Blue Ridge Tunnel

Infobox tunnel
name = Blue Ridge Tunnel


caption = North Entrance to the Blue Ridge Tunnel
line = Blue Ridge Railroad
location =Rockfish Gap, Virginia
coordinates = coord|38.0383|N|78.8625|W|region:US-VA_type:landmark_scale:30000| (Northwest Portal of new Tunnel)
system =
start =
end =
stations =
open = 1858
close = 1944
status = planned to be used as partof a future rail trail project
owner = Blue Ridge Railroad
operator =
character =
linelength = convert|4263|ft|abbr=on
tracklength =
notrack =
gauge = RailGauge|sg
el =
speed =
hielevation =
lowelevation=
height =
grade =|

Blue Ridge Tunnel was the longest of four tunnels built on the Blue Ridge Railroad to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap near Afton Mountain in central Virginia. It has been named a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Construction

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.

The Virginia Board of Public Works founded in 1816, was always keen to help with "internal improvements" and owned some of the Virginia Central stock. It also owned 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.

To protect its investment, and enable transportation, the State then incorporated and financed the Blue Ridge Railroad to accomplish the hard and expensive task of crossing the Blue Ridge mountain barrier to the west. Rather than attempting the more formidable Swift Run Gap, the state-owned Blue Ridge Railroad built over the mountains at the next major gap to the south, Rockfish Gap near Afton Mountain.

Overseen by Crozet, the crossing was accomplished by using four tunnels, including the convert|4263|ft|adj=on Blue Ridge Tunnel near the top of the pass. With construction proceeding from either side, the complex was dug though solid granite with only hand drills and black powder, a decade before the invention of dynamite. The tunnel was less than convert|6|in off perfect alignment when it was holed-through on Christmas Day 1856.

When complete, it was the longest in the US and one of the longest tunnels in the world, a remarkable feat of engineering. Opened to rail traffic in April 1858, it was considered to be one of the engineering wonders of the modern world.

American Civil War

During the American Civil War, the infantry under Confederate General Stonewall Jackson earned the nickname foot cavalry by traveling very quickly across the Blue Ridge Mountains to the consternation of the Union leaders opposing them. Jackson used a detailed knowledge of the gaps in the Blue Ridge range to accomplish this, as well as marching his troops through the original Blue Ridge Tunnel.

Replacement

The Blue Ridge Railroad ceased to exist once the route across the mountains was completed, becoming a part of the Virginia Central Railroad. In 1868, the Virginia Central was merged with another state-chartered railroad, the Covington and Ohio Railroad, to create the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which was subsequently sold to Collis P. Huntington; this helped complete Virginia's long term dream of linking its navigable rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed with the Ohio River.

The C&O replaced it in 1944 with a larger, parallel tunnel to accommodate increased rail traffic of World War II matériel. The "new" tunnel, which was convert|4|ft off alignment when constructed, and is now referred to as the Blue Ridge Tunnel. It is still in use by CSX Transportation, the Buckingham Branch Railroad, and Amtrak.

Future use

After the original tunnel was replaced by the newer one, it became known as the Crozet Tunnel, after its remarkable engineer, for whom the nearby town of Crozet is named. It is currently planned to be used as part of a rail trail project.

References

*cite journal
last = Hansen
first = Brett
year = 2008
month = May
title = Uniting the Commonwealth: The Blue Ridge Tunnel
journal = Civil Engineering
volume = 78
issue = 8
pages = 40–41
publisher = American Society of Civil Engineers
location = Reston, VA
issn = 0885-7024
url = http://www.ASCE.org/publications

See also

* Foot cavalry

External links

* [http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2002/11/21/coverStoryAintNoMountainWi.html "Ain't no mountain wide enough" - newspaper story]
* [http://media.gatewayva.com/cdp/siteimages/special/AftonTunnel/index.htm Blue Ridge Tunnel -- from Rail to Trail]