Gallitzin Tunnels Park & Museum

The park preserves the story of one of American railroading's great mountain crossings: three adjacent tunnels through the Alleghenies at Gallitzin, completed between 1854 and 1904 as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's cross-state route that also includes nearby Horseshoe Curve. The original Summit Tunnel — today's Allegheny Tunnel, 3,600 feet long — was bored from 1851 to 1854; the New Portage Tunnel was built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the New Portage Railroad and acquired by the PRR in 1857; and the namesake Gallitzin Tunnel was begun in 1902 and opened in 1904. In the early 1990s Conrail enlarged the Allegheny and New Portage bores for double-stack container trains, and the Gallitzin Tunnel, never enlarged, was taken out of service in 1995. Norfolk Southern freights and Amtrak's Pennsylvanian still pass through today. Near the closed tunnel, the park displays a restored 1942 Pennsylvania Railroad N5C caboose with its interior open to visitors, while the museum across the street covers the area's railroad, industrial, social, and religious heritage with exhibits, a gift shop, and a theater.