Rating:
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CSX - Cumberland Gap Tunnel

Claiborne County, Tennessee, and Lee County, Virginia

Photos 

South Portal at Cumberland Gap Thanksgiving 2007

The rail line split behind this view and one line (Now abandoned)goes over another deck girder bridge.

Photo taken by James Norwood

Enlarge

BH Photo #140860

Map 

Description 

Built 1888 with two distinctive uphill grades beginning on either end, with apex 1,000 feet inside mountain. Caved in 1894 and rebored; caved in again in 1896 and rebored. Built underneath gap instead of through it, because the uplift of rock under Cumberland Gap was too steep to negotiate. Crosses from Claiborne County, Tennessee to Bell County, Kentucky, with entire Lee County, Virginia portion underground.

Facts 

Overview
Tunnel under Cumberland Mountain on CSX Railroad at Cumberland Gap
Location
Cumberland Gap, Claiborne County, Tennessee, and Lee County, Virginia
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built in 1888 -1889 by the Powell's Valley Railroad; sold the same year to the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap and Louisville Railroad; sold in 1896 to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Now owned by CSX Railroad to connect Norfolk-Southern RR
Railroads
- CSX Railroad (CSX)
- Knoxville, Cumberland Gap & Louisville Railroad (KCG&L)
- Powell's Valley Railroad (PV)
- Southern Railway (SOU)
Design
Tunnel
Dimensions
Total length: 3,741.0 ft. (0.7 mi.)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+36.60365, -83.67367   (decimal degrees)
36°36'13" N, 83°40'25" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/260853/4054234 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Middlesboro South
Inventory number
BH 42570 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (8,332)
Bore Tunnel (296)
Built 1888 (237)
Built during 1880s (2,164)
CSX Railroad (1,763)
Claiborne County, Tennessee (5)
Cumberland Gap, Tennessee (2)
Knoxville, Cumberland Gap & Louisville Railroad (3)
Lee County, Virginia (25)
 Open (40,964)
Owned by railroad (13,492)
Powell's Valley Railroad (2)
Southern Railway (383)
State line crossing (913)
Tennessee (1,261)
Total length over 2500 feet (949)
Tunnel (1,359)
Virginia (1,381)

Update Log 

  • November 27, 2020: New photo from Josh Schmid
  • June 1, 2009: New photo from James Norwood
  • May 17, 2009: Added by James Norwood

Sources 

  • James Norwood
  • Calvin Sneed - us43137415 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Josh Schmid
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Comments 

Southern Railway Cumberland Gap Tunnel
Posted May 3, 2010, by CMountains (cumberlandmountains [at] yahoo [dot] com)

The picture is of the tunnel in Cumberland Gap, Tn (right next to the Iron Furnace parking area), but it's in the Cumberland Mountains not under Clinch Mountain. Clinch Mountain is a few miles southeast of this picture.