I picked this up about an abandoned tunnel south of Ringer Road in Oakville, MO. Anybody on the River Division know anything about it? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RockIsland-StLouis-Subdivision/message/617 See messages #68/617-619.
Wow, very interesting. I just happen to work a mile from this location so I went to check it out. This is what it looks like. As you can see the right of way is to the East of the tunnel and about 60 feet higher than the floor of it. I remembered that we have a section of right of way plans North of the Meramec River so I went an got them out. These plans are dated 1919. These plans show the right of way crossing Maltese Creek twice in a short distance through the area. I sketched on the plat the current location of the channel and tunnel. We also had the subdivision plat that adjoins the right of way to the West so I pulled that and it shows a 100' wide easement to SL-SF. The deed it references is for maintaining and operating a drainage ditch. So all of this leads me to believe that the tunnel was created for the purpose of re-routing Mattese Creek to save the construction and maintenance of two trestles across the creek. You can look on the Oakville USGS quad and see the current location of the creek and make out how it used to appear. Edit 1/14/2024: This is on the St. Louis Subdivision at MP 16.6. The drainage tunnel, creek and railroad are adjacent to the residential subdivision neighborhood of Royal Hills. They are across the street to the east from 5305 Kingscreek Court, Oakville, MO 63129-2305. The location is accessible off Ringer Road, which crosses the tracks at grade at MP 16.4 approximately 1/4 mile to the north of this location. The area is easily accessible just 12 miles south of the intersection of Interstate Highways I-44 and I-55 just south of downtown St. Louis. Take Interstate 55 (I-55), to Butler Hill Road, Exit 195. It is just a quick 1.9 mile drive from the interstate highway. MKD
