Historic Brockville Railway Tunnel 2
by John Twynam
Title
Historic Brockville Railway Tunnel 2
Artist
John Twynam
Medium
Photograph
Description
The brick-lined walls of Canada's first railway tunnel, built in Brockville in 1860, are lit up in multi-coloured lights as a tourist attraction.
The tunnel runs north/south for approximately half a kilometre under the downtown core of Brockville, originally built by the Brockville and Ottawa (B&O) Railway as a rail link from the timber trade of the Ottawa valley to the Brockville port facilities on the St. Lawrence River ship route. The rail line through the tunnel was later used by special height-shortened steam engines, and then diesel trains into the mid-1970s. The rails and ties were then sold and removed in the 1980s, and the railway tunnel was no longer used as it was built. In 1982, the tunnel was turned over to the City of Brockville by Marathon Realty, the real-estate wing of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 2016–17, the railway tunnel underwent a major interior rehabilitation to make it possible to travel safely through it on foot. Visitors can now walk from the south portal to the north portal, exiting at the north-end gorge and up a ramp to street level. Prior to the rehabilitation visitors were only able to enter at the south portal and walk a short distance underground.
The railway tunnel has received thousands of visitors since it opened completely on August 12, 2017. It now features a modern LED coloured light system, which is programmed in various ways, along with a recorded music track playing while one walks through.
Uploaded
August 31st, 2021
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