 West Entrance to the Blue Ridge Tunnel | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) Mountain Subdivision[1] – 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°W (Northwest Portal of new tunnel) |
| Status | Abandoned, replaced by new tunnel currently in operation |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1858 |
| Owner | Blue Ridge Railroad (1856–1870)[2] Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (1870–1878)[2] Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (1878–1944)[3][4] |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 4,237 ft (1,291 m) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Grade | 70+ft⁄mi (1.326%)[5] |
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. The tunnel was used by the Virginia Central Railroad from its opening to 1858, 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 by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976.[6] In late 2020, after a decade of stabilization work and restoration as well as access pathway construction, the tunnel was opened to visitors as a linear park.
- ^ Dixon 2008, p. 9.
- ^ a b Dixon 2008, p. 8.
- ^ History of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
- ^ Logan 1998, p. 12.
- ^ Drinker 1893, p. 1072.
- ^ "Historic Landmarks | ASCE".