A lot of what you ask depends

A lot of what you ask depends on the specific geography/geology involved.... so without specific information, it's impossible to give a definitive answer.

Recession

The P&A is doing new construction during the recession of 1953?  I would think they'd put that on hold until economic times improved.

P&A located along the Allegheny River

The tunnel in question is located in along the Allegheny River where there are several sharp twists and bends in certain spots.  The PRR actually did this about 20 years after taking over the AVR in the early 1920s.  

Ken L

Two reasons P&A would continue construction...

First, it was started in 1952, so it was already committed to the project.  Second, the tunnel will drastically reduce operation and maintenance costs so management decides to continue.

Ken L. 

First question, how do the

Since you are making a hole, there wouldn't be that many supplies (as compared to a bridge.)  Entirely dependent on access.  In 1953, the workers by auto and the supplies by truck, unless it was some huge stone blocks them maybe by rail.

If you say there is no access by roads and the only access is by rail, then duh, by rail.

I would say the earth dug out would be used for fill leading up to the tunnel or on the new alignment. If stuff did have to be hauled away (poor engineering) then it would be gons or side dumps.

Who knows.  There would be whatever the minimum they could get by with.

Follow up question...

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What about the lining of the tunnels?  In 1953 it most likely would be concrete, so wouldn't they need the cement and aggregate for making the concrete?  Or does only the tunnel portal and any retaining wall need concrete?

If there was bedrock involved, would they use dynamite and therefore need loads of that once in awhile.  I was hoping to have that included once in awhile to add a hazardous movement car as those cars, from what I have read, was handled very carefully both in the yard, and by the Road Crews until the car was delivered.  

Ken L.

 

Truck Traffic

1953... Dave is right, alot of what you are looking at will be brought in by truck. Dozers would have been used to push material out, and likely with proximity to the rive it would have been spread out along the river embankment. 

The bigger questions is why didnt they build the tunnel in the early 1900s. If the line was strong enough to survive etc the tunnel likely would have been dug when labor was cheap

The NYCS will decide to do so...

The P&A when it was on it's own never considered it.  Shortly after the NYCS acquires the P&A towards the end of the Great Depression in 1940, although plans were started being made to upgrade this line, they were pushed back because of World War II.  After the war, other priorities for the NYCS diverted funds and attention from these plans.  As traffic increases in the early 1950s, by 1952 the NYCS decides to finally do the upgrade.

The tunnel is in a space that there are no roads so workers and supplies will need to be transported by rail.  

This was a constant nightmare for the Maintenance Dept (according to several folks on the PRR discussion group) as many areas had rail-only access, no roads whatsoever, and when I look at images from Google-Earth, it confirms this information.  

Ken L. 

Day light vs tunnel

The ironic thing is most railroads tended to daylight tunnels rather than create new tunnels if at all possible because tunnels are a major maintenance headache.

Possible prototype

The Reading or Lehigh Valley did a similar project in I think the 1940s. This would have been on their mainline following a large river. I can't remember the details but it's something to check out.

Tunnels

The RDG converted tunnels from double track to single track because the bores were too small to handle modern cars and engine side by side.  So they single tracked them and move the track to the center of the tunnel where the roof was higher.

I can't recall the RDG drilling a new bore in the 1940's or 50's.  They might have but most of the tunnels I am aware of are "old".

OK, what if I change it from...

...a new tunnel construction to a repairing a collapsed tunnel.  The old right of way was still usable that bypasses the tunnel.  So on the layout, the mainline used will have a restricted speed because of the condition of the line and the sharper curves, but then there will be the scene to bring supplies to reline the tunnel (i.e. making of concrete) and any other needed supplies.  

If the tunnel is being lined by concrete, were reusable concrete forms used, or were the forms custom built using various materials?

Day-lighting the tunnel isn't an option as there is too much material.

Any thoughts on that?

Ken L. 

Improve clearances

You could be improving clearances. Lots of railroads did that. A few did so even in the depths of the Depression; any time that the traffic justified it, it would be done. You could be easing curves, although that is less likely in the tunnel. Definitely not unheard-of, though.

The main line might even be usable much of the time through such work, although definitely not all. You can dial the amount of work up or down depending on the story. If the clearances were only a minor improvement, you could show the work site but still use the tunnel. If the work is major, you might have to use the old line and slow orders for the duration of the project.

I would think that in the 1950s most forces would have used custom forms.

Justify

Ken : What are you actually trying to justify or do?  The whole scenario thing is a just a reason to justify something.  What's that something?

Bottom line...

I want some kind of construction site for either creating a new or repairing a current collapsed tunnel.  In either case, the original mainline that follows the Allegheny River will be used.  Provides another location for delivery for a local, creates a reason for another speed restriction, and over all would be something different that isn't modeled that often.  

I also plan on having a damaged bridge reconstruction/replacement scene with a temporary bridge and sharp curves that I have seen done.

Ken L. 

A collapsed tunnel wouldn't

A collapsed tunnel wouldn't likely result in a bypass around the tunnel, it would more likely result in a complete re-routing of traffic over another division completely in the kind of terrain you describe. . the line would be completely  closed to everything but movement of supplies/dross/waste from the repair.

In most cases yes...

...however there is a 30 year old R-O-W that used to follow the Allegheny River that was abandoned in 1923 when the new tunnel was built.  The engineering department determined the condition of the line was good enough for traffic but speed restrictions along this line would be mandated.  That's the "story", so far.  It's still a "work in progress"

Ken L

Check out how the SP repaired the 1952 earthquake damage

   There was damage at many locations from Bakersfield to Tehachapi and a major tunnel collapse near Bealville, the railroad  brought in work trains and parked them nearby. There was road access to the site so some equipment and workers probably came by road but I've seen photos of bunk cars parked on a nearby siding so the railroad was highly involved in the logistics process. Sometime back in the 80's there was a tunnel fire and collapse on the Santa Cruz Felton branch and they called me in to survey a new route around the tunnel instead of rebuilding it. We got to the site by speeder as it was a long steep walk from the Highway.I can't recall how they got the heavy eqiuipment in and out of there. Probably on flat cars with temp loading ramps? ....DaveB

OK, here's the updated "backstory"...

Tunnel built in the early 20th Century near Kennedall, PA to bypass sharp curves of original mainline along Allegheny River.  Original mainline turned into branch but connects at both ends as the  City of Kennedall still is served by the Division Local.  In June of 1953, the Tunnel collapses due to (INSERT REASON HERE - possibly poor quality of materials used during original construction).  So branch become temporary mainline.  Will require Bulletin and speed restrictions are imposed due to sharp curves of line (one reason for the tunnel was to allow for faster speeds as well as a shorter distance).  

I have a couple questions concerning the Timetable.  First, would a one town "branch" be included in the Timetable.  I ask this because there are some branches on the PRR that are NOT in the timetable (such as the Schenley branch - it's in the CT1000 and is show on system maps, but not in either the Pittsburgh Region or Northern Region timetables).  

Second, if it is listed, I would presume it would NOT be listed in line with the stations for the Mainline, so how is this town temporarily added to the timetable.  Does the "Bulletin" cover that, including times for each trains scheduled time for the additional station?  With it adding 4+ miles of travel, does that change the times on the rest of the timetable?  Obviously the RR is not going to issue a new timetable over this, but it has to be adjusted.  Or are all these adjustments require Train Orders.  So for every train to get authority to go to and through Kennedall will require a Train Order.  

Thanks

Ken L.

Another Direction

So just thinking outside of the box, er, tunnel, maybe you could have a siding that is out of service due to a rock slide or slope failure?  that would at least justify bringing in new construction materials and hauling out excess material.  Like Dave said, a planned project isn't going to have a bunch of haul away material, but if it's an emergency slope stabilization project, that should be able to justify the traffic and conditions that your looking for (e.g., materials in, waste rock out, slow order on the main still in service, etc.). 

Ken, I have to tell you, I get a big smile on my face when I see a new post from you.  Reading through the posts is always entertaining and educational. 

Branches

"Branch" is term which has different meanings on different railroads.  The Missouri Pacific had no "branches" whatsoever, while the Reading Co. had two Main Lines (Pottsville to Phillie and Phillie to New York) and the entire rest of the system were "branches".

On a railroad there are no such things as "towns". Road maps have towns.  Timetables have "stations". 

There are also other things, such as industrial leads, beside subdivisions, main lines, secondaries and branches.  Industrial leads can have stations, but don't have main tracks

I don't understand the question about "temporarily adding" something to the timetable.  I thought you said the local services the Kennerdall?  If it services it and operates over the line, then the line has to be in the time table already.  The line through Kennerdall has at least 3 stations on it, north junction, Kennerdall, south junction. 

What the railroad does with the schedules depends a lot on what  is at Kennerdall and what is between north and south junction on the regular route.  Is there a siding at Kenerdall?  Is there an open TO office?  Since only the local runs through Kennerdall, there is no station stop for passenger trains.

If there is no scheduled stop or station times between North and South junction, they may not need to do anything, except put out a bulletin that all trains will operate over the xxxxxxxxx branch between North and South Junction.  They wouldn't need to do anything with the schedules.  No times would have to be adjusted.  Since the line through Kennerdall is not out of service there are already speed restrictions on it, there wouldn't need to be any new speed restrictions issued.  UNLESS there are additional stations on the normal route between North and South Junction, its basically a non-event for the through trains, it just takes a few minutes longer.

The way many railroads did something like you are talking about, with a line change is just make one route "main 1" and the other route "main 2".  Veeeeeeeeeeery simple.

The reality is they most likely wouldn't keep the line all the way though Kennerdall.  They would at most retire whichever side didn't have any industry on it (and I can't see where Kennerdall would have any industry at all.)  Most likely they would do what the real railroad did which is retire the line through Kennerdall. and just keep the tunnel.

You could fudge the history of the Pennsylvania turnpike.

From online sources they finished a western extension project in 1951. They started new tunnel upgrades in 1959. So by pretending they are still working on the 1951 project you could have a major project without changing anything on the railroad.
 

I thought of fictional? (Nonconfirmed yet through research, but plausible) extra traffic for my railroad. Route 222 was being built in my era with concrete. Some quarrys had to supply limestone and gravel to the batch plants. Why not the local rail served quarry? 
 

The Tunnel actually exists

The tunnel and scenario really exists.

In the map below, the green line is the alignment with the tunnel.  "Tunnel Road" which runs along the river is the old alignment.   

Very nice!

Hi,

what you describe is very nice. You should go with it.

The old line was degraded ("main" to "secondary" or even "branch"). It was left for something like "fall color specials" but is stricken from the regular timetable. Due to a problem with the tunnel (why not blame the road tunnel work?) all trains have to go back to the old line. As the old line is suddenly used by heavy trains, extra speed restrictions have been placed.

As for the timetable, you could issue a special order stating that all trains past the construction site have to be late by 15 minutes. Or you could just say they pulled an old edition off the shelves and re-printed that. Just for this section. Old typeface and old errors included

There are examples of what you describe, one of the more prominent ones is the Gotthard Tunnel in the Swiss Alps. The new tunnel (built just recently) takes most of the freight and high-speed passenger traffic. The old line is kept open for some local trains and for "historic specials"... In case of a problem with the new tunnel, the old line will become very crowded.

Have fun and stay healthy.