Laying Tracks Newsletter | January 2020

The 100-foot long Little Rock is the only one of the four original of the Blue Ridge Railroad that remains on the active CSX/Buckingham Branch track. Courtesy of Allen M. Hale

Friend of the ,

As we begin the New Year, we thought it an opportune time to provide our supporters with A Brief History of the Blue Ridge Railroad. While the Blue Ridge Tunnel is the focus of our project, the Blue Ridge Railroad in its entirety was constructed from Mechums River in Albemarle County to South River in Augusta County crossing Nelson County at Afton. The project was undertaken by the Commonwealth of to complete a rail connection between Tidewater and the Valley of Virginia. The Blue Ridge Tunnel was perhaps the most challenging part of the work, but heroic efforts were required to bring the railroad to that point. In the coming months, reports will cover the initiation and construction of each phase of the project as we anticipate the opening of the tunnel and the trails to the public on both sides of Afton Mountain in 2020.

Allen M. Hale, President Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation

A Brief History of the Blue Ridge Railroad

Claudius Crozet was the chief engineer during construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad, a project undertaken by the Commonwealth of Virginia due to the great difficulty and expense of building a railroad that crossed the . The seventeen-mile line extended from Mechum’s River in Albemarle County to Waynesboro in Augusta County. It connected to the Virginia Central Railroad, which private investors had previously extended west from Gordonsville. The state assumed the task of building the railroad across the mountains when private investors refused to take on the risk.

Prior to completion of the Blue Ridge Railroad, goods were taken by boats on the and Kanawha Canal to Lexington and hauled by wagon to points north and west. Or, they were hauled across Afton Mountain on Stagecoach Road, both of which took days rather than hours.

The line included four tunnels and seventeen miles of track with deep fills and cuts on the side of the mountains. At 4,273 feet, the Blue Ridge Tunnel was the longest tunnel in North America at the time and the last major tunnel to be bored with the use of black powder. Colonel Crozet’s ingenuity, engineering skills, and determination were essential to the railroad’s construction between 1849 and 1859. His elliptical cross-section required less rock removal and provided greater structural strength than a cross-section with vertical sides topped by a circular arch. He also implemented innovative solutions for the tunnel’s construction, including a smoke-removal ventilation system powered by mules on a treadmill. And, according to John C. Trautwine’s The Civil Engineer’s Pocket Book, Crozet designed the world’s longest siphon at 1,792 feet, though Crozet described it as the “longest siphon on record at 2,000 feet.” Before construction of Interstate 64, the tunnel was approximately 700 feet below the surface at its deepest point. Boring through the tunnel turned out to be a much more difficult task than anticipated, complicated by labor strife, rising wages, a cholera epidemic and extremely difficult geology. When completed, the entire seventeen-mile railroad cost $1.5 million. Because the work was done under a public contract, the records are stored at the Library of Virginia.

Initial culvert work on the Blue Ridge Railroad started in 1849. Numerous contracts were let so construction could progress concurrently on multiple sections with the idea that three tunnels (Claudius Crozet added the fourth tunnel in 1853) and the rail bed would be completed at nearly the same time. Bids were first received for the work on the Blue Ridge Tunnel in 1849, but the contractor defaulted before starting, so Crozet had to re-advertise the bid. John Kelly and his partner, John Larguey, began work on the Blue Ridge Tunnel in February 1850. Due to difficult conditions, it quickly became evident that the contractors would go broke and be unable to finish. Any new bids would be much higher as word of the difficulty spread. Colonel Crozet was so impressed by the dedication and skill of the contractors that he convinced the Board of Public Works in March 1851 to allow him negotiate a cost-plus contract for the remaining construction.

Crews worked from both ends of the tunnel, but not from any intermediate points, due to the great depth of the tunnel below the ridgeline and the hardness of the rock. Both made it impractical to sink vertical shafts that would allow work at multiple places at the same time. Production from both crews, working seven days a week, together averaged twenty-six and one half feet per month. Temporary rail tracks were constructed around the Brooksville, Little Rock, and Blue Ridge Tunnels between 1853 and 1854. These allowed passenger traffic and the moving of construction materials to the western side until the tunnels were finished.

The two crews holed through the mountain on December 29, 1856. The first trains ran through in April 1858. Brick arching and other remaining work was completed in 1859. In spite of huge increases in the cost of labor, a cholera epidemic, and converting to a cost-plus contract, the final cost was $488,000, exceeding Colonel Crozet’s original estimate by only slightly more than twenty percent.

Fleeing death by starvation or fever during the great Irish potato famine and unable to make a living in Ireland, many Irish sailed to America between 1845 and 1852. Some of those immigrants made their way from Baltimore and points north to work on the railroads. Others moved south. Most workers in the Blue Ridge Tunnel were Irish. Because an almost unending supply of Irishmen were available, the state assigned them the most dangerous jobs in the tunnel. Workers under twelve years old were paid lower wages and were assigned less dangerous jobs in the tunnel, such as carrying dulled steel drill bits out to the blacksmith shops for sharpening.

Enslaved men and boys conducted much of the less dangerous tasks outside of the tunnels. Clearing and grubbing the right of way and cutting and filling to prepare the final grade for track laying was arduous toil. When an enslaved man was killed on the job, the slaveholder was paid his worth at the time, which could be as much as $1,200. Keeping enslaved men from the most dangerous tasks reduced the risk of having to make such a large payment.

The C&O Railway constructed a new tunnel between 1942 and 1944 to allow passage of larger freight cars. It is lower than Claudius Crozet’s tunnel and is curved. The original tunnel was in service for more than 85 years when the C&O abandoned it in 1944.

In the 1950s, a bottled gas company built massive concrete bulkheads in the tunnel with the intent to store propane in the tunnel in the chamber created between the bulkheads. The venture was unsuccessful. The bulkheads created a barrier for walking through the entire tunnel that remained until 2019.

The planning, design, and rehabilitation of the tunnel started in 2001 and continues to this day. The County of Nelson, which owns the passage, expects it and connecting trails on both ends to be open for the public as a bicycle and pedestrian path in 2020. Many culverts were needed beneath the fills crossing deep ravines as the railroad ascended the Blue Ridge towards . Water from the mountain streams continues to flow through most of these original brick and masonry culverts. Courtesy of Allen M. Hale

Crozet's Corner... Foundation Forward...

Last month we introduced an article by Thanks for being a founding supporter Mary E. Lyons called, Voices from the of the Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation. Blue Ridge Tunnel, a four-part series Your support will allow the foundation which Ms. Lyons agreed to share with to complete projects such as facilities at our founding supporters. the trail heads, additional brick repair, historical signs/markers and many more in the future. Please enjoy the second article in the series, "She Put Me In Her Apron". Feel free to encourage your friends, family and co-workers to come aboard on this journey!

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Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation

Nelson County CCBRTF | P.O. Box 636, Lovingston, VA 22949

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