Old RR Tunnels 3 & 4 at Somerset, KY

[Bill Richardson]

   This past Saturday a friend and I walked through the old tunnels 3 & 4 on the south side of Somerset, KY.  The south end of #4 ends at a bridge abutment for the old RR bridge that was there before the Cumberland River was dammed and Lake Cumberland was formed.  I think that was in the 1940s.

   I knew about a tunnel being there for a lot of years, and thought it was just one, until recently, when I found out there are two, in line.  I had seen mention of tunnels 3 and 4, but thought they were in different locations, not close to each other.

  Both tunnels, including the gap between them,  form almost a 90 degree turn toward the river/lake.  A couple years ago I drove to the north end of the first tunnel, #3, but didn't go in.  At the time, I was thinking there was one tunnel.  Anyway, recently I found out that both tunnels are near each other and I wanted to go through them if not flooded.  I met with a hiking friend of mine and we went out there to have a look.  We walked all the way through both tunnels to the old bridge abutment.  There was some water, but nothing bad.  The worst was in the latter half of #4.  We found some flow-stone formations, like in caves.  Similar situation.  At the lake side, we lingered a while, made some photos and went back.  After all that time knowing about at least one tunnel there, I was able to go through them.   I have photos of them on my tunnels web page.   My website is:  Railroad-Engines-Bridges-Tunnels.  Here is a link:

http://railroad-engines-bridges-tunnels.atwebpages.com/Old%20Tunnels/rathole-division.html

Update:  Jan 2020---I had photos on here, but the links got broken.  I'm not going to do all that again. The web page has plenty of tunnel photos.

[NSyorktown]

I was just looking through the pictures on Bill's website:  http://railroad-engines-bridges-tunnels.atwebpages.com/Old%20Tunnels/rathole-division.html

Great stuff!  But an obvious question, what happened to all the rock that came out of the Kings Mountain cut back in the early 1960s? 

Per anyone from that area of central Kentucky, are you aware of what they did with all that debris?  Note: That amount of rock could fill-in a lot of potholes, or help elevate a nearby roadway or rail line.

Thanks in advance, for any replies.

[Bill Richardson]

Thanks for your comment.  As to your question, I don't know what was done with all that rock.  It was probably put to use somewhere as fill.

[thpbears]

Nice pics thanks for sharing

[butch]

I went down to Burnside last Monday when Lake Cumberland peaked at 756+ ft.  The first pic is from a couple of years ago when Emmett and I went exploring on a pontoon boat.  It shows the southern portal of T4 when the pool was in the 720-725 ft. range.  The next pic is from the US 27 bridge Monday showing the lake is over halfway up in the portal.  The third pic is of the northern T4 portal that had about a foot of water flowing out and down the ROW and back into Pittman Creek.  The last pic is down the old ROW towards T3 with Pittman Creek on the left.  FYI, the lake was at least another 15 ft  before it would have been in T3, probably closer to 20 ft.

[AC44C6M]

What typically makes up the rock layers in the CNOTP area? Are we talking limestone or something harder?

Thanks in advance!

[E. Hodgson]

Typically limestone, with some quartz and other junk mixed in.


Eric

[AC44C6M]

Typically limestone, with some quartz and other junk mixed in.


Eric

Thanks, Eric! Are there any significant limestone mining operations on or along the NS? I'm aware of a quarry on CSX near Mount Vernon, but nothing comes to mind on NS.

[E. Hodgson]

Not that I am aware of typically rock is mined locally and hauled via truck short distances, so I suspect there isn't much use for rail access for rock quarries. Theoretically the limestone quarry in Lexington was close enough to the LL Branch to have had a connection though none was ever made to my knowledge.