Doug Debs Wrote:
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> In the Far West in the 19th Century, railroad
> tunnels through "heavy ground" (i.e. fractured
> rock and glacial moraines) were usually lined with
> 12x12 (or larger) redwood timbers... old growth
> (500-2500 years old), straight grain, few if any
> knots, and naturally rot-resistant. It was not
> excessively expensive back then, when the the
> redwood forests were "practically unlimited".
>
> Those days are long gone. Very little old-growth
> redwood forest remains. Salvaged large old-growth
> redwood timers cost $10-$12 per board foot (1
> board foot = 1" x 12" x
> 12")(https://www.oldgrowthtimbers.com/Price_Page.h
> tm), so $120-$144 per foot of 12" x 12" timber.
> That works out to about $10,900,000 to replace the
> rotted timber inside Alpine Tunnel with
> historically correct old-growth redwood.
>
> Creosoted pine is cheaper, but the cost is still
> huge.
>
> - Doug Debs


Thanks. I'm sure you are right about costs. By accident I found this. West portal of the restored Oneonta Tunnel in 2008 on the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH).