When was the Moffat Tunnel opening date? It depends on whether you’re holding a drill bit, a golden telegraph key, or a train schedule.
• Saturday, February 12, 1927 — The pioneer bore was first holed through with a three-inch drill, establishing contact between East and West Portal.
• Friday, February 18, 1927 — President Calvin Coolidge, from Washington, ceremonially blasted the final rock of the pioneer bore by touching a golden telegraph key, symbolically completing the connection.
• Friday, July 8, 1927 — The main railroad bore was holed through “shortly before” 2 p.m. near Crosscut No. 9. This connected the two sides in full, though months of enlargement and finishing work still remained before the tunnel was usable for rail traffic.
• Saturday, December 10, 1927 — The final charges of dynamite were fired in the railroad tunnel, opening it to full size. Still remaining: concreting, equipment removal, and laying track.
• Tuesday, February 7, 1928 — Standard-gauge track through the Moffat Tunnel was officially completed, just under three weeks before what would become opening day. Work could not begin until the week of January 15, when crews first removed the temporary narrow-gauge rails that had carried muck cars and other construction equipment.
In project terms, these were successive construction milestones, each advancing the tunnel from excavation to full operation. Completion depends on which milestone one recognizes as decisive:
If you’re an engineer — February 12.
If you’re a president — February 18.
If you’re a construction superintendent — July 8.
If you’re a powderman — December 10.
If you’re a railroad — February 7.
If you’re waiting for the first official train? Pack your bags for February 26, 1928.
Ninety-eight years ago this week, David Moffat’s dream became operational reality. A train ran beneath the Continental Divide—but the path to that moment was neither singular nor simple. If you’ve followed our month-by-month account of the Moffat Tunnel’s construction over the past several years, you know the work was anything but straightforward, and we are nearing the most difficult phase. Ahead lie stalled headings and collapsing ground, heartbreaking fatalities, flashes of raw heroism for a friend, a small life saved through the newly pierced pioneer bore, a blacksmith shop fire in the dead of winter that threatened an entire camp, and the long grind that turned blasted rock into a reliable route. Even the bronze “1927” on the portals has its own subtle history. Early photographs seem to tell a slightly different story—one we’ll examine next year.
A century ago, crews were enduring some of the harshest conditions of the entire undertaking. Two years remain before the 1928 centennial of the first train. Join us as we continue telling the full story behind one of the most consequential American engineering achievements of its era and how the tunnel was won.
B. Travis Wright, MPS | Preserve Rollins Pass | February 26, 2026
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