Peering down the active bore of the Musconetcong Rail Tunnel in Bloomsbury, New Jersey. This very active freight train tunnel was constructed in 1928 to replace the original 1872 bore which now remains abandoned and flooded with water, located directly adjacent to the active tunnel. Kneeling down to capture the above photograph, a slow tremble began to permeate up through the ballast rock covering the ties, quickly vibrating up through my feet and legs. A light at the end of the tunnel appears to be growing closer and closer, approaching faster and faster. I move off to the far right side of the tunnel and push myself up against the smooth cement like a piece of cardboard smacked up against a fence during a windy day. The hum from the diesel engines gradually crescendos into a deafening roar emitting from the guts of three beastly locomotives coasting fast down the slick iron rails straight toward me. I duck my head and plug my ears with my fingers as the engines blast past like a dragon escaping from Hell. In tow, a seemingly endless tail of rail cars and tankers skip by at nauseating speeds, merely a blur to my eyes. Occasionally sparks flare up from under the wheel trucks illuminating the tunnel with flashes of orange. The near mile long line of rail cars screech and scream as they fly by one after another, after another, after another. Finally after minuets and minutes of listing to the crying cars whiz past within mere feet of my body, the last of the train cars darts past. A rush of air cool air immediately follows after, sucked in by the trains, nearly knocking me off my feet and onto the shiny iron rails. In the distance now, just a single red strobe light can be seen, flashing while growing more distant and distant and distant by the second. Tunnels are fun.
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