I'm looking for some info on the Hauto Tunnel that carriend the Lehigh, New England under Nesquehoning mt. between Lansford and Hauto. I know it was built in 1871, is over a mile long, and was acquired by CNJ in 1960 along with the rest of the LNE and is abandoned today, but thats where the info dries up. Dose anyone know what happened to the Hauto Tunnel after 1960? And is there any way to access the portal on the Hauto side?
You will need boots, the ditches are overflowing. In 1975, I was discussing with a Lehigh Valley railroad policeman if his jurisdiction included the tunnel. At that time, the LV was operating the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, but we weren't sure if the Lehigh & New England was included, especially as the tunnel had no train service at that time. Eventually, he wandered back to the Nesquehoning branch, and we explored the tunnel behind his back.
1871 is when an exit from some coal mines in the mountain was turned into a tunnel, so the Switchback Railroad could be bypassed. While it is single track, some of the junctions with coal mines inside the mountain were made full size for a double track railroad. Mahanoy City Tunnel on the Reading is done the same way.