Holding your breath in a tunnel?

[joe90jack]

As a child we always used to hold our breath whilst going through a tunnel, is this just a kids game (and did anyone else do this?) or does it have origins from when trains were steam powered?

[bongerman]

I played it with my brother and sister. There were however a couple of tunnels near us that were always impossible and on exit my dad would pretend he was exhaling for the first time in three minutes and us kids would laugh incredulously in awe at his amazing powers!!!

[dove]

awwww bongerman that is a lovely story!

[fredpuli47]

Steam trains are the likely reason for this childhood practice.The smoke from the engine used to come into the carriages through any open windows. This happened a lot more when the train passed through a tunnel, simply because of the tunnel being such a confined space. The smoke was being squeezed into the small gap between the walls and the train and couldn't escape, so in it came.People would close the windows if they heard the whistle of the engine sounded by the driver approaching a tunnel ; if they didn't they were likely to get a lungful of smokey air !

[joe90jack]

Cheers for the answers, i thought it could be something to do smoke and its good to know someone else played it.