PATCH EXCLUSIVE: Dillinger Tunnel's Civil Defense Past

At the tunnel’s entrance, traffic from the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is heard crossing 40 feet above, as water drips from between rocks, creating small rivulets along the tracks.   

 At one time, the Dillinger Tunnel had a watchman patrolling the track inside the tunnel 24 hours a day.  He checked for broken rails, falling rocks, ice, and anything that could block the tracks.

According to a July 1978 article in the former Allentown Evening Chronicle, “During World War II there were guards at both ends of the tunnel to protect it from sabotage.”

And in the early 1960s, the tunnel was considered for use as a fallout shelter to protect people from radiation in the event of nuclear war, the story said.  However, it was never stocked with supplies because there was no place to store them.  According to a Civil Defense official, the tunnel could have held 2,639 people. 

In 1990 Dillinger Tunnel was closed temporarily due to a rock slide. “A wooden support frame inside the tunnel was accidentally ripped out several years ago by an oversized rail car. Mother nature's annual freeze-and-thaw cycle then loosened rocks and boulders inside the tunnel, which came crashing down on the tracks,” an article in The Morning Call said at the time. The story said the tunnel was reopened after being closed for more than two weeks. 

In addition to the Dillinger Tunnel, Lehigh County has two other “forgotten” tunnels. The 735-foot Catasauqua Tunnel, owned by the Lehigh and New England Railroad, was abandoned in 1962 and both ends sealed shut.  It parallels the north side of Wood Street, from Second to American streets.

The second tunnel is “just south of the point where Fullerton and Catasauqua avenues join to become Front Street” in Allentown, according to the Evening Chronicle article. This 100-foot tunnel was owned by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and first used in 1889. It was abandoned in the late 1960s.

Credits:  Upper Milford Historical Society; Lower Milford Historical Society; “The Vera Cruz-Dillinger Tunnel” by R. Paul Dries, 1934; Rick Bates, archivist & publications editor, Reading Railroad Heritage Museum, Reading Company Technical & Historical Society, Hamburg, PA; The Morning Call, January 11, 1991 “Dillinger Tunnel Ready For Freight Service Use” by Steven Chavez; The Evening Chronicle, July 31, 1978 “History of railroads buried in old tunnels” by Randy Kraft; The Evening Chronicle, August 3, 1978 “Buff uncovers third tunnel” by Randy Kraft.