Tunnel Hill Illinois State Trail Tunnel - Tunnel Hill, IL - Abandoned Train Tunnels on Waymarking.com

From the Illinois Department of Transportation webpage for the Tunnel Hill State Trail:

Among the [early railroad] developers in Illinois was a hapless Civil War general, Ambrose Burnside, perhaps best remembered for his style of facial hair, for which his compatriots transposed the syllables of his last name to create the term "sideburns."

In 1872, Burnside and others began the Vincennes and Cairo Railroad, named for its terminuses at Vincennes, Ind., and Cairo, Ill. In addition to passengers, the railroad transported coal, salt, wood products and orchard-grown peaches and apples.

If the 45-mile length of Tunnel Hill State Trail could be seen in cross-section, it would taper to its lowest points at either end, with Harrisburg at 370 feet and Karnak at 340 feet above sea level. The highest point is midway at Tunnel Hill, which has an elevation of 680 feet. By mountain standards, it's just a molehill, but it was high enough that railroad builders decided rather than going over it, they'd tunnel through it, giving the landmark its name. Their decision resulted in a comfortable 2 percent grade the length of the trail.

For more than 50 years after the railroad was built, the tunnel was longer than 800 feet, but when a portion of the tunnel collapsed in 1929, the landmark was shortened by 300 feet. Now 543-feet long, it is the only tunnel on the trail.

The railroad changed hands through the years. Other operators and owners included the Wabash, St. Louis, Pacific; New York Central; Penn Central; Conrail; and , during its most productive years, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis line, also known as the CCC & St. Louis or Big Four. The last owners were the Southern Line and, following a merger, Norfolk Southern Railroad.

In 1991, Norfolk Southern gave the State of Illinois the railroad right-of-way between Harrisburg and Karnak, where is had abandoned operations. The Department of Natural Resources has worked to develop the railroad ballast as a trail for hikers, joggers and cyclists, surfacing the trail with crushed limestone and gravel, installing privy toilets and providing drinking water. The first segments of Tunnel Hill State Trail opened in 1998. The trail was completed in the fall of 2001.

Construction: Concrete Condition: Good Rail Status: No Current status: Recreation Path Original Use: Freight Tunnel Length: 543.00 Suggested Parking Area: N 37° 31.407 W 088° 50.306 Terrain: Website: [Web Link] The "Other End": Not Listed Date Built: Not listed Date Abandoned: Not listed

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