to one side. I still remember feeling scared, creeping along behind my friends, wondering if I would fall into the dark, if a train would enter while we were in there, or if the bats would get us! Well, we made it, there was no train, and we never saw any bats either. The way back was even scarier since our torches went out and my friends decided to walk the tunnel anyway. So we walked it IN THE DARK! I really can recall seeing the light at the far end getting closer, and wishing it would come sooner! Back then some rock was coming down in spots, and some areas of brick too had fallen. That would have surely killed us. The last time I walked it was when an outside company was removing the track for the railroad. The state has discussed for years putting light rail on the branch for commuter service, and I’m sure it will happen, as it is too valuable to let it go to waste. There was even talk of the state using it for truck traffic. NYSW 4002 exits the east portal at Edgewater to weigh cars. This location is now a very expensive condo area. Notice the NYSW stone above engine. Engine is sitting on the switch that was the west wye. Track to right went to the scale. Photo taken on November 13, 1988 by WinPix railroad tunnel on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. It was even used as an atomic bomb shelter during the cold war. I was fortunate enough to actually walk through it while the tracks were being pulled up. Some of the stories people tell of this tunnel are incorrect, as no one was ever hit by a train coming out of it. In fact, the train used to crawl going in and out of the tunnel, as the tracks were always wet due to poor drainage, and were in bad shape back then. There is a center air portal, which is really cool to see from the inside looking out. While doing research on the tunnel years ago (I belong to the NYS&W Historical Society) I discovered that there are in fact three air shafts, all made during construction, but they were all filled in after opening. Then due to excessive smoke from the coal-burning steam locos, they opened one up for air. Now, Fairview is a very congested town, so two poor homeowners, probably unbeknownst to them, live above a 100-plus-year-old, 200-foot-deep shaft! My friends and I once walked through the tunnel when we were about 12, with makeshift torches. As it was always flooded down there, especially on the Edgewater side, we had to walk along a four-foot wide metal pipe placed off It really was a fun, quiet place for us kids to hang out and explore, and really beautiful, with wild ferns all around the rock and a stream running gently nearby. It never was a “bad” area as some people have suggested. It’s sad to see the chain link fences up at both ends now. I actually pondered driving through it with a Jeep, but I guess that wouldn’t happen now. –Kenneth Accomando The portal on the Edgewater Side, still in decent condition. 7
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