ASHLAND - The tourists are gone for the winter, but there is still plenty of activity inside Pioneer Tunnel as employees do important maintenance work for the 2012 season.
When the tourist site reopens April 1, it will to celebrate its 50th anniversary year as one of Pennsylvania's top 10 tourist attractions, drawing about 40,000 visitors annually.
Maintenance in the tunnel is not the only work going on. The gift shop is being redone to give it a fresh look for the new year.
"It's under construction as we speak," said business manager Kathy Lattis, showing the room emptied of merchandise. "The entire contents of the gift shop are in the kitchen. Everything is all packed up. We're still finalizing plans for the celebration with special events. Nothing is written in stone yet."
While the gift shop renovation is something different, working in the tunnel is an annual project. Supporting timbers and beams are replaced as needed, and rails are also taken up and replaced. Mine guide Joseph Kehoe, Ashland, who is an experienced anthracite coal miner, and Anthony Loftus, Ashland, who is one of the engineers on the Henry Clay lokie engine, were working Monday at the site. The site's mine foreman is Keith Neidig.
"We've put in about 60 feet of new rail in the mine," said Kehoe. "We've put in three sets of rail so far, and we're going to start another set this week. We've been working on the main line since we closed, mostly focusing on the tunnel. Because of moisture and rot, you have to replace the timbers and the sills go bad."
Kehoe said the maintenance is also done on the rail cars that take visitors into the tunnel. He said the hard work really begins in the late fall.
"When it gets cold, that's when the work begins to keep this place rolling," said Kehoe. "The water has been a difficulty this year, much more than in the past. We have different things that we can do to remedy that."
Not all timbers are replaced each year. An inspection of the entire tunnel leads to the decision as to which supports need replacing.
"You take a spiked hammer that's called a 'third leg,' and you use it to drive it into the timbers, and if you get about three to four inches of rot, it's time to change the timbers," said Kehoe. "The boss liked to use a hatchet for the same thing. We also check the upper workings in the airway. Anything that rotting out needs to be replaced. Any kind of materials that fall from the roof need to be scooped up and taken out of the mine. That's what we're doing right now."
The replacement timbers come from the Frackville area at this time. Local forests provided the wood for regional mines and collieries in the past, and in the case of Pioneer Tunnel, the tradition continues.
"We go up and cut them down and bring them back here," said Kehoe. "Most of the timbers you see come right off the mountain. Our sills we get from Lindenmuth Lumber."
While the timbers come from the local countryside, the rails are a different matter. Kehoe said rails are replaced with extras on hand, or they are repaired if possible. He said visitors or miners who have worked in the area sometimes provide tips where rails may be available. Kehoe said some rails were recently obtained from Harmony Mine near Mount Carmel.
"They're difficult to find and they're very expensive," he said.
Kehoe said since the temperature inside the tunnel averages around 49 degrees, even during the winter, it's not uncomfortable and is easy to dress properly year-round.
"We've been working about six-hour days in the mine right now," he said.
In March, when the tunnel maintenance is completed, work will shift to the Henry Clay lokie, which will have new grates installed. Ashland Foundry and Machine Works fabricated new grates without cost to Ashland Community Enterprises (ACE), which operates Pioneer Tunnel. The company is honoring a "gentleman's agreement" made between ACE and Goyne Pump to provide replacement parts to the train. The agreement, made with a handshake about 50 years ago, has been honored by each succeeding owner of the foundry, located in Ashland and Butler Township. The value of the donated grates are about $7,000.