once the train gets all the way inside these tunnels, a red & white striped painted metal door electronically closes over the east-end of its bore, and a fuel-fed jet engine built at the east-end of the tunnel also comes to life sucking out the foul air inside! The inventor's idea was pretty simple, yet ingenious! It works fairly good. A vacuum is created inside the tunnel when the door covers the east-end and as this jet-powered suction comes on, it draws in air from the open west-end of the tunnel, blowing it out of the east-end through a separate portal on top of the jet! Once inside the tunnel you can feel the slight vacuum on your eardrums. If you are close enough behind the locomotive units, you can suffocate from carbon monoxide poisoning still, so by riding as far back on the train as possible, the fresher air has a better chance at being where you are by the time you roll through the point where the units were earlier. Also you can ride in the rear unit itself up in the cab where you are exempt from having any problems since you are sealed inside the cab.

The thing is, once you get out of the 7.2 mile long "Flathead Tunnel" and are riding on a freight train headed for Seattle, there is another even longer 7.8 mile long "Cascade Tunnel" that lies between Wenatchee and Seattle on that very same rail-line, (unless you are riding a Vancouver route train that takes to the south from Spokane to/through Pasco). Both of these tunnels are the same in that they have a jet-powered vacuum system set up on the east-ends of the tunnels helping to clear the tunnel bore of bad air so the train crews and hoboes, (ha) on the next train due to traverse through, will have good clean air to breathe.




_This is Cascade Tunnel between Seattle and Wenatchee._ The tiny town of Index, Washington, is where you enter or exit the west-end, while the tiny town of Baring is at its east-end. (Notice the notches at the top-end of the tunnel? These were etched out the entire distance through its bore to create enough room for the higher rail cars and containers/double-stacks that were manufactured after the 1950's and 1960's).

The "Moffat Tunnel" between Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado is 6.6 miles long, and then you have "Tennessee Pass Tunnel" that lies between Pueblo, Colorado, and Grand Junction, which is 4.8 miles long. Then there's "Hoosac Tunnel" that lies between Worcester, Massachusetts, and Albany/Schenectady, New York. Hoosac bore is 4.7 miles in length! When I first started riding freight trains, I had been told several times that you could also take a hanky, wet it down and by covering your face, mouth and nose, you can avoid suffocating in these really long tunnels. Once again no matter what type of cotton material that you may have, there is actually no material that you can use over your face that filters out the microscopic carbon monoxide particulates unless you buy such a filter/mask at an army/navy surplus store, but placing a layer of material over your face hoping to filter out poison exaust,...you are in for a big surprise!




_This is Moffat Tunnel between Denver and Grand Junction, colorado._

So, if you are planning on taking a hobo trip through one of the above named tunnels, make sure to ride on the very last rail car, or inside of the locomotive rear unit in the cab.


----------



## Dmac (Jan 29, 2009)

nice pics! been a while since i have read a new story of yours shoestring!


----------



## jabbyscabby (Jan 31, 2009)

> When I first started riding freight trains, I had been told several times that you could also take a hanky, wet it down and by covering your face, mouth and nose, you can avoid suffocating in these really long tunnels. Once again no matter what type of cotton material that you may have, there is actually no material that you can use over your face that filters out the microscopic carbon monoxide particulates unless you buy such a filter/mask at an army/navy surplus store, but placing a layer of material over your face hoping to filter out poison exaust,...you are in for a big surprise!



Tunnels scare me ahhh. everytime i went through a tunnel i wet my rag just in case.. now i feel stupid..my friend cheers and walnut where hopping back in forth in between the back of a woodcar and the canadian grainer that we were on when we were going through a tunnel once. i thought they were going to die i almost pissed myself. i sat there in the hole praying that once we get out of the tunnel and i can see again they will be on either car.


----------



## CdCase123 (Mar 1, 2009)

being sick on the road sucks bigtime


----------



## wartomods (Mar 4, 2009)

being sick sucks in general


----------



## Ravie (Mar 5, 2009)

uck. sounds like food poisoning. worse shit in the world.


----------



## blacklines (Jul 31, 2009)

sorry to resurrect a thread, but I wanted to correct something that might save someone's life. the author sates that a filter mask (assuming he is referring to a respirator) will counteract the carbon monoxide, this is patently untrue. the only way to deal with it would be to have an independent air supply, or to follow the tips about riding the rear of the train or in one of the units. Hope this helps

blacklines


----------



## Mouse (Jul 31, 2009)

he did say in the original post that * "there is actually no material that you can use over your face that filters out the microscopic carbon monoxide particulates unless you buy such a filter/mask at an army/navy surplus store"* 

I don't know what they have in supply at the surplus store when it comes to these things but I think you'd need a resperatior with an O tank for fresh clean air in order to be safe. a 7 mile tunnel is a big risk. 

a simple mask can filter soot, grime, and other large particals that can harm your lungs, but carbon monoxide is a gas and you can't simply filter that out so easily. 


I have to say I always laughed in my other train hopping buddies faces when they told me to cover my face with my dirty bandana. Maybe if I was trying to avoid the stank of a dead cat on the tracks, that would help (some) but avoiding dieing from carbon monoxide? don't make me piss myself laughing. I guess growing up in a house with a crappy wood stove and a _ancient_ oil burning heater means you learn a few things you didn't realize you really learned. I still remember finding out that a family friend had died during a power outtage from a hurricane because they put their generator outside.. but it was too close to their open window. it doesn't take much to kill you.

I think the best bet if you don't have the right supplies is, stay at the end of the train (the tunnel will have time to air out long after the unit passes through before you get inside) and lay down on the floor of whatever car you're on if you can. as far as I can remember monoxide is lighter than air and therefor will linger over your head and not at your feet. edit: that's not true. had to look it up but because of convection the gases will more than likely be higher in the air because they are hot from the oven. but it's still not the good bet no matter what to think you're ok because you're down low. Carbon Monoxide tends to mix quickly into the surrounding air so you're pretty much fucked... hence why it's not something to fuck around with.


----------



## blacklines (Jul 31, 2009)

Upon further research, I found this. I had forgotten about smoke hoods, I know very little about them, but they seem to be a legit (If not expensive) product. I would assume that they work in a similar fashion to a re breather, though that is pure conjecture. I was also unable to find stats on railroad deaths/injuries due to CO poisoning--anyone have a link


----------



## CholoMcScumbag (Aug 3, 2009)

the tunnels is always one thing that freaked me out and deterred me from trainin. but the itch is still there. i didnt know that you could live in the tunnels without soaking your bandanna with vinegar and huffin it. good to know though. the thought of breathing vinegar for 10 mins wasn't one that appealed to me.


----------



## Bendixontherails (Aug 4, 2009)

Tunnels have always been one of my favorite events on the rails! it's like being on a rocket in space or something. 

Unfortunately, the first time I ever rode through a tunnel longer than 2-3 miles was also my first time to make the run west to seattle, which, as Shoestring mentioned, takes you through both Flathead and Cascade. (Over 7 miles each!) As I am a pretty solitary person most of the time, and almost never ride with anyone else, carbon monoxide had never come up in conversation. I was less than a third of the way back from the units riding dirtyface. By the time we hit the western door of Flathead I had a pretty good headache, but not any worse than an average whisky night would leave you with. My head had cleared some by the time we hit Cascade, and I was completely confused as hell since I thought we had just gone through the Cascade! 

I didn't know about the Flathead tunnel, you see? I thought, "Surely, this tunnel won't be nearly as long as the Cascade tunnel we just went through..." So I wasn't worried. At first. and then it went on. and on. and on. 

By the time we made the west end of the tunnel I had a pretty good headache again, and when the fresh air hit me I puked like I'd swallowed a dead cat. The headache lasted for MUCH longer this time. I now know that the gas takes a while to leave your system. I had a headache for a day and half, and I now respect the longer tunnels more than I did, but they are still one of my favorite events.


----------



## dirtyfacedan (Aug 5, 2009)

I wear a simple p100 mask....easy to find...pawn shops always got em... and it helps with summer forest fire smoke we get up here in the PNW (cascadia). Worth having...light kit.


----------



## mutiny mark (Jul 25, 2011)

Resurrecting a dead post here... anybody have any experience with tunnels in the BC / Alberta area? I'm planning a bit of an adventure that way and trying to avoid death by carbon monoxide, but my rail atlas doesn't seem to have any information on tunnels. (I've read about the Connaught and Mount Macdonald tunnels on the CPR, but haven't found any information concerning lesser-but-still-dangerous tunnels or any of the tunnels on the CN.)


----------



## Xavierr (Sep 2, 2011)

I heard from a worker that even some of the workers wear oxygen masks for the grand junction tunnels. not gonna lie tunnels bug me out, ive never been through a huge one, kind of deters me from some rides, but not like theres a map of rail tunnels out there to my knowledge. In idaho I rode through a huge bush fire DIRECTLY to the sides of the train. I was going to each side of the IMU to avoid the sides the smoke was drifting to, then ahead I saw huge flames, and power lines crumbeling and burning on each side of the carr, so I jump down in the well climb in my sleeping bag trying to avoid it all. Lucikly the train rushed through the fires, and I got up coughing a bit, and went through half of my gallon. Throat was irriated, and I looked back at the fires seeing just the massive amount of smoke that was being produced all over the entire plains and right next to the tracks. I eventually had to get off an hour at dawn later because I went through too much water. Shit scared the fuck out of me, all alone at 3am in bumfuck nowhere, my overactive mind was telling me "yeah, I'm dead". Now I know large tunnels will get to me but I'll still ride... ill prob die in one (my paranoi about em already is kickin in see). Good to know staying to the back is the best option,


----------

