March 2011

Tunnel 1 at Hampton

Here's that ugly concrete encased water main that I told you about earlier. Joel's walking it. The original water main it replaced was put in early in the railroad's history and ran hidden underneath the tracks in the tunnel. It has always come from springs in Hampton and provides some of the water for Elizabethton. Looks like they went for cheaper and easier in this latest version, but at least they left access through the tunnel. We're looking from the end of the old bridge towards Hampton in this photo. There's a great story about this site with lots of photos and a scale drawing of the bridge in the Fall/Winter 2004 issue of the "Stemwinder". If you'd like to find out more, but don't have access to that issue, it's available here at this link.