*Almost Nearly Narrow Gauge
On my way up to the Nebraska Panhandle last week I stopped off at the top of Raton Pass to see if I could snag an image of the 'long lost' West Portal of the original Raton Tunnel
Photo of the Elusive, West Portal of the Original Tunnel
For a while, DRGW489 told me he believes that the west portal had collapsed from what we can see in the fleeting moments from the train. The tunnel portal was at the end of a deep cut and the 'new' 1908 bore is longer and lower (they both share the same location of the east portal.
The only post abandonment photo I've ever seen of the tunnel is in the Colorado Rail Annual No. 23, which showed the plugged portal with the capstone shown in the link above. Other than that, the ROW was about the same height as it was when rails ran up through it. (The caption says the keystone was a manhole and the date when THAT was ultimately plugged is the date in the photo)
Today:
The west portal has indeed collapsed, though the actual end is still intact, just the 50 feet behind it is gone. The tunnel was apparently wood lined its entire existence, one of the main factors in its abandonment. You can see how the soft earth of Raton has begun filling in the cut approaching the tunnel, nearly burying the entrance (note the 'capstone').
Both west portals in relation to each other.