Back to tunnels. The Brockville Railway Tunnel was the first railway tunnel built in Canada. It takes 20 to 30 minutes minimum to walk the tunnel. It was built between 1854 and 1860 and was a tunnel for trains to pass through. The rationale says it was designed to provide a rail link from the timber trade to the port facilities on the St. Lawrence. It goes under the town. A hill was the obstacle.
The chief engineer recommended the rail line run around the high grade of the community and simply come down to the river and avoid the hill. However, the philosophy of the Canadian railway builders seemed to be based on the belief that no railway was complete without at least one tunnel. The council of the day and the citizens of Brockville seemed to agree and pledged their support to the building of the tunnel under the city for a direct access north. Numerous people died in the building of the tunnel, and it had its accidents during operation as well. Its short height meant that shortened steam engines had to be used to travel through it. Despite its constrained size it was in operation until 1970. Today it is a tourist attraction with a light show on the walls.
It is 1,721 feet long. Is that long? It seems so to me. Mount MacDonald tunnel under Roger's Pass in Glacier National Park is 14,723 metres long - that's the longest in Canada. Brockville is third from the bottom at 527 metres long, but is also the oldest tunnel in Canada.
What might the longest in the world be? It is the Gotthard tunnel at 57 km (35 miles) or 57,500 metres long from the Netherlands to Italy. Switzerland, Austria, Japan, England and South Korea all have tunnels over 50,000 metres long.
That seems like a "bad dream" trip to me.
Here's the tunnel, followed by a post card image today.
There is a 'most famous' website. It is worldfamousthings.org is where you will find bridges, castles, facts about animals, towers, tourist attractions, towers in history, roller coasters, floating underwater tunnels in Norway, carnivorous plants. Underwater tunnels in Norway?
Norway's underwater floating tunnel was 'being planned' in January 2019. It is a $40 billion infrastructure project to make the route between two sites 'ferry-free'.
An article written January 6 2020, says the world's deepest subsea tunnel - The Ryfylke tunnel - has opened in Norway. It is 292 metres below sea level and is 14.4 km long.
They are really moving along with these tunnels - the Hundvag tunnel and the Eiganes tunnel were due to open in February 2020 according to a September 2019 article.
The National Post shows the many bridges and tunnels that will/are being built along the Highway E39 route which connects the north and south Norwegian cities. The entire project is planned to be completed in 2025.
We're looking at the Creighton House wisteria arbour in Jordan earlier in the week. It is more than 150 long and is over 100 years old. Pauline Creighton told me the story of the stone - it was used for horse coaches and would have been on the other side of the sidewalk. It found its way back to the original house after spending some years on a farm up on the escarpment.
