Tunnelton, WV: 1907+1913 B&O Depots

Depot: (Satellite)

Freight House: (Satellite)

Tunnelton is on the east side of the Kingwood Tunnels.

Generic1139, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The parking lot side looks identical to the track side. That is unusual for a depot.

Wayne Miller, Sep 2018, cropped

Unlike many preserved depots, the interior has also been preserved rather than turned into an event space. The depot also houses a museum.

"The 110-year-old Tunnelton Train Depot museum illustrates railroad life and commerce that were a part of daily living during much of the 20th Century. A new model train display, great for kids, has been set up in the depot built by the B&O Railroad for handling U.S. mail, passengers, coal shipments, and freight. There are two historic tunnels nearby. Also, there are three outdoor Civil War Trail sites near Aurora and Rowlesburg and the Virginia Iron Furnace located along Rt. 26 near Albright. Iron was smelted using a waterwheel-powered system." [VisitMountaineerCountry] (I need to check out that Virginia Iron Furnace.)

Alex Miller, Sep 2018

I wondered if the building northeast of this depot on the satellite map was the freight house. The Street View driver did not go up Boswell Street. But this photo and a comment that "The other Depot is open to the public." confirms that it was the freight house.

reddit

Here is another view of the freight house. It is on the right side of the photo.

WVexplorer_depot

And this webpage also confirms that it was the freight house.

mapio

The current depot replaced the original depot in 1913 and closed in 1968. [TheClio]

The Tunnelton Historical Society purchased it in 1994. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. [RoadTrippers]

WVhistoryOnView, ca. 1907

1 of 15 photos posted by Matt Galla

Tunnelton, WV, was incorporated in 1907, and it is located at the east end of its namesake, the Kingwood Tunnel at Cassady's Summit. [WVexplorer_town]

But the town was started in 1897 when work began on the Kingwood Tunnel was started. [NationalRegister, p8] (The second bore was opened in 1912.)

The application for the National Register states: "the first electric plant was operated in Tunnelton." [NationalRegister, p8] Was that the first in the county, state, country or world?