So i have been to them. Just last April in fact, Me and a few of the Invaders Members went to The Abandoned Turnpike Meet. But i wanna hear stories who all has seen these, better yet maybe worked there back in day or even drove through em!!. Heres some photos i took a ton and i really didnt wanna post em all via my phone. Really an amazing trip next to my multiple visits to Centrailia ( a favorite place of mine to visit. Sent from my LG-M327 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Drove, rather rode through them many times with my uncle driving back in the early 1960's. Are they still passable all the way through? Amazing how fast Mother Nature reclaims manmade structures with the trees growing so close. Do you know what year they were closed? I forget.
I remember driving the Pennsylvania turnpike back in 66 and thinking how nice and well kept all the turnpikes were on one of my trips to the east coast. They bypassed the citys and everything a traveler needed was there without getting off. Well worth the tolls you paid.
Centralia PA, the town that moved away. Don't mean to take the post over but you should tell the story of the town. The town sat on one of the purest forms of coal and was mined for years. They had a practice of getting rid of garbage by dumping it in an abandoned strip mining pit and then setting it on fire. In 1962 it caught an underground coal seam on fire. Several attempts have been made to put it out but the fire is still burning to this day. They finally moved the people out in the early 80s because of the danger. Amazing place, years ago a relative took me to a natural vent there. A spot where a small crack in the rocks was hot enough to burn your hand or as he related, cook your breakfast.
Unfortunately I didn't hear about these tiles I moved away from MD. They are definitely something I'd like to see some time
PA has a massive streak of coal running through it. The story of Centralia is sad, the town had to shut down. Those folks can truly never go home.
^ The ones to the right are the top grade ones. Anthracite... burns hotter, longer and cleaner and that is the one Centralia sits on. I was told that it is the reason why its been so difficult to put out. I was also told that they were offered a fair price for their property but I know that is a relative thing. It came down to what was cheaper- extinguishing the fire or buying them out.
There is one right along I 70 just East of the Wheeling Tunnel. Old B&O Rail Road that ran from Wheeling WV. to Washington PA portions are now bike walking trails. Several along that route with some longer than a 1/4 Mile but on private land now. I was through several of them in my youth as they were a level way to get around on your bicycle and you just rode along the tracks. We were always warned that the suction of a passing train would suck into it if you were caught in the tunnel when the train came. There were little recesses just big enough for a single man to stand in all of the way through. Fact or fiction? We made sure that there were no train sounds before we passed through one.
There a neat tunnel between Canon City and Cripple Creek in Colorado. We took that route , Phantom canyon road, back in the seventies on motorcycles. The tunnel was built for old steam locomotives and you can still see the black soot on the ceiling of the tunnel. Was real cool. Bones
My dad said they used to buy something called Canell coal back in the day. It burned hotter or something. Everybody burned coal at one time for heat. Gramps switched to an oil burner at some point, I still remember the coal/oil odor in the basement. They had a coal chute on the side of the house. As an aside, a whole bunch of people used to show up at your house. The Ice man, the Coal man, the Mail man, the Meter man, the Milk man, the Rag man etc. Today, somebody dies in their easy chair and nobody notices for 6 months.
^ Isn't that the truth. We used to have a "gate keeper" policy at work. Employees were there every month reading the meter and reported when they noticed something out of the ordinary. The older folks knew them all by name and they basically became extended members of the family. It was contracted out and we lost that special bond with a lot of customers. Now that deregulation is here they are scrambling to get some of that back.
I still do. In my outdoor burner that heats the water that circulates to heat both my house and to story garage.
Im sorry i forgot the story of centrailia. I knew it because i met a few old residents and the author of the book A Fire Underground. Its a sad story. And sorry i didnt add more photos i took a ton ( in my 23 year old mind i want something to look at when im older). And i belive this stretch was closed in 69 or 68. Laural Mt tunnel which is now a wind tunnel for chip gannesse racing ( sorry if i miss spelled his name). The car meet had a few good rides there but most of it was late model stuff mommy and daddy bought Jr. Sent from my LG-M327 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Speaking of delivery men check out these two in their coal delivery uniforms. All of them wore uniforms back in he day; water meter reader, milk man, appliance repairman, ice man, Ice cream truck driver, etc.
My dad delivered ice in High School, the football coach thought that was a good idea for the off season. Refrigerators had been around for quite a while by then, but a lot of poor people couldn't afford them and also lived in apartments, so lugging heavy blocks of ice up ten flights of stairs was good exercise.
Was reading somewhere the other day that there are a few abandoned RR tunnels have been converted to inside shooting ranges. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Drove truck from Wisconsin to New York back in mid sixties, big rig speed limit was 45 mph and every town had a JP that had a nephew that was a Pike Trooper. Thank Jesus when I80 opened. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app