# What is it about a train going through a tunnel?



## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

I just saw a commercial on TV for (who knows or cares) with a little boy watching a train going through a tunnel. There is just something about that that brings out the kid in me. A train passing over a bridge, through a tunnel, under a water fall ... it just seems like we all like this for some reason, and tend to incorporate these features in our layouts. Very simple. Not hi-tech. Just fun.


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

You said it right. Tunnel ,bridge,waterfall they all look cool and add a lot to your layout. I think all of our layouts look great but the one that add tunnels,bridges and water features have something extra.How would this be a grinder bridge leading to a tunnel then another bridge going over a water feature.


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Here are pic of our tunnel and bridge sorry on water feature yet


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

[No message]


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## bryanj (Jan 2, 2008)

I know on my layout the excitement is waiting to see if it will come out the other side ! Or fall off the track inside the tunnel


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

In the Forties when I was akid growing up in Buffalo, Sears would have a Christmas layout with a train running through a tunnel. I'd stand there fascinated thinking that it might be neat to have two train head into a single-bore tunnel in opposite directions and come out the other side intact. Or maybe not at all. Or perhaps with part of one train still going in while the other was already coming out. Hey, I was seven! 

BTW, the symbolism of trains and tunnels ain't lost on me. I'm just tryin' to keep it G-rated.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

It certainly had a different symbolism for Alfred Hitchcock


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## MarkLewis (Jan 2, 2008)

I was thinking the same thing! I guess dirty minds think alike too.










Mark


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## stanman (Jan 4, 2008)

Every time I have an open house on my indoor layout, all the kids seem interested in is watching the tunnels.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, tunnels can be exciting. Especially the time I sent my heavy American Flyer passenger train - with a dicast Hudson on the point - thundering into a tunnel and did not realize that our cat was taking a nap inside the mountain!







I think Cindy and I both lost one of our lives that day. She still managed to live beyond her 17th birthday in spite of that scare. That was over 37 years ago. I hate to think of how badly the USA Trains Hudson would have scared her.









Have fun,
David Meashey


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dave Meashey on 12/04/2008 8:16 PM
Yes, tunnels can be exciting. Especially the time I sent my heavy American Flyer passenger train - with a dicast Hudson on the point - thundering into a tunnel and did not realize that our cat was taking a nap inside the mountain!







I think Cindy and I both lost one of our lives that day. She still managed to live beyond her 17th birthday in spite of that scare. That was over 37 years ago. I hate to think of how badly the USA Trains Hudson would have scared her.









Have fun,
David Meashey



What was the mountain made of? Did it explode like Mount Vesuvius?


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Oooo Oooo, no no... I got it... 

CAT-katoa!!!!


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

C. T.;

Sorry to take so long to reply. I cannot post from work, then I had another function to go to tonight.

The mountain, as I recall, was a frame of small pieces of scrap lumber with chicken wire to give the initial shape. Newspaper strips soaked in plaster were laid over the chicken wire. (An early form of hardshell scenery.) The entire back of the mountain (it was on the end of a 4x8 Christmas display layout) was open, but that was covered with brick-print crepe paper. The crepe paper could be folded back if I needed to rerail a train inside the mountain.

Good thing I built it that way. Cindy burst through that crepe paper.

Fortunately, the Pullmore tires on American Flyer locomotives allowed them to stop on a dime when the power was cut. My transformer had the "deadman's" throttles. Lift the throttle handle and the power was cut off.

I cut the power as soon as I heard Cindy burst out the back side of the mountain, so I doubt that she got much of a bump. Nevertheless, we both were really surprised by that chain of events.

Yours,
David Meashey


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## davetrou (Jan 2, 2008)

These two spent two hours blowing the whistle going in and out of this tunnel, The only time I was glad to see the batteries go dead.

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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

The Slate Creek (Mark I) had a tunnel from the kitchen through the bathroom, into a closet, and out into the bedroom .... first time visitors in particular were generally surprised when they discovered the train crossing the top of the toilet tank, and disappearing into the wall by the sink! We generally tried to arrange a 14(L) (--- --- O --- ) when approaching the bathroom portal! 

Seems to me Monty Python had a lot to offer on the Freudian interpretation as well..... 

Matthew (OV)


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