Pioneer Tunnel gets $400,000 grant

ASHLAND — The Pioneer Tunnel and Coal Mine in Ashland has been awarded a Marketing to Attract Tourism grant in the amount of $400,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The funding will be used toward the construction of a new barn to house the steam engines with the long-term goal being to construct a visitor-friendly facility with a wall of windows. The wall will allow train enthusiasts to observe maintenance of the engines.

Pioneer Tunnel Board of Directors member Ed Wytovich expressed the board’s appreciation for the grant and said, “This infrastructure will create a safer working environment for our employees and outside contractors. The building will also create a more aesthetically pleasing view for our guests. It has been our goal for a few years to create a ‘Lokie’ barn large enough to house both of our steam locomotives, and with this enhanced building, we will be able to achieve this. We hope to have the project completed by the start of our 2020 season.”

The Pioneer Tunnel was a working mine that ceased operation in 1931, but was re-timbered and reopened in 1963 as a place where visitors could experience a real anthracite coal mine. It affords visitors an opportunity to learn how coal is mined.

The other featured attraction is a narrow gauge steam train ride aboard the “Lokie,” which is a colloquial term for small locomotive. The 30-ton saddle tank engine was used years ago to haul coal cars. Now it pulls passenger mine cars 3,000 feet along the side of the Mahanoy Mountain, giving visitors the opportunity to view strip mining operations.