AUBURN CA - Auburn-area TV viewers will be watching rail history in their own backyard this coming week when Sacramento PBS TV station KVIE airs “The Hidden Wonder of the World.”

That hidden wonder is the sometimes-invisible footprint of a steel ribbon of rail winding from Sacramento to Donner Summit that was built in the 1860s.

KVIE will telecast the documentary for the first time at 7 p.m. on Wednesday as part of its weekly “ViewFinder” series.

The program – which is a shortened version of the “Hidden Wonder of the World” DVD now available for purchase – takes viewers on a journey along not the Union Pacific Railroad of today but the old rail bed of years gone by.

As writer, researcher and producer Bill George points out during the program, there are many locations where the old rail route built in the 1860s takes a different turn from what we see in 2012.

One of the most unique side trips George – whose day job is press secretary to U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock – takes is off the modern rail route at Clipper Gap, east of Auburn, and into the abandoned Tunnel Zero.

The tunnel is long, no longer used as a transportation link, and spooky, particularly if a visitor doesn’t bring a flashlight and walks the tunnel in near darkness.

Media Life was able to trek to Tunnel Zero, with the help of history enthusiast Chris Graves of Newcastle. Graves pointed out an entrance to the 711-foot-long tunnel that’s obscured by trees and brush. Because of its proximity to the Union Pacific tracks, and more than a mile by foot from the Clipper Gap exit off Interstate 80, visitors should check with the railroad’s Roseville office on rules about traveling on or near the right of way.

Tunnel too narrow

Graves, who gets screen time in the program, provided some of the back story to a little-known landmark that fits into last week’s Media Life column on weird and wonderful sites in the Auburn area. Tunnel Zero was constructed in 1873 after a trestle built to traverse Clipper Gap’s Deep Gulch proved a trifle to wobbly for the Central Pacific Railroad.

The tunnel was bored through what old-timers call Wildcat Summit between Clipper Gap and Applegate and served the railroad well until it was abandoned during World War II. The story goes that PT boats being shipped by rail couldn’t make it through the tunnel because of its narrow opening. A route around it was constructed to allow shipments to take place.

The walls are lined with carved blocks of rock and Graves said that indications are they came from the Penryn quarry of Griffith Griffith – another Weird Auburn subject in Media Life.

Wednesday’s program – which is cut by 10 minutes from the DVD – should prove a revelation to history buffs and will be repeated at 4 p.m. Feb. 10 and 6 p.m. on Feb. 12. The DVD itself has already sold out its first 1,000 disc edition and more are being made. The Colfax Museum and the California State Railroad Museum are two locations stocking the DVD.

Media Life’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com or (530) 852-0232.