User:MountainRail/Draft Little Rock Tunnel

The Little Rock Tunnel is a historic railroad tunnel used to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. One of a series of four tunnels constructed by Claudius Crozet during the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad in the 1850s, the Little Rock Tunnel was the third tunnel constructed from the east, located near Afton, Virginia between the Brookville Tunnel to the east and the Blue Ridge Tunnel to the west. In operation for over 150 years, the Little Rock Tunnel is the only tunnel of Crozet's original four that is still used for rail traffic today.

History
On March 5, 1849, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act to incorporate the Blue Ridge Railroad. This railroad was to construct a rail line over the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Louisa railroad (renamed as the Virginia Central Railroad in February, 1850) from a point near Blair Park at the eastern base of the mountains to Waynesboro in the Shenandoah Valley via Rockfish Gap. Claudius Crozet was appointed as chief engineer of the Blue Ridge Railroad and developed a plan to cross the mountains using a series of four tunnels. Although the original plan only incorporated three tunnels, the fourth tunnel, Little Rock Tunnel, was included after it was found that a formerly planned cut would be easier as a short tunnel.

Circus Train Incident
On the night of September 30, 1907, an incident involving a circus train occurred within the Little Rock Tunnel. The circus, which was run by Frank A. Robbins, had recently completed a show in Charlottesville that night. After the show in Charlottesville, the circus wagons and supplies were loaded on to freight cars to be carried west by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. As the train approached the grade over Rockfish Gap, the wheels on the locomotive began to slip, causing significant jarring of the cars behind. As the train approached the Little Rock Tunnel, some of the blocks holding the circus wagons and animal cages to the train's flatcars were loosened by the jarring motion of the train. About halfway through the tunnel, one of the cages, which had swung out over the side of the car, struck the rocky interior wall of the Little Rock Tunnel. The impact brought the train to an abrupt stop as the cage smashed rearward into a steam piano, demolishing it and pushing it off the train. Unknown to the engine or circus crew, five boys from Staunton who had attended the circus in Charlottesville had climbed into the wagon carrying the steam piano for a ride home. Two of the boys walked away from the crash unhurt while another two had been knocked unconscious inside the steam piano. The fifth boy, however, was crushed by the falling cage and was killed instantly. Many of the circus animals were also injured by the crash, and a tiger, which was in the cage which had fallen on the steam piano, was killed. By daybreak, the equipment had been replaced on the train and the train continued to Basic City (now Waynesboro), where the injured animals were dropped off to receive veterinary care. During this time, a Rocky Mountain goat, whose cage had been damaged from the crash, escaped temporarily.