Blue Ridge Tunnel
North Entrance to the Blue Ridge Tunnel
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) Mountain Subdivision – previously C&O Railroad and Blue Ridge Railroad |
| Location | Augusta / Nelson counties, near Rockfish Gap, Virginia |
| Coordinates | 38°02′18″N 78°51′45″W / 38.0383°N 78.8625°WCoordinates: 38°02′18″N 78°51′45″W / 38.0383°N 78.8625°W (Northwest Portal of new tunnel) |
| Status | Abandoned, replaced by new tunnel currently in operation |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1858 |
| Closed | 1944 |
| Owner |
Blue Ridge Railroad (1856–1870) Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (1870–1878) Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (1878–1944) |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 4,273 ft (1,302 m) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Grade | 70 ft⁄mi (1.326%) |
The Blue Ridge Tunnel (also known as the Crozet Tunnel) is a historic railroad tunnel built during the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad in the 1850s. The tunnel was the westernmost and longest of four tunnels engineered by Claudius Crozet to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap in central Virginia. At 4,237 feet (1,291 m) in length, the tunnel was the longest tunnel in the United States at the time of its completion in 1858. The tunnel was used by the Virginia Central Railroad from its opening to 1868, when the line was reorganized as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (renamed Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1878). The Chesapeake and Ohio routed trains through the tunnel until it was abandoned and replaced by a new tunnel in 1944. The new tunnel was named the "Blue Ridge Tunnel" as well, although the original tunnel still remains abandoned nearby. The old Blue Ridge Tunnel has since been named a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
The Blue Ridge Railroad was incorporated by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1849 with Claudius Crozet as chief engineer. Its purpose was to provide a crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Virginia Central Railroad into the Shenandoah Valley.
The Virginia Board of Public Works, founded in 1816, supported numerous internal improvements in the state, owning part of the Virginia Central in stock as well as virtually all of the Blue Ridge Railroad.
A civil engineer of considerable skill, Crozet had identified the eventual route as early as 1839. Rail service reached Charlottesville by 1851; westward, the railroad closely followed the alignment of the ancient Three Notch'd Road.
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Wikipedia