east portal of the Blue Ridge Tunnel, cut through the hard Catoctin Greenstone and opened in 1856
Source: Library of Congress, Blue Ridge Railroad, Blue Ridge Tunnel, U.S. Route 250 at Rockfish Gap, Afton, Nelson County, VA
east portal of the Blue Ridge Tunnel, cut through the hard Catoctin Greenstone and opened in 1856
Source: Library of Congress, Blue Ridge Railroad, Blue Ridge Tunnel, U.S. Route 250 at Rockfish Gap, Afton, Nelson County, VA
In the 1840's, residents west of the Blue Ridge objected to the discrimination against them in the General Assembly. The 1830 state constitution guaranteed that the 60% of the memers of the State Senate would come from east of the mountains, no matter how much the population grew west of them.
At the same time, funding for "internal improvements" were focused on projects that benefitted the Fall Line port cities, while farmers with high transportation costs in the southern edge of the Shenandoah Valley received minimal assistance in getting their crops to market. Taxes on western land were funding projects in which the Virginia Bureau of Public Works was purchasing 60% of the stock, while eastern politicians ensured a low cap on taxes paid by slaveowners for their "property."
At organized conventions, leaders in the western counties agitated for greater equity in public investment to improve transportation networks and thus increase land values west of the Blue Ridge. In 1850-51 the state constitution was revised again to address some of the grievances, and a year earlier the General Assembly made a major commtment to support a railroad link through the Blue Ridge.1
The Virginia Central planned to build west of Charlottesville to Covington, but could not obtain the needed funding to construct tunnels through the Blue Ridge just east of Basic City (Waynesboro).
The Blue Ridge Railroad stretched 17 miles from Mechum's River to Waynesboro, on the Shenandoah River. The state authorized the Virginia Central to use it, and because no other railroad built a connection to the Bluee Ridge Tunnel the gap in the Virginia Central line caused no operational difficulty.2
the Little Rock Tunnel built for the Blue Ridge Railroad is still in use, along with a replacement Blue Ridge Tunnel completed in 1944
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Waynesboro East, VA 1:24,000 topographic quadrangle (2019)