Train carrying members of Congress hits a truck

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68. The longest in the United States at the time of its construction.

This article is about the original tunnel.

Blue Ridge Tunnel

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?WCoordinates: 38°02?18?N 78°51?45?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.