Railroad Tunnels Combo, The Story of Underground Rails & Building the Red Line Subway

If you’re interested in railroad tunnels, this is the combo for you!

“Tunnels, The Story of Underground Rails”
Under the sea, under mountains, under cities. Railroads need these – somehow both well known and yet mysterious – works of faith, sweat and blood. Without tunnels the first railroads would have never left the immediate boundaries of their founding. No going west across the Appalachians. Conquering the Rockies would have meant a slow tortuous route of switchbacks. 10 million people a year would not be heading quickly and efficiently by train between France and the United Kingdom.

The modern world of commerce began when railroads could reach every part of the land. And that means huge construction projects. Bridges, tunnels, snow sheds and much more…but the tunnels are what really brought railroads, and their freight, to all parts of a country.

Pentrex looks at the need for tunnels (why not a 10% grade?) and at some early and famous tunneling projects. Then settle in for a video of several unique tunnels and tunnel projects:

• Take a cab ride through Alaska’s shared road/rail Whittier Tunnel
• The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco with vintage film
• Chicago Freight Tunnels w/ 40 Feet Below (and the ’92 flood)
• Tour a series of original B&O tunnels in West Virginia
• Construction of the “Chunnel”
  And more…!

“Beneath Los Angeles”
Independent filmmaker Chris Hume spent thousands of dollars of his own money and hundreds of hours making this documentary about the beginnings of the Los Angeles’ Metro Rail subway system. The Red Line, now also called the B Line, was the first subway line in LA. It was a $4.5-billion construction project by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – which gave the filmaker unfettered access to the project. Hundreds of feet underground Chris explored the Red Line’s deepest and longest tunnels.

The Red Line is 16 miles long, running from Downtown LA to North Hollywood. At one point the miners, tunnel boring machine and filmaker were 900 feet below street level. The LA Times interviewed Chris Humes, Entering the tunnel on the Universal City side, he once traveled nearly two miles into the Santa Monica Mountains–at one point to a depth of about 900 feet–toward the future Hollywood/Highland station to watch the tunnel-boring machines (“They’re as big as a football field!”) at work.

“It was incredible, like being on a spaceship,” Hume said of being inside the enormous machines. “You’re hundreds of feet underground walking on catwalks near machines with banks of gauges and dials. It’s very hot and wet, probably more than 100 degrees down there. And the air has to be pumped in artificially from the opening two miles back.”

This is not the usual “railfan” show, it is a documentary on the people, engineering and construction of the subway – including scenes of the 1997 “hole-through” – the underground meeting of the crews and machines tunneling north from Hollywood and south from North Hollywood.