Alpine Tunnel

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Alpine Tunnel

Overview
Official name	Alpine Tunnel
Location	Continental Divide, Chaffee / Gunnison counties, Colorado
Coordinates	38°38′45″N 106°24′32″W / 38.64583°N 106.40889°W / 38.64583; -106.40889
System	DSP&P Railroad
Operation
Opened	1882
Closed	1910
Technical
Length	1,772 ft (540 m)

Alpine Tunnel is a 1,772 ft (540 m) narrow gauge railroad tunnel located east of Pitkin, Colorado, on the former Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad route from Denver to Gunnison. At an elevation of 11,523 feet (3,512 m), it was the first tunnel constructed across the Continental Divide in Colorado and was the highest railroad tunnel in North America at the time of its construction in 1882.^[1] The line was abandoned less than 30 years later, in 1910, after a series of accidents and problems in and around the tunnel. Now the tunnel is sealed, and the remaining trackbed serves as a trail for hikers and bicyclists.