text: brookville tunnel the brookville tunnel ( also brooksville tunnel ) was a historic railroad tunnel engineered by claudius crozet during the construction of the blue ridge railroad in the 1850s . the tunnel was part of a series of four tunnels used to cross the blue ridge mountains of virginia for the virginia central railroad of the united states . the brookville tunnel was the second tunnel used to cross the mountains from the east ( the easternmost being the greenwood tunnel ) , and was located approximately 1 . 5 miles ( 2 . 4 km ) west of the village of greenwood , virginia . during its construction , numerous cave - ins and landslides occurred because of the fragile and weak rock the tunnel passed through , and at one point , an outbreak of cholera forced work to stop . by october 1856 the tunnel was completed at a cost of $ 114 , 600 , having been lined with a thick elliptical brick arch to hold back the earth . the brookville tunnel was used by the virginia central railroad , and after 1868 , the line 's successor , the chesapeake and ohio railroad . after the reorganization of the line in 1878 as the chesapeake and ohio railway , the tunnel continued to be used until it was demolished and replaced by a cut during the construction of interstate 64 in the 1960s and 1970s , at which point it was one of only two of crozet 's original four tunnels still in use . 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 . the first tunnel from the east was the greenwood tunnel , built through a difficult and insecure ridge near greenwood . brookville tunnel was located 1 . 5 miles ( 2 . 4 km ) west of the greenwood tunnel , also built through a small offshoot spur of the blue ridge mountains . construction on the brookville tunnel , or the " middle " or " second tunnel " as it was then called , was begun sometime between 1849 and 1851 . the earth encountered at brookville was of a much weaker quality than at the greenwood tunnel , rendering the digging of the tunnel both an extremely dangerous and difficult task . although the eastern section of the ridge was composed of firm and sturdy rock , the majority of the tunnel passed through a mixture of frail slate that was formed at a steep angle , soapstone , and clay . when exposed to air , this mixture would often disintegrate causing large amounts of earth to fall into the tunnel bore . on two occasions during the tunnel 's construction , though great care was taken to provide temporary support , major cave - ins occurred forming craters on top of the ridge , as much as 150 feet ( 46 m ) above the tunnel . another slide occurred on the outside of the western portal that blocked the entrance to the tunnel and prevented workers from repairing the damage from the two internal cave - ins . rocks often fell down upon the timbers under which the men worked , creating sounds described as " resembling that of distant thunder " . the weakness of the earth , especially in the western sections , necessitated the implementation of a strong arch throughout approximately 500 feet ( 150 m ) of the tunnel and a durable brick lining . crozet described the nature of the work on the tunnel in an 1854 letter : the brooksville tunnel is the most difficult work of the kind , i have seen any record of : at the western entrance , the pressure of the big slides actually causes the bottom to surge up , as is sometime the case in coal mines ; in view of the sliding tendency and immense pressure of this ground , it will be advisable to enter on that side with an invested arch to prevent a collapse ... this work is vastly more difficult than the greenwood tunnel was , though it was not , by any means , an easy safe job . by this time , the tunnel had come to be known as the " brooksville tunnel , " after a small stagecoach stop and inn nearby where crozet 's headquarters was located ; in later years , the " s " was dropped and the tunnel was simply referred to as the " brookville tunnel . " in late summer of 1854 , an epidemic of cholera broke out among the irish workers at the tunnel . in a letter to the virginia board of public works , crozet states that the epidemic began at the eastern end of the tunnel where around 25 of the total 150 workers perished from the disease . the disease then spread to the western end where another eight workers died before work ceased . during this outbreak , little work could be done on the tunnel , adding yet another delay to the difficult work the brookville tunnel posed . while work on the tunnels continued , the virginia central railroad , eager to connect its eastern division to the line under construction in the shenandoah valley , developed plans to use temporary tracks to bypass the incomplete blue ridge railroad . as was done over rockfish gap to the west , a temporary track approximately 0 . 5 miles ( 0 . 8 km ) long was proposed by the virginia central railroad 's chief engineer , charles ellet , jr . , and constructed around the brookville tunnel as the digging continued . due to the many setbacks and difficulties encountered , the tunnel was not completed until october 1856 , just two months prior to the hole - through of the 4 , 273 - foot ( 1 , 302 m ) blue ridge tunnel at the top of rockfish gap . remarkably , with the exception of the cholera outbreak , no one was injured during the dangerous work completing the brookville tunnel . the virginia central soon after began routing trains through the brookville tunnel , avoiding the short temporary track . during the american civil war ( 1861 – 1865 ) , a large crack was found within the tunnel 's arch , being in some locations as much as 4 inches ( 10 cm ) wide . upon examination of the earth above the tunnel , it was found that a section of the earth had slipped , and was resting on the tunnel walls . with the tunnel in danger of collapsing , a plan to address the tunnel 's structural issues was developed that put in place a second arch below the original . the new arch was started 12 feet ( 3 . 7 m ) above the rails and rose to a peak just above what was necessary to clear a brakeman riding atop a railroad car ( at that time , 17 feet or 5 . 2 metres ) , around 3 feet ( 0 . 91 m ) below the original arch . because of the ongoing war and the lack of funds and resources , the new arching could only be completed in 10 - foot ( 3 . 0 m ) segments . it was deemed necessary to re - arch a total of 450 feet ( 140 m ) of the tunnel , and as of 1864 , 260 feet ( 79 m ) had been completed at a cost of $ 23 , 390 . 73 ( confederate dollars ) . after the war , the tunnel continued to be used by the virginia central railroad , and after 1868 , the chesapeake and ohio railroad . the chesapeake and ohio railroad was reorganized as the chesapeake and ohio railway in 1878 , and continued to route trains through the tunnel up until the tunnel 's demolition with the construction of interstate 64 in the 1960s and 1970s . at the time of the tunnel 's demolition , it was one of only two of crozet 's original four tunnels of the blue ridge railroad still in operation ( the other , which as of 2013 is still in use , was the 100 - foot ( 30 m ) little rock tunnel ) . today , interstate 64 passes over the cut that replaced the brookville tunnel . architecture the brookville tunnel was constructed in an elliptical form , a design typical of tunnel construction during the 1800s and also used on the blue ridge and greenwood tunnels . in a november 1849 report , crozet describes the design to be used on the tunnels : the shape i have adopted is that of an ellipse , formed by bisecting , on each side , the horizontal ordinates of a circle of 32 feet diameter , down to its center , below which the sides are to be made vertical , if no arch is necessary lower down ; otherwise , the ellipse is to continue down to the bottom and to be shaped all round with bricks , stones , or iron , as may appear most eligible . this shape leaves ample room for the cars , and , by contracting the roof , is more secure than a semicircle of 16 feet diameter . portions of the brookville tunnel were lined with brick for added strength , with the brickwork originally contracted to joseph , a local brickmaker . because of the poor quality of 's bricks , crozet decided to use these bricks on the greenwood tunnel to the east , which was a stronger bore than brookville . crozet estimated in 1854 that the total number of bricks required for the entire tunnel would be upwards of 750 , 000 . after examining the offers of multiple brickmakers , the virginia board of public works contracted robert harris to provide the bricks for the brookville tunnel . the resulting arch was between 3 – 4 feet ( 0 . 9 – 1 . 2 m ) in thickness over the entire length of the tunnel , and formed an opening approximately 20 feet ( 6 . 1 m ) high and , at the extreme , 15 feet ( 4 . 6 m ) wide . during the construction , the timbers that were used to support the fragile sections of the tunnel to be arched were left in place after the arch was completed , as it was thought too hazardous to remove them . when the earth slip occurred during the civil war , these remaining timbers acted as levers , furthering the cracking and structural instability of the tunnel . as the new arch was constructed , the old timbers were removed , and the space in between the new and old walls was filled with brick and cement . the original brick portals were replaced by the chesapeake and ohio railway in 1928 with concrete portals , as part of a series of tunnel upgrades across the line beginning in the 1920s . the new portals no longer bore the distinctive elliptical design of crozet 's original , but had vertical sides and a semi - circular arch . construction costs the total cost to complete the brookville tunnel amounted to $ 114 , 600 , with a cost per foot , at a length of 869 feet ( 265 m ) , of $ 131 . 90 . by comparison , the cost per foot of the 538 - foot ( 164 m ) greenwood tunnel was $ 138 . 30 , the 100 - foot ( 30 m ) little rock tunnel was $ 123 . 90 , and the 4 , 273 - foot ( 1 , 302 m ) blue ridge tunnel was $ 108 . 60 . costs at the brookville tunnel were greatly increased from the expected by the frail and insecure earth encountered , contrary to what originally appeared to be solid rock . workers , both inside and outside laborers , were paid approximately $ 1 . 12 per day , while miners were paid $ 1 . 37 per day , equivalent to $ 29 . 5 and $ 36 . 08 , respectively , today .