Rhyndaston Tunnel (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Rhyndaston Tunnel is a 955 m long 1 in 40 (2.5%) grade railway tunnel in southern Tasmania. The northern end of the tunnel is 72.5 km from the Hobart railway yards. It was built as part of the Tasmanian Main Line Company's track from Hobart to Western Junction which was completed in 1876. The original tunnel was too small to take international containers. The tunnel was widened in the early 1970s using a tunnel boring machine mounted on railway wheels, which was maneuvered into place between trains to excavate a few metres at a time. Due to poor ventilation, diesel trains occasionally lose oxygen and fail to make it up the tunnel. Steam locomotives which build steam over longer periods may not have had this trouble.