When was your first trip on the pike?
Laurel hill Tunnel... is at 99-100 mile marker at pull off original roadbed located on the south side
of bypass road before it curves to the left and separates in th median.
It can also better be located by turning off on tunnel road across from Hidden Valley on Rt. 31 .
The road eventually travels over top the tunnel itself! You need a sharp eye to catch the portals and
the Hiking trail crosses the center of it on top of the Laurel Hill Mountain.
Quemahoning Tunnel... was planned for use but bypassed ,is at 106.3 mile marker,
at the north side of road,
The eastern portal is in 1883 original condition. It is the best tunnel to see the craftsmanship of railroading in the 1880s
Negro Hill Tunnel...was also planned for use but bypassed ,is at 116.7 mile marker,
at the north side of road,
The eastern and western portals are in 1883 original condition. It is hard to find but i found it under a coal mining site and the owner has filled in the western side of it.
Allegheny Tunnel...The Original eastern 1883 Portal is located above the current Allegheny tunnels
at the north side and above the current tunnels.It is unstable and most of the woodwork has caved in.
This is why it was not used for the current turnpike.It was bored about 150 yards in.
Several original old 1883 rail beds and culverts can be seen, to the south ,beyond the eastern portals of the allegheny tunnels for miles.
At the Bedford exit,after you pay your toll and drive towards Breezewood,you are driving on the original turnpike roadbed from 1940 to 1968.
While exiting if you look to the right you will see the old road go to the right towards Rays Hill Tunnel .This road is blocked but can be accessed by hiking or biking.
Rays hill is about 2 miles away at that point.
After you get through Rays Hill Tunnel you can bike 4 miles to the Western Portal of Sideling Hill Tunnel.This is scenic country in the middle of Buchanan state forest
Several sections of the 1883 rail bed and culverts etc. can be see in this area to the south of this road that was bypassed in 1968.
This section of road gives you the best picture of what the turnpike was like on
October 1st. 1940
In a collaborative writing project for my son's Freshman Language Arts class, I recently completed a personal narrative about my yearly trip from Ohio to New Jersey to visit relatives. It is a very special part of my childhood memories. My favorite part of the entire trip was stopping at the Howard Johnson's right beside the highway and travelling through the seven tunnels. I clearly remember the signs as we approached in our 1959 Dodge Coronet...reminding drivers to remove their sunglasses and turn on their car's headlights. The dark, quiet inside of the mountain with just an echo kind of hum was a real thrill for the three of us kids in the back seat. Your website was helpful because I had forgotten four of the tunnel names. Ray's Hill does not sound familiar at all - the name wouldn't have changed in the last decade or so, would it? Thanks for keeping the memories alive.
I started taking color slides of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1973, since
then I have about 2000 slides. I always like the overpasses. There were all
kinds to see--the concrete ones with the slight arches were the nicest
ones. They had 18 concrete bridges with center piers--all gone now.
I
photographed most of them, and there are the steel bridges too. When you
get on the eastern section, called the Philadelphia extension there are
several styles of the concrete and steel ones too. The Philadelphia
extension runs from exit 24 to exit 16. I have some nice pictures of the
bridge at the Delaware River, taken from a boat.
One of my favorite spots
is at exit 6 of the New Jersey Turnpike. Here, the road splits and there
are two overhead signs on a 1950s style art decor sign mast. The left sign
says New Jersey Turnpike SOUTH with an arrow pointing to it. The other is a
sign ...PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE, with an arrow pointing to it.
The two roads
actually run parallel as the lanes increase from the 3 on the mainline N J
TURNPIKE to 6, which includes three for traffic heading to the Pa. Turnpike.
Then the Pa. Turnpike road bends to the right and you are off for about 3
miles to the toll where you pay your trip over the N J turnpike. Then you
cross the bridge at the Delaware River and then you hit the tollbooth for
Pa. Turnpike.
I also have some vintage slides from the 1940s and 1950s which I have
acquired over the years showing the road then. It was concrete. There was no
barrier in the middle.
I have slides of Quemahoning and all the tunnels so I won't be stopping
there, but there are some other structures I want to take pictures of.
I might stop at Harrisburg and have lunch with Peggy who works for the Turnpike. She emailed me and said she will call Dan Cupper and join us. I know Dan well. He came to NJ and borrowed some Turnpike stuff for the book. He was instrumental to getting me to the guy who had the keys to the room with the old movies!
When people email you about the old tunnels and how to find them do you respond?
Rays and Sideling are passable, but Laurel is not due to the P.T.C. piling salt at the western Portal.
Point out the legalities
and the possibility of the state police going out there. They won't bother you if you
walk or probably with your bicycle as you can access the old pike from
Buchanan Forest, between rays and Sideling but driving in a car is a
different matter. Its a shame they can't allow people to see them. There
is so much interest.
Mitch
Joe,
Thanks for your instructions about finding the roadbed near Breezewood. We made it to Breezewood Saturday despite a dismal forecast. The day was fantastic! Clear and bright. We walked through Ray's Hill Tunnel, going west to east. During the first trip through we used a flashlight because I was unsure about the road surface. Coming back through, we dispensed with it and just walked through the darkness. I did not have the time to do everything I wanted to do. Also, though my friend was enthusiastic, he doesn't quite have my level of turnpike-itis. I did not make it to the entrance of Sideling (which is what I'd hoped to do). I checked out the ventilator building/housing, and I'll never forget the impression of the masses of brightly-colored leaves seen through the front "vented" opening of the fan housing. Incredible! I did not enter the building---the windows looked easy to get into but not as easy to climb back out of!!! Another time . . . I'd definitely like to go back and see Sideling. The still beauty of the clear day and the colored leaves of the trees, the profound quiet of the tunnel (a single leaf blowing through made a loud clatter!), and the empty roadbed made a deep impression on me. Thanks for your interesting Web site and information!
--Bill Fogle.
Im glad you made the trip Bill,it is it is something to see america the way it was
with transportation of the past.what is interesting to me is finding something new there every time i visit.Last time we spent 2 days in the area and found old culverts,landfill,backfill at various degrees of the 1883 Vanderbuilt railroad work in between rays ans sideling hill tunnel
your best to find it going on Oregon road to the old roadbed
Joe, I made the trip! It was the greatest! I found the old Breezewood ramps, still in great shape, drove right up to the eastern portal of Laurel Hill in the middle of the night and to the western portal of Rays Hill at about 8AM. Took great photos. Not that this knowledge will do me any good, but it was fascinating to finally see remants of the original turnpike. I also understand now what they did at Breezewood and it is fascinating how they left the old road intact into town as the exit/entrance ramp to the turnpike at the intersection of the western end of the bypass. I didn't do Sideling Hill but might do that next time. It was neat to compare the road to the old photos..... It is someting else to experience the old tunnels and road. I feel i am in a twilight zone film at that point and there is a nuclear disaster and you are the only one left around.They did make parts of a movie on the old road but i do not know the mane of it.Last week another turnpike fan who lives in D.C. visited the tunnels and road,they were a group of 8 people.They walked miles to see both tunnel site, old C.C.C. camps,and old 1883 vanderbuilt sites in between the tunnels. Bernie Newman
Old roadbed Intrest
Joe,
Just came from your page and I got to tell you It's refreshing to know that somebody else is as nuts about this stuff as I am. Your picture of that long 2 mile stretch of abandoned highway took my breath away! I always enjoyed Turnpike travel. I suppose it was something passed on from my Dad who grew up in Jennerstown, Somerset County. Over the years as I would travel the "pike", I would pass the time by keeping track of where the old road took off from the new road and where it would come back on to the main road. I figured I must have been nuts for thinking this way and when I would travel with other people, much to their bewilderment, I would proceed to give the "guided tour". Without ever going down to the old roadbed, I knew exactly where everything was including the stretch of highway that is part of the Breezewood interchange. You know, that section of highway about one mile long that would if followed would eventually cross RT 30 and on to that 12 mile stretch where the Rays Hill and Sideling Hill tunnels are. I figured out where the Laurel Mt.cut off and return was too. My curiosity just seemed to help me find this stuff. Well just recently I have spoken to some other people who seem to have this same fascination with these old roads. I AM NOT ALONE! I think now the time has come to make the pilgrimage! What I would like to know is does the Turnpike Commission give people a hard time about going out there? Can you pass through the tunnels or are they sealed off. Would a bike be OK? I know exactly how to get to all of them, but could I get in trouble? Are there organized groups of people who go out? I just got to get out there! Any information would be greatly appreciated.
...It's An Obsession....
Denny
Large photo of the origional 1940 Exit/Entrance ramp at Breezewood
Pittsburgh Pa. Pittsburgh Press Article...Traveling in the old Days
Today at the end of a long drive,folks ask,"how long did it take to get here?" But in the 1950s they wanted to know,"How was your trip? what did you see?" Most travelers skip the side road experience to meet their primary goal-getting there in the least amount of time. There are advantages to speed,but before the construction of hi speed multi lane interstate system with its tangle of bypasses,travelers had a chance to experience more personal -and more memorable- excursions.
In the mid 1950s i set out on a trip to camp Lejuine N.C.to visit a relation.Our trip started with the Pennsylvania Turnpike,the nations first limited access,four lane highway. Starting our trip from Western Pennsylvania on the pike was a REAL TREAT. It made us feel exclusive.And we could pull in under Howard Johnsons orange roof for ice cream ( 28 flavors ) and fuel.
As we started to climb up Laurel Mountain we had NO idea that we were traveling on the precursor to the interstate highway system.
Our 1953 Plymouth and my father were not built for speed ...you HAD to notice the countryside as you motored by. Farms,fields, and animals bordered the route,and you could run into anything along the way.Cattle crossing,railroad crossings,or the occasional funeral procession brought us to a stop,but it was all part of the adventure.
Meals were memorable.Roadside cafes and diners were in vogue.The era of the disinfected bargain had not dawned.We slept in roadside cabins with feather mattresses and ate home cooked meals Slumber was not punctuated by the incessant humming of semis through the night.Instead the songs of crickets lulled us to sleep,and birds and roosters roused us in the morning.
We allowed time for side trips.We placed a premium on the quality of the trip,not the average m.p.h. Today i appreciate faster land travel.But sometimes,when i am cruising on a long barren stretch of road with the countryside zipping by in a haze,I think about that comfortable 1953 road trip.
pike e-mail very interesting,have looked for history about turnpike before, never had any luck.I,m an out of state trucker and wondered where the rest of the tunnels where,beside the one we can see on the south side of road before we get to somerset. good job guys >> Theres a lot of truck traffic these days on the pike. I would like to find someone who drove truck regular and used the pike in 1940 He would have stopped just west of the Laurel Hill tunnel at the "Laurel Hill Service Plaza".He would have stopped there a time or two because of the snow as this was the highest point on the origional turnpike. If you drove east back then towards breezewood you would have also stopped at the"Sideling Hill Service Plaza". It was located 1 mile east of the Sideling Hill Tunnel and the Building was torn down and is now the "east-west" Turnpike service plaza as you approach the bypass route to head up sideling hill mountain.
The abandondened P.A. Turnpike really enjoy your website, its very informative and interesting. The
reason I enjoy learning about the turnpike is because I live right beside
it, probably 25 feet from the edge, 3 or 4 hundred yards down from where it
connects on to the new turnpike at Breezewood. The turnpikes are such a
common thing around here, that is why I refer to them as "the old turnpike"
and "the new turnpike".
I have all kinds of books and artifacts that I have
collected from over there, so if there are any questions, or things you
would like me to check out on the pike, let me know. One thing I have to ask
you. Did you ever WALK through what I call the second tunnel (Sidling Hill
Tunnel)? I walked through it once and I'll never do it again, in the middle
of summer there were icecicles hanging from the center of it. From now on, I
only go through on a fourwheeler, and only if I have a sweat-shirt with me.
Once again, great site, Alex Sleighter
Hello Alex thanks for looking at the site.I allways thought the road should be reopened as a truck 30 bypass of the mountains and charge a toll.Also the breezewood people should open a turnpike museum at the east side of rays hill tunnel.They could have an origional 1940 turnpike toll booth and a man in 1940 P.T.C. work outfit to collect tolls.Also they could put old fasioned lifgts and billboards along the road.Threr seems to be a lot of deer in your area.The wife and i biked the whole road except for sideling as we could not see.It is something else how long it is,rays is no problem.I partied at laurel hill tunnel and drove through it with my truck.
It is a diffrent tunnel as it slopes downward as you travel westward in it.I also visited all of the old 1883 Vanderbuilt railroad ways along the pike. There are a couple of sites to see,south and in between the old pike.I also have 1940 films of traffic going through the tunnels and pike.
Pennsylvania Turnpike History by:
Joseph Topinka
27 Lincoln ave.
Irwin,Pa. 15642
Pa. Turnpike Exit 7
Phone 724-863-8006 days
