Tunnels of the Clinchfield Railroad

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Clinchfield Railroad

Clinchfield Railroad Tunnels

Speedy Tunnel - Clinchfield Railroad Loops - Photo by Calvin Sneed

Clinchfield: Building Straight and Through

Of the 277 miles of the Clinchfield, 9.8 miles were in the darkness of a tunnel, roughly 3.5% of the journey from Elkhorn City to Spartanburg SC. A total of 55 tunnels helped keep the route straight and flat. Rather than zig and zag around the mountains, rivers, and valleys, the Clinchfield attacked the terrain at 90 degrees, spending substantially more to build tunnels, bridges, cuts, and fills. George L. Carter took the advice M.J. Caples and built the straightest line possible across the widest part of the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains.

Three Tunnels in a row on the Loops. Photo courtesy Calvin Sneed

Build for the Future

The CC&O tunnels were super-sized, 18 feet wide and 24 feet high, much larger than the normal in the early 1900s. Years later, the much larger payloads and railroad cars have no trouble passing through the Clinchfield/CSX tunnels. The longest tunnel is Sandy Ridge at 7,854 feet. The shortest is Holston at 154 feet.

Since the Clinchfield was originally constructed, one of the tunnels (Third Rocky) had been excavated and daylighted, leaving a large cut.

Tunneling Under the Spartanburg Bottleneck

The railroad constructed a key tunnel in 1962 underneath the Southern Railway in Spartanburg SC, bypassing the needless exchange of trains across a few hundred feet of the Southern. With the Spartanburg tunnel, the Atlantic Coast Line and Clinchfield could connect directly without having to pay Southern the toll. This allowed manifest freights to shave hours off of their schedules from Florida to the Mid-West.

Click here to read more about the Spartanburg Tunnel.

Tunneling Under Sandy Ridge

Photo: The ominous Sandy Ridge Mountain towers above Clinchfield’s Sandy Ridge Tunnel south portal. The winding track will straighten out by the time it reaches the tunnel portal, and then begin a downhill grade into Elkhorn City KY.

One of the biggest geographic challenges, and also what became Clinchfield’s longest tunnel was Sandy Ridge. Several surveys were considered, including alignments that would have required tunnels longer than 3-miles. Click the links below to see the surveys from the early 1900s.

Eventually, Clinchfield built a 7,854 foot tunnel to reach the Ohio River Valley. The south end of the tunnel is less than two miles north of Dante, Virginia. Trammel, Virginia is at the tunnel’s north portal.

Click here to read more about Clinchfield’s Sandy Ridge Tunnel.

Click here to see the Clinchfield/South & Western surveys for tunneling under Sandy Ridge.

Sandy Ridge Tunnel - Clinchfield Railroad - South Portal

Brush Creek Tunnel

Brush Creek holds the distinction of being built after the completion of the Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio Railway around 1918-1920. It was built to alleviate a very tight turn along the Toe River.

Click here for more information and photos of Brush Creek Tunnel and the original grade.

List of Clinchfield Railroad Tunnels

Below is a complete list of the tunnels of the Clinchfield

TunnelMilepostLength (feet)
Pool Point2.3642
State Line3.31,523
Towers4.8921
Skaggs Hole7.1519
Hills Mills9.11040
Russell11.5448
McClure11.8331
Hewitt13.6596
Goff15.6784
Red Ridge16.01,359
Sykes Mill16.8752
Perkins18.0496
Rinehart18.2617
Short Branch18.6913
Squirrel Camp19.6668
Pettit20.2379
Caney Fork23.2412
Buffalo Creek26.0352
Martin29.9387
Sandy Ridge32.57,854
Shannon47.6820
Town’s54.01,098
Starnes70.3517
North Twin 171.3308
South Twin 271.3236
Clinchport77.6637
Bald Knob78.0453
Speers Ferry (Moccasin Ridge)79.41,116
Clinch Mountain80.34,135
Click88.2608
Sensabaugh88.9348
Holston96.6154
Kendricks98.9502
Free Hill108.8472
Indian Ridge113.91,023
Brush Creek163.1304
Vance186.7527
Blue Ridge187.31,865
Pine Ridge188.81,600
Bridle Path189.8927
First Washburn190.5770
Second Washburn190.7363
Quinn’s Knob191.0545
Third Washburn191.4915
Snipe’s191.8637
Lower Bridle Path192.71,618
Speedy193.3288
Lower Pine Ridge193.52,211
Byrd194.0341
First Rocky195.5716
Second Rocky195.8757
Fourth Rocky197.9179
Honeycutt 200.11,688
Marion219.11,073
Spartanburg277.1742

Additional Information

I urge everyone to read the books on the Clinchfield listed in the resource section of this website for additional details and perspectives on the history of the railroad of its predecessors. The books are excellent. I personally never tire of rereading them. There are also several online resources about the Clinchfield including this slide show by Calvin Sneed, a noted bridge hunter and author.

https://bridgehunter.com/nc/mcdowell/bh51627/

Also, Bob Lawrence has blog called https://thetunneldiaries.com/

Clinchfield.org Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the Clinchfield Railroad. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Clinchfield.org. Much of the content on the website is verified across multiple sources.

Clinchfield Railroad

Contact Us at Clinchfield.org

Would enjoy hearing from you if you have questions, suggestions, edits, or content that you are willing to share. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have similar interests in the Clinchfield or Model Railroads.

3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org