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Sixgun Siding) There aren't many tunnels on the Southern Plains, but Tucumcari has one, just east of town. It was built to give the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad a way out of town, once Interstate Forty was built over its right of way. You can argue that it's an underpass, but the length of the thing, going under the road at an oblique angle, makes it more like a tunnel than not.
Legend has it that the Rock Island went belly-up the day after the tunnel was opened and only one train ever officially used it.
Awesome pic. I was eating lunch at the Russell's near the old townsite of Bard NM and Flint in the Car museum told me about this. All that money blown only to sit idle. Until the state finally decides to fill it in.
ReplyDeleteI think it would make a good starting point for a rail trail.
ReplyDeleteLink it all the way up to the portion in Amarillo. That would be nice.
DeleteThat's what I'm thinking, follow the old right-of-way up to US 54.
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