Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="Beach Bill"] The article by Jeff Terry in the May 2007 Railfan & Railroad magazine was the best summary of the C & O 4-4-0 buried in Church Hill Tunnel in Richmond in 1925.  I have not seen anything on the results of that hydrology report that was going to help dictate whether or not excavations could proceed.Having lived in Roanoke, VA for the 30 years prior to last October, the locomotives in the scrap yard there along South Jefferson Street would not be classified as "lost", as the railfan and preservation communities were always well aware of their presence.  Even in the early spring, before everything turned green, the overgrowth made it difficult to photograph the 4-8-0 that was there.  Bill[/quote]Was that article by Jeff Terry about lost locomotives in general?  I had heard he was going to write such an article.  I have done some research on lost locomotives, and am very interested in the subject.  Compared to some of them, there is a lot of historical information on the Church Hill Tunnel disaster.  It seems that a recovery attempt was ready to go foreward when city authorities put it on hold until several questions could be resolved concerning the hydrological consequences of opening the tunnel.  In addition to the need for assurance that the tunnel will not cave in and damage roads and buildings from ground subsidence, I understand there is also some opposition from residents for various reasons. Except for these complications, I think this would be a relatively easy recovery project.  Most lost locomotives are underwater or buried in mud.However, I think they ought to leave the engine where it is, stabilize the tunnel around it, and make it accessible so people could go down into the tunnel and see it in its context.  The engine's value is its relationship to the Church Hill Tunnel disaster as an historical artifact in that context.  Preserve the whole picture.  I'll bet it would be quite the experience to go into that haunted tunnel and see the engine standing there where it has stood since the roof fell in so long ago.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag