Has anyone here rode through the Moffat Tunnel?It's a 100 year old, 6 mile rail tunnel through the mountains in Colorado. Apparently there's no ventilation and very little clearance with the walls.
>>2026563>no ventilationHighly doubtful.
>>2026588There is a fan system at one end of the tunnel. After a train passes through, doors close and the fan runs for about 20 minutes to clear the exhaust. Train crews going through the tunnel have to carry backup oxygen because there's no ventilation shaft inside the tunnel.
>>2026589So there is ventilation. Thanks for clearing that up.
>>2026590Sure, but unlike modern ventilation systems, the fans can't run while a train is operating in the tunnel. When the train is inside, it's not being ventilated.
>>2026591But there is ventilation. So glad you helped illimunate this thread.
i don't know why you would begin dictionary-thumping rather than engaging with the actual, concrete topic of the thread.
>>2026593retard
>>2026606>>2026599>There's no ventilation in this tunnel...>Except there actually is.>Let me tell you how there is.>But, no, that's not actually ventilation.Retards
What did they do in the era of steam trains? Did remote controlled, timed exhaust fans exist back then?
>>2026630>A friend's grandfather was an engineer who ran steam through the Moffat Tunnel, including the L-131 3600 series 2-8+8-2s. His description was that running steam through the tunnel was a miserable experience. Crews were issued gas masks to wear in the tunnel, but they were only partially effective. Cab temperatures while in the tunnel could climb to 130+ degrees. With the steam, he compared it to being in a steam bath full of grease and soot while wearing full clothing. He related that none of the train crews lamented the end of steam in the tunnel. Diesels weren't that much better. Crews hated taking anything except the SD-40T-2 "Tunnel Motors" through the tunnel because "normal" diesel locomotives had a propensity for suffocating and dying in the tunnel. The mid (swing) and rear helper crews had the toughest time of it, having to deal with the exhaust from all of the locomotives in the train. Anyone who has witnessed the pall of smoke that exits the venitlation ducts at East Portal after a train has traversed the tunnel can see the gunk that fills the tunnel, especially with a heavy trainhttps://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,5254313Sounds awful. Rail tunnels freak me out today, I can't imagine what it was like back then.
>>2026630They probably had a full time tunnel crew to do all of that
>>2026641>because "normal" diesel locomotives had a propensity for suffocating and dying in the tunnelOh that sounds really fun and not totally pants-shitting terrifying...
>>2026607That still sounds like woefully inadequate ventilation, and the low side clearance means if an Amtrak ever breaks down in the tunnel basically everyone WILL suffocate.
>>2026697(covering my ears and rocking back and forth) It has ventilation! It has ventilation! It has ventil
>>2026563yesit's not very interesting when you're in it
