CSX's Howard Street Tunnel - Baltimore MD - Abandoned Train Tunnels on Waymarking.com

From the photo attached, note that the entrance to the tunnel is fenced closed so that one can see it is now abandoned.

From Wikipedia in part:

The Howard Street Tunnel, originally a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) long tunnel under Howard Street in downtown Baltimore, took four and a half years to build (1890–95) and was the longest tunnel on the B&O's system. The tunnel is brick-lined with iron-arched centerings. At the time of completion it was considered innovative for its use of electricity for illumination and powering of locomotives. Inside the tunnel, there was an underground platform for trains serving Camden Station. The tunnel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Connecting the new Philadelphia Branch to the rest of the B&O system was a considerable engineering challenge. A new surface line across the center of town was politically impossible and prohibitively expensive. Building around the outskirts of town would have required massive regrading and bridging, as the terrain is extremely hilly and the line would cut across every watershed flowing into the harbor. As a temporary expedient, traffic was handled through Baltimore on carfloats, but it was clear that a direct connection would have to be built.

The route the B&O chose started from the existing end of track at Camden station, at the west end of the Inner Harbor. A tunnel was constructed directly under Howard Street, heading north until just before it crossed the existing PRR line.

At the north portal of the tunnel, Mount Royal Station was constructed. The track then curved around to the east, passed through six other (much shorter) tunnels, continued across town, finally heading southeast to meet the already constructed line just north of the Canton neighborhood. The cost of construction drove the railroad into bankruptcy shortly after the line opened in 1895.

Initially there were plans to build three new stations, but concern for interference with freight haulage and expense reduced this to a single station at Mount Royal, which opened on September 1, 1896. Lower-level platforms were added at the east end of B&O's Camden Station in 1897.

Because of smoke in the tunnel, the line was electrified. The first train pulled by an electric locomotive operated through the Howard Street Tunnel on June 27, 1895. Electrification last until 1952, when diesels made things a whole lot cheaper. It was the first mainline electrification in the United States.

When I first started driving in 1969, I remember coming down to Camden Station, when it was still in service as a train station, and you could park anywhere in a huge parking lot that covered the area now taken up by I-395 and the convention center across the street. There was a covered walkway crossing the tracks which would take you from the parking lot to the station. You can see this in the pictures below.

Back in the early 80's, the tunnel was extended at the southern end to make room for the I-395 leg coming into downtown, and most of the adjoining yards were already gone. I-395 opened in 1981.

One of the worst accidents to happen in the tunnel was in 2001, where cars derailed and caught fire in the tunnel and had the city pretty much strangled and shut-down for 5 days.

Over the past 10 years or so, there has been talk of either replacing or "fixing" the tunnel so that double-stack trains can cross Baltimore. As things stand now, the ports are on the eastside of Baltimore, and the way west is by way of going thru Baltimore, on either the CSX or the Northeast Corridor, both of which have to go thru a tunnel built at the turn of the 1900's before large loads were being carried by the railroads. Current thinking is to lower the floor in the tunnel to gain the needed two feet of clearance.

As of December 2019, it was announced that CSX and Maryland have secured a 100+ million shortfall for the estimated $466M project, so plans are underway to raise the ceiling by 18 inches (just in the area of the ceiling where the double stack trains will be), and lower the floor and use metal ties to help lower it a few more inches."

Construction: Brick or concrete block Condition: Fair Rail Status: Yes Current status: Abandoned & Visitable Original Use: Passenger Train Tunnel Length: 7,800.00 Terrain: Website: [Web Link] Date Built: 1895 Date Abandoned: 2000 The "Other End": Not Listed Suggested Parking Area: Not Listed

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