Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area - Railroad History
(All information adapted from: Rails Through the Hill Country, by F.A. Schmidt)
In the early 1800's the site of what is now Fredericksburg was settled by approximately 200 German immigrants led by John Meusebach from the New Braunfels area. Being mainly farmers and craftsman, they needed a market for their fruits, vegetables, and goods. San Antonio was the largest and nearest market being only 75 miles away. Unfortunately, 75 miles through the Texas Hill Country by ox or horse took about 10 to 11 days in good weather and things didn't arrive so fresh. So it was decided a railroad was needed in Fredericksburg.
Word spread through the community that the San Antonio & Aransas Pass (SA&AP) Railroad was considering extending lines northwest of San Antonio. People in Kerrville and Fredericksburg soon began offering inducements to the company to come to their respective towns. Kerrville won out on this first endeavor to get rail service, mostly by the financial and social stature of Charles Schreiner. The same year the train reached Kerrville, Temple Smith came to Fredericksburg Mr. Smith was a very prominent banker and organized the Bank of Fredericksburg along with the first railroad committee. Smith was the driving force behind the acquisition of a railroad and kept at it for some 25 years. The next rail attempt came from the north, Llano, where a Mr. Miller had contracted with the SA&AP to construct the grading to Llano (via Fredericksburg) with Fredericksburg providing some of the capital. Under the contract Fredericksburg was obligated to provide $7,000 for each five miles of completed grade and assume half the cost of the survey. After surveys of the area, it was found that funds were not available nor would it be possible for a railway to be built over the "Big Hill." The "Big Hill" is a ridge of hills just south of Fredericksburg near Grapetown. It separates the Pedernales River drainage from that of the Guadalupe River and rises to over 2,300 feet. So after a cost of about $85,000 and seventeen miles of grade, the plan was abandoned.
The hopes of the folks of Fredericksburg were again raised when the Frisco line said it was building toward the town. The line was called the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railway Company and was chartered to run from Fort Worth to Brownwood. This line reached Brownwood in 1891 and was to push on the Fredericksburg It made it to Brady in 1901 and Menard in 1911 but went into receivership two years later and many miles short of Fredericksburg. All in all, some 30 deals came and went before Fredericksburg finally received a rail line.
In 1912 the businessmen of Fredericksburg and San Antonio got together and decided that money was probably the main obstacle, not hills. A proposal was submitted to raise $200,000 and R.A. Love 
of (SA & AP) said if this sum could be raised, he could start laying track immediately. Fredericksburg was to raise $150,000 with San Antonio raising the balance. He had in his court now a very prominent engineer named Foster Crane who had just finished constructing the Medina Dam and was very well thought of. In January of 1913 the charter was taken out in the name of the San Antonio, Fredericksburg & Northern Railroad Company. Work finally began on a railroad for Fredericksburg
Work began near Comfort, called the Fredericksburg Junction (from the existing SA & AP line at the Guadalupe River trestle), with men, mules, plows, and scrapers. Workers on the line were paid an average of $.50 a day with an extra $2.00 per day for each horse or mule furnished.
The tunnel was to be a straight bore through the "Big Hill" about 920 feet and the material to be removed was estimated at 14,222 cubic yards. Work began simultaneously at both ends. The labor was performed with blasting powder for the solid portions of the rock and with many shovels, picks, scrapers, and narrow gauge dump cars to haul the material out. Work was a 24-hour day, split into three shifts. Late April saw the passage reaching about 90 feet in. A report of May 24 stated that the depth was now 450 feet, so a month's worth of work produced phenomenal results. Track laying from the Junction was under way and it was two miles along from there in March.
When work began on the north end of the tunnel it was necessary to dig a cut 500 feet long and 40 feet deep up to the entrance. This made it difficult to remove debris from the bottom of this cut. This problem was solved by erecting a derrick on the mouth of the tunnel which would lift small railcars to the top and dump them out on the sides of the cut. Different contractors for labor were used along the rail line and the north tunnel contractor, Mr. Moorman, was said to have been paid $35.00 for each linear foot of tunnel. On the fourth of July it was estimated 89 feet of digging remained and on the 15th the two ends broke through. The engineers' calculations were so accurate that there were no more than a few inches difference between the two bores.
The first train passed through the tunnel on August 16, 1913 and the rails reached Fredericksburg on October 28, 1913. A festival was held in Fredericksburg and Temple Smith drove the last spike. A festival queen was also elected who broke a bottle of wine on the steam engine.
During the construction months, heavy rain was present and several ties sunk into the ground causing numerous derailment problems in the early going. Some early trips took up to 18 hours. Other problems to delay the train included running out of coal or water. Water was collected from seepage in the tunnel and trees were cut down for fuel. The train was clocked at an average speed of 12 mph. The train made three regular stops between Fredericksburg and the Junction. The first was Cain City, named for Charlie Cain, a man that helped raise the most money on San Antonio's end of the $50,000 part of the deal. Then there was Bankersmith, named after Temple Smith. Then, just north of the tunnel, was the Mt. Alamo stop. There were also two "flag stops" on the route (train had to be flagged down), between Mt. Alamo (Big Hill) and the Junction. They were the Hillingdon and the Nichols Ranches, the latter an early forerunner of modern guest ranches.
The Mountain Townsite Company proposed to build a large pleasure resort at Mt. Alamo complete with electric plant, water and wastewater systems, 75-room clubhouse and 18-hole golf course. Unfortunately, the Great Depression cut this venture short.
The train operated for almost 29 years, but eventually the horseless carriage caught up with the Fredericksburg & Northern. In 1941, the owners of the line petitioned the War Department to sell the line. This petition was granted and the line was sold in 1942. In some ways though, the line lived on as many of the rails, trestles and timbers went to such locations as the Alcan Highway (Alaska Highway), various rail spurs feeding Army camps, and even some rails going to Australia.
