Binghamton’s Belden Tunnel: Forgotten Southern Tier Railroad History

It's easy to drive through the Southern Tier and forget how much of the landscape had to be carved through and worked around before railroads connected our communities.

One of the best examples is hidden in eastern Broome County: the Belden Tunnel, a railroad tunnel cut through Belden Hill in the Town of Colesville. It is near the tiny hamlet appropriately called Tunnel, not far from Nineveh.

This wasn't a quick project. Belden Tunnel was one of the major obstacles standing between the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad and a completed rail connection to Binghamton.

Building the Belden Hill Railroad Tunnel in Colesville, New York

A copy of Broome County Illustrated, published in 1900 and available through the Library of Congress, describes the final stretch into Binghamton as having “a tunnel through a gravelly hill over two thousand feet long.”

The same historic Broome County account says the railroad had been completed in pieces as far as Nineveh by 1867 and that two years were used to finish the final portion into Binghamton.

That wording can make it sound like the tunnel itself took only two years to build, but the larger project took longer. Construction on Belden Tunnel is generally dated from 1864 to 1868, with crews digging from both ends of Belden Hill. The final section of railroad between Harpursville and Binghamton was completed on December 31, 1868, and the full line opened to train traffic the following month.

The original tunnel measured about 2,240 feet, or a little under half a mile. Think about that for a second. Workers in the 1860s had to make their way through a hill with equipment that looked nothing like what is used on construction projects today.

How Belden Tunnel Connected Binghamton and Albany

The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad created an important connection between Binghamton and Albany. A historic marker in the hamlet of Tunnel notes that the line and tunnel were built between 1853 and 1868.

For people living in the Southern Tier at the time, the railroad meant more than a new way to travel. It helped move freight, mail, and people while connecting local communities to markets and cities across New York State.

None of that could fully happen until railroad crews found a way through Belden Hill. What now looks like a quiet stretch of eastern Broome County was once one of the toughest parts of building the line.

The 1869 Railroad War at Belden Tunnel

The story became even more dramatic less than a year after trains began using the tunnel.

In August 1869, Belden Tunnel became the site of a confrontation between the Erie Railroad and the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad. The historic marker at Tunnel says the engines of the competing railroads collided there during the battle for control of the line.

The dispute was tied to an attempted takeover involving Erie Railroad leaders Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. Armed men arrived on trains from opposite directions, and the standoff grew serious enough that the New York State militia was called in.

It is wild to think that a quiet stretch of Broome County once found itself at the center of an actual railroad war. The marker’s account of the clash says there were no deaths and that the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad ultimately won control of the line.

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Why Belden Tunnel Still Matters in Southern Tier History

Belden Tunnel continued to play a role in regional rail travel long after the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad became part of the Delaware and Hudson system. The tunnel was rebuilt in 1985 so it could handle taller and wider freight equipment.

Today, it is one of those Southern Tier places with a story far bigger than most people realize. What looks like a simple hill along an active railroad route was once a huge engineering hurdle, a vital connection between Binghamton and Albany, and even the site of a railroad war.

The next time you are headed through eastern Broome County, it is worth remembering that there is a lot more history tucked into those hills than most of us realize.