The Leisure Tunnel is a short tunnel along the long-gone Lenox Railroad in Morgan County, Kentucky.
The Lenox Railroad was founded upon the trackage that was laid by the Roper-Reese Lumber Company which connected to the M&NF at Redwine. 1 The company had constructed a line along the Straight and Big Mandy Creeks but further work had been halted because of financial complications. The American Lumber & Manufacturing Company, through its subsidiary, the Lenox Saw Mill Company, purchased its timber interests and completed the railroad to Redwine which included a switchback and a short tunnel near Leisure.
The Lenox Railroad was incorporated on July 3, 1918. 1 Shortly after, the line was converted to standard gauge and extended 1.7 miles to the mine of the Clearfield Cannel Coal Company on Rush Branch, giving the Lenox a distance of 7.7 miles. The Lenox filed for abandonment on October 16, 1926, after timber and coal resources were exhausted, and the line was dismantled after March 1927.
Information
- State: Kentucky
- Route: Formerly Lenox Railroad, KY Route 711
- Type: Tunnel
- Status: Active - Automobile
Sources
- Sulzer, Elmer G. “Up North Fork Way.” Ghost Railroads of Kentucky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968. 101-10. Print.
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